Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Pocock. Obviously, you didn't get the memo that all the questions were supposed to go to Senator Farrell this week! But I'm happy to have an attempt at this. I have heard the media reporting about this issue this morning. I'll attempt to get some more information on this point for you during question time. But I do think that all Australians are concerned about the growing proliferation of gambling advertising on online platforms. There are of course particular concerns when it comes to the risk around those advertisements being accessed by children. As a parent myself I know I'm pretty disturbed about the amount of online advertising that goes on around gambling, which can clearly be accessed by children, if it is not in fact targeting children. Of course, there are additional concerns about the risk of online gambling advertisements to the adult population as well.

This is something that needs closer exploration to make sure that our regulatory systems are adequate to the task, and this is something that I know Minister Rowland takes very seriously. She has already commenced work on a range of fronts when it comes to online advertising, particularly in relation to gambling, and that's something that our entire government supports because we do want to make sure that the regulatory settings that we have in place for online advertising are suitable. This is obviously a fast-evolving field. It's one of those areas where, the minute governments intervene and create a regulatory environment, new operators come on board and find loopholes, and it's something that we do always need to review.

More generally, when it comes to gambling advertising, I can assure you that the Albanese government recognises the importance of gambling promotions being presented in a responsible manner. We also recognise that there is ongoing community concern about the harms associated with online gambling, including advertising material. I think that it is timely for parliament to consider what more should be done to address this issue, and, Senator Pocock, I look forward to working with you on that.