Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the motion to refer the issue of gambling harm in Australian society to the Environment and Communications References Committee. I associate myself with the comments of my colleague Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, and I commend her for her tireless work in advocating for real gambling reforms.

This inquiry would examine a wide range of issues including the impact of gambling on Australian communities, families, and children; the influence of the gambling lobby and their dirty political donations; and the government's response to the Murphy review. Two years have passed since that review finished, but the government has yet to act on gambling reform. Experts overwhelmingly back a comprehensive ban on gambling ads and our communities are crying out for help. Something must be done.

Gambling comes in many forms: sports bets, poker machines, lottery tickets and online games—just to name a few. A lot of people think gambling is harmless fun or an intrinsic part of the Australian sporting culture, but gambling is a major public policy issue in Australia that affects the health and wellbeing of individuals and families in so many ways. Harm from gambling can manifest in relationship breakdown, poor physical health, mental and financial stress, job loss, crime, homelessness, and family related violence.

We also know that Australians have the highest gambling losses per person in the world. Queensland government data shows that Australia's gambling losses surged to $32 billion a year in 2022-23. This isn't a problem that affects just a handful of people; three-quarters of Australians have gambled in the last 12 months. For some, it's a benign activity, but about a million people either suffer or live with someone suffering from severe gambling harm. Many lose much more money than they can afford. Over half a million Australians have asked their bank to temporarily ban them from gambling. Low-, moderate- and high-risk gamblers all report adverse impacts from their gambling. These are sobering facts that clearly show that gambling is a public health issue in our communities.

In my state of South Australia, two-thirds of residents participate in gambling. We lose, on a per capita basis, $1,227 a year on average. South Australians are very concerned about the prevalence of gambling advertisements and want to see action. Most South Australians support tighter regulation of sports betting advertising, with 77 per cent saying that governments should take measures to reduce the amount of sports betting advertised. The Australia Institute has done research which shows that three in four South Australians agree that gambling advertising should be banned in sport. The president of the Australian Medical Association in South Australia, Dr John Williams, and academics from Flinders University who are experts in gambling addiction have signed a letter urging politicians to act. They have called, alongside many others, for strong national action to ban gambling advertisements. This would prioritise the health and wellbeing of the public above the profits of major sporting and media businesses in this country. I have also heard directly from my community that this is an issue and a problem that this Labor government must act on.

And what do the researchers tell us, along with those who deal with the harms arising from gambling? We need to listen to what they are spending many, many hours and a lot of resources gathering data on. For example, the work and experience of Professor Malcolm Battersby and Professor Michael Baigent—who are from South Australia's Statewide Gambling Therapy Service and the Flinders Centre for Gambling Research, which brings together Flinders Uni researchers and South Australian health treatment health services—points to findings that, for every problem gambler, six others are affected—family members who suffer directly, not just the gambler. It's a problem that causes suicides not only for gamblers but also for the affected family members they live with. Further, gambling ads are associated with increasing habits of gambling. They drive the problem higher. Gambling disproportionately affects, in all its manifestations, lower socioeconomic groups in our community, and it makes a real current cost-of-living crisis for those households and families who can least afford it—an average online gambling spend of $1,300 a year which impoverishes families. We need to honour this research and these service experiences and draw out the lessons for our policymaking here in the parliament. We must take action in line with what they recommend.

Gambling also affects our children. We know that children and young people are exposed to saturated gambling marketing in their everyday lives—one million gambling ads aired on TV last year. What shame! Our children are exposed to these messages daily. This directly results in one in five young women and one in seven young men becoming gamblers. They bet for the first time after seeing or hearing an ad on TV. The chief executive of Responsible Wagering Australia, the peak body for the industry, has rejected suggestions that advertising normalises gambling for children, but the gambling industry is one of the most innovative, health-harming industries of modern times. The gambling industry uses a predatory and systematic approach to try and get our kids to gamble. Gambling advertisements intentionally send messages to children that gambling is fun, it's exciting and it's a way to join with others and to get rich easily. Frequent exposure to gambling ads also makes young people think that gambling's normal and socially acceptable and a core part of sport. Seventy-five per cent of kids aged eight to 16 can name one or more sports betting companies. One-third of young people may be gambling before the age of 18. These are children as young as 10 years old, in this country, who are hooked on gambling and have lost thousands of dollars. This should not be the case. We must do much more to protect our children and our young people. These are some of society's most vulnerable, and there are clear things that this government could do to benefit the Australian community.

The Albanese government's decision to back down from a commitment to a comprehensive ad ban is beyond disappointing. It shows where they're loyalties lie—with the cashed-up gambling lobby. The gambling industry's pulling out all stops to prevent a full ad ban. They've thrived in a media landscape without regulation. As the chief executive of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Martin Thomas, has said:

… we have a grossly inadequate regulatory regime in which the gambling industry has been allowed to operate virtually unchecked, causing devastation to individuals, families and communities.

Labor and the Liberals are all too happy to do their bidding, as they continue to receive millions of dollars in political donations from the gambling industry.

In addition to donations, they are also showering federal politicians with hospitality. At least 19 politicians have accepted hospitality from wagering companies to attend major events, including the Australian Open, Melbourne Cup, AFL and cricket. Who could forget when Sportsbet and bet365 paid for the lavish birthday lunch for the Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, who's partly responsible for regulating the industry, or when Sportsbet hosted Anthony Albanese at the National Press Club weeks before the 2022 election?

There is a long list of former politicians and political advisers who've moved on to represent the gambling industry. For example, former Labor minister Stephen Conroy became the CEO of Responsible Wagering Australia after leaving politics. Gambling companies profit off some of the most vulnerable people in our community. People affected by gambling harms can't wine and dine ministers like gambling companies can, nor can their families. They aren't well connected. They aren't corporate lobbyists.

This has an insidious effect on our democracy. We have to say no to the vested interests of powerful corporations. There's a clear path of action we recommend for the government. They could implement the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm, chaired by the late Peta Murphy. This multi-party report recommended, among other things, a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising with a phased approach. That is why the Greens introduced our Interactive Gambling Amendment (Ban Gambling Ads) Bill 2024 to the Senate a few weeks ago. This bill will ban gambling ads on TV, radio, print and online, consistent with the multi-party parliamentary inquiry recommendations.

Time is up. The public are sick of the excuses and delays, and the Greens are the only party with a clear plan to reduce gambling harm that goes beyond advertising bans to comprehensive national regulation. That's what we need. We're calling on the Labor government to urgently ban all gambling advertising across all of the media and all forms of gambling, to establish a national independent gambling regulator and to end the grip of the gambling industry in politics by banning political donations from gambling and other destructive industries. Labor's partial ad ban just doesn't cut it. Partial bans will only ever get partial results. The Labor government needs to put people before profit and urgently act on gambling harm. We banned tobacco advertisements in this country because they caused acute harm. Gambling companies profit from addiction, targeting our kids and wrecking families. We must do the same for gambling advertisements and ban them. It's time for Labor and for this parliament to listen to the experts, to respect public opinion and to put a full ban on all gambling ads.