We were advised yesterday in the party room of the amendments that have been achieved, and I commend Senator Henderson for her work in relation to this.
We should not forget that this is the Labor Government’s bill. This is the Labor Government’s bill.
I went through those amendments last night. I went through the legislation, and there are serious flaws, serious flaws, in this legislation. Hence, I will be crossing the floor and voting in favour of a number of amendments which I believe address those glaring flaws.
Let me give you one example. Let me talk you through what is going to happen during State of Origin.
State of Origin, from my home state of Queensland, is the biggest sporting event of the year. More than four million people watch State of Origin. When I was a little boy, wild horses could not keep me away from State of Origin. From the age of six or seven, I was glued to it.
State of Origin kicks off at 8:05 pm. For the first 25 minutes of the game, this bill says, and I quote:
“If there is a scheduled break or unscheduled break in the sporting event, any content provided on the service during the break is taken to be content in conjunction with live coverage of the sporting event.”
So, for that 25-minute period, gambling advertisements cannot be played during breaks in the game, such as after a try is scored or a penalty is kicked, because that content is considered to be in conjunction with the live coverage of the sporting event.
Now, after 8:30 pm, everything changes.
The provision says:
“If there is a scheduled break or unscheduled break in the sporting event after 8:30 pm, any content provided on the service during the break is taken not to be in conjunction with live coverage of the sporting event.”
That is the loophole. Black becomes white after 8:30 pm.
How many kids are going to be watching State of Origin from 8:05 pm to 8:30 pm and then go to bed at 8:30? What happens after 8:30? It is open slather in terms of advertising.
Every time a try is scored and there is a break: advertising. Half-time, which will be after 8:30: advertising. Penalty kicked: advertising. Injury break: advertising.
It is fatally flawed. Fatally flawed.
For the Prime Minister to get up and say that this addresses advertising during live sport, when our most totemic sporting event, State of Origin, is only regulated for 25 minutes out of 80, is simply absurd. It is an absurdity, and I will not be part of it.
I would like to commend all those involved in the Murphy Report. The Murphy Report was bipartisan. It was unanimous.
I have read the Murphy Report, and I read it again last night as I reflected on what I would do in response to the amendments the Coalition had secured.
The Murphy Report is clear: gambling harm is ravaging the Australian community and Australian families.
Can you believe that, by the latest estimates, 600,000 children under the age of 18 are engaging in sports betting? Six hundred thousand.
Nine hundred thousand Australians are at risk of gambling harm. For every one of those people, there are at least one, two, three or four others impacted. Millions of Australians are affected by gambling harm.
Yet all we are doing by introducing this bill is changing the contours of the marketing and advertising budgets of those who prey on the vulnerable. That is all we are doing.
There was evidence given, plain and unequivocal evidence, from gambling experts, psychiatrists and those who have studied gambling practices for decades. The evidence was clear: gambling advertising works. That is why gambling companies use it. It is having an impact on our children.
Gambling inducements work. The research shows that with the use of free bets and other promotions and inducements, people gamble more. They gamble more frequently and are at greater risk of harm.
That is why, as Senator Pocock said, the Murphy Report was clear and unequivocal: inducements needed to end immediately.
In my view, Acting Deputy President, we should spend less time listening to gambling companies and more time listening to those wonderful people in the Australian community who are there to pick up the pieces after the gambling companies have done their work.
I want to commend all the organisations that provided evidence to this inquiry. I particularly want to commend the Alliance for Gambling Reform.
I spoke to Tim Costello last night. I went through these amendments with a fine-tooth comb. Senators know me. Senators know I went through these amendments with a fine-tooth comb.
This is what the Alliance for Gambling Reform said in its release, and I quote, because it is important that their words are on the record of this place when senators make their decision:
“The Senate inquiry into these reforms highlighted shocking cases in which gambling companies were abusing their power, offering illicit drugs, escorts and free luxury accommodation in order to keep people betting, even when their betting was completely out of control.”
Reverend Costello said:
“The reforms that will now go through the federal parliament are cosmetic over substance and reflect the major parties’ intent to prioritise power, money and vested interests over the welfare of Australians, who lose more to gambling than any other country on the planet on a per capita basis.”
That is what Reverend Tim Costello said in relation to this package.
Reverend Tim Costello has been at the coalface of helping people suffering from gambling harm, and some of the stories he has told are absolutely heartbreaking.
I commend the work of the Alliance in terms of its advocacy, and I know how profoundly disappointed its members must be with the outcome we are seeing here today.
I want to deal with a number of other issues.
Senator Pocock said:
“No one is calling for a ban on gambling. Anyone who argues that in this place is misleading the Australian public.”
No one is calling for that.
But this is a public health issue of the first order, and it needs to be addressed as a public health issue.
Earlier in the week, I saw a video of a psychiatrist who specialises in addiction medicine. He put a gambling addict into an MRI machine to observe what happened in their brain while gambling.
As soon as the addict placed the bet, even before the outcome was known, their brain lit up like a Christmas tree. When they had a win, it lit up like a Christmas tree again.
That is the biology being exploited by gambling companies through their inducements and advertising.
That is the reality.
People can talk about responsible gambling all they want, but gambling disorder is a recognised psychiatric disorder. It is a real thing.
The tactics gambling companies use mean that people are spending money they cannot afford, potentially failing to provide for their families and children, and suffering devastating mental health consequences as a result.
Today I will be crossing the floor for only the second time in my seven years in this place. I do not do so lightly.
I will be crossing the floor to support a number of Senator Pocock’s amendments, including his amendment for a truly independent statutory review of these provisions.
I support Senator Pocock’s amendment because I would not have thought it was a novel idea that actual experts in gambling harm, its impact on young people and vulnerable Australians, should be the ones conducting the review in three years’ time.
I have no confidence whatsoever, given what we have seen in this legislation, in any review orchestrated by the Labor Government.
Any review must be open. It must be transparent. It must be independent, and it must be presided over by experts.
Today, Acting Deputy President, I will be voting with St Vincent de Paul, which helps people and families affected by gambling harm.
I will be voting with the Salvation Army.
I will be voting with Anglicare.
I will be voting with Suicide Prevention Australia, which has spoken about the impact of gambling on rates of attempted suicide and suicide.
I will be voting with Relationships Australia, which deals with the consequences of relationships falling apart as a result of gambling.
I will be voting with Financial Counselling Australia, because its members are often left trying to put the pieces back together.
I will be voting with the legion of experts on gambling harm. There is a legion of them. They provided the evidence, and that evidence is not reflected in this bill.
This is not an evidence-based bill. It is some sort of awful compromise which does not achieve any substantial change.
I will be voting with those experts. I will be voting with the psychiatrists, medical practitioners and addiction treatment specialists who wrote to the inquiry.
Most of all, I will be voting for those people with lived experience of gambling harm who have been preyed upon by these predatory companies.
I will be voting for them, and I will be voting for their families.
