Labor takes a chance on gambling reform delay

The move to reform gambling advertising should have been socially responsive government at its finest. But Labor’s legislation appears to have fallen off the table as the Albanese government scrambles to pass, scrap or delay contentious bills during the sitting week of parliament for 2024, and potentially this term.

Labor MP Peta Murphy called for an advertising ban in four stages. Credit: Joe Benke

The legislation was in part to protect young people but Labor’s hesitancy on gambling reform now sits awkwardly against its rush to ban teens from social media.

A 2023 parliamentary inquiry into online gambling chaired by late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended a ban on gambling advertisements to help tackle social harms caused by problem gambling. There was wide support, with many people concerned about the tidal wave of gambling content swamping sport, to the cost of the young and the vulnerable.

Murphy called for an advertising ban in four stages. It would start with a ban on gambling ads during news and current affairs broadcasts, on social media and the internet, and on radio during school drop-off and pick-up times. The second phase would extend the bans around sporting events and the third would stop all broadcast advertising of online gambling between 6am and 10pm. Finally, at the end of the third year, there would be a prohibition on all online gambling advertising and sponsorship.

Instead, after an 18-month delay in responding, the government was reportedly in favour of ditching the total ban and opting for blocking ads on social media and barring television ads an hour before and after live sport, as well as a cap of two per hour during family viewing time until 10pm.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese regularly argued that the saturation of advertising was “untenable” but has not committed to a ban. The government gave assurances that legislation would be unveiled by year’s end.

When word leaked that the legislation was in no man’s land, independent senator David Pocock argued Labor’s delay betrayed Murphy’s legacy. “The work had been done in that report. We know partial bans don’t work. That’s why they were … advocating for a phased-in ban over three years [but] the government seems to have folded under pressure from the gambling companies and free TV,” he told ABC Radio National.

TV and gambling executives met with staff from her Communications Minister Michelle Rowland in August to try to water down the proposed two-per-hour limit on TV ads and a digital blackout. Now, a source from the National Rugby League has told the Herald they were reassured by the government the ban legislation would probably not be introduced until after the federal election.

Senior minister Clare O’Neil on Monday said the government would come back next year with a pathway to the legislation. “This is something that we’re negotiating and working with stakeholders on,” she said.

O’Neil’s response opens the door to the prospect of no legislation before the election. The endeavour risks looking shelved for political convenience. The government needs to explain the delay and strive to strike a deal that is acceptable to all stakeholders.

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