No action is the worst response of all to gambling harm
31 Jan 2025
Reports the Government won’t respond to the June 2023 Murphy Report on gambling reform prior to the election is the worst outcome of all for children who are being groomed by gambling companies and fails anxious and angry parents.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform’s Chief Advocate, Tim Costello said it was unacceptable for the Prime Minister to do nothing to rein in the tsunami of gambling ads that are swamping our screens and grooming our children.
“Parents are furious about the targeting of their children through gambling advertising, especially linked to our sport, and to do nothing is the absolute worse response at all,” Rev. Costello said.
“The Opposition Leader, Mr Dutton, has criticised the PM for being weak on gambling reform. There is now an opportunity for Mr Dutton to show true leadership an outline the reforms a Coalition Government would make to protect our community.”
Rev. Costello said polls have consistently showed that more than 70% of the public want a ban on all gambling advertisements.
Mark Kempster, who is part of the Alliance’s Voices of Lived Experience group, said he was bitterly disappointed by the news there would be no formal government response to the Murphy Report.
"This shows the Prime Minster is beholden to (NRL chair) Peter V'landys and the gambling lobby in this country. He has turned his back on every vulnerable Australian like me, who are having their lives ruined on a daily basis by this insidious, predatory industry,” Mr Kempster said.
“He has also turned his back on former Labor MP Peta Murphy - he promised to 'honour her legacy'. He hasn't even come close to doing that and should be ashamed."
The Murphy inquiry, chaired by Labor MP, Peta Murphy, and unanimously supported by inquiry members from both sides of politics, found that the “inescapable torrent” of gambling advertising is normalising online gambling and its links with sport, grooming children and young people to gamble, and encouraging riskier behaviour.
Australians lose up to $32 billion each year to gambling, the highest per capita spend in the world.
Gambling harm is a massive public health issue, linked to poor physical and mental health, poverty and homelessness, criminal activity, family violence, and suicide.
Tim Costello and Mark Kempster is available for interview on 07 3180 0630 or media@agr.org.au
media@agr.org.au – 07 3180 0630