Tim Costello, Chief Advocate, Alliance for Gambling Reform
23 Apr 2025
Despite being past the halfway mark of the election campaign - neither the PM or the Opposition leader has shown any appetite for banning gambling ads and reducing gambling harm.
This is despite the fact that polls now show that 76 per cent of Australians want a gambling ad ban. This is a stunning result, so the campaigning silence on this by the major parties is equally stunning.
It also defies new research that shows gambling companies are grooming our kids in alarming numbers to gamble, and that the gambling losses at the household level are now greater than what families are paying in power bills.
New research by The Australia Institute shows that almost one in three kids, aged 12-17, are now gambling. That is a total of 600,000 kids, enough to fill the MCG six times over, gambling a total of $18 million.
It is bizarre that both parties have pledged to "protect our kids from social media" but they are more than happy for our kids to be exposed to gambling ads on their screens (one million ads every year) and through the sport they watch.
Both Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton appear to be deliberately ignoring the compelling and popular cry for a ban on gambling ads.
Just this week the Prime Minister said that even if he were re-elected, he would not necessarily act on banning gambling ads, which was a key recommendation of the parliamentary inquiry into online gambling, led by Labor's own, the late Peta Murphy.
Likewise, Peter Dutton has avoided a commitment to ban gambling ads, content that his proposal to extend the ban on gambling ads around live sport for an hour is enough to wedge the government on this issue.
But their lack of courage on this issue is not mirrored by others in the federal Parliament, even those within the major parties.
Every member of the Murphy Inquiry multi-party committee endorsed all of its 31 recommendations, regardless of their political party. This is an outcome that is extraordinary.
Each member should be recognised for their important stance in advocating for long overdue reform.
It is clear that gambling reform must go beyond party politics.
But it is also clear - given the untold riches and lobbying power of the gambling industry and its allies - it will take brave men and women on both sides of politics, as well as many other parties and individuals, to make a similar brave stand if we are to see real and lasting gambling reform.
Liberal MP Keith Wolahan, who was on the committee, has spoken out for the need for reform. In many ways, he has led his party on this issue. It has taken guts, determination and integrity.
On the other side, Labor MP Mike Freelander has similarly been a champion of reform, urging his party and the Prime Minister to do more on this issue.
I also want to pay tribute to the tireless work of MPs Andrew Wilkie and Rebekha Sharkie, who have led the Parliamentary Friends of Gambling reform and have often been a beacon of hope. Andrew's campaigning for gambling reform goes back decades.
The Greens have played an important role in this area, and so have many independents, including the teals and Senator David Pocock.
There are many others who have advocated publicly and privately for a ban on gambling ads.
But now it is time for all the candidates in this federal election campaign to declare where they stand on banning gambling ads.
The public is demanding change, and voters deserve to know where every candidate stands. And voters must do more to put pressure on their local candidates.
The Alliance now has almost 40,000 people who have signed a petition calling for the end of gambling ads.
The opportunity for major gambling reform this election, although under threat, is the greatest this nation has had for generations.
I have campaigned for change for decades.
It started way, way back when I was in law and I met a lovely, elderly woman who shockingly was facing jail for stealing to feed her gambling habit.
It astounded me that this harmless mother was facing jail, and it highlighted just how addictive and predatory the machines and products of the gambling industry are.
Gambling is a blind spot to Australia, just like guns are to the US. And it has been for too long.
But today the harm of gambling and the proliferation of gambling advertising has been put on the national agenda like never before.
And given Australians lose more than any other country to gambling - an astounding $31.5 billion - it is clear that the harm it is causing communities across the nation is both tragic and preventable.
The Alliance doesn't and isn't endorsing any candidate or parties, but it is asking Australians who are concerned about gambling harm to ask their local candidates where they stand on gambling reform.
It has taken some brave politicians to put gambling reform on the national agenda. It is now time for voters to make their voices heard.