In a document quietly tabled on budget day, the federal government confirmed it would not seek to ban all forms of gambling advertisement.
The federal government may say it is committed to preventing gambling harm – but the decision to release its response to the gambling harm senate inquiry on budget day speaks far louder, says the AMA.
Some reporters have an almost conspiracy-like belief in the Friday News Fairy – a supernatural being who releases important government reports at 3pm on a Friday, normally just minutes after half the newsroom has disappeared to the pub.
Last week, the Friday News Fairy came out on a Tuesday.
While many of the country’s political reporters were preparing to head into budget lockup, the federal government tabled its official response to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs report: ‘You win some, you lose more’: Online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm.
The original report was tabled more than 1000 days ago in June 2023, and the committee was chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy, who died soon after.
Ms Murphy’s report contained 31 recommendations. These included creating a ministerial portfolio to tackle gambling harm alongside national regulation efforts, commissioning an online gambling ombudsman, establishing a national data collection program on gambling-related harm and suicide and banning all forms of advertising for online gambling, among others.
The government partially followed through on funding the recommendations in April this year.
It committed to further restrictions on advertising, such as banning gambling ads through online platforms for people who are either not logged in or are under 18, banning the use of celebrities and sports players in gambling ads and banning gambling ads in sports venues and on players’ uniforms.
It also said it would crack down on “harmful and emerging online lottery products” and strengthen its relationship with national self-exclusion register BetStop.
“The government is taking decisive action to tackle the community and public health concerns associated with gambling,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
“We’re getting the balance right here, letting adults have a punt if they want to but also making sure Australian children don’t see betting ads everywhere they look.”
The April funding announcement, while addressing some of the issues raised in the senate report, did not refer to the report by name.
That made last Tuesday the first time the government had revealed which exact recommendations it had chosen to reject.
The response acknowledged that that gambling harm posed a “significant public health concern” and reiterated the reform package released in April.
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It did not address the recommended ban on advertising, the call for a national regulator or the recommendation to start collecting health data.
AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen told The Medical Republic that the government had not gone far enough.
“The response itself strengthens some consumer protections but doesn’t go far enough,” she said.
“The report recommendation around a phased, comprehensive ban on advertising which aligned with calls from the AMA went unheeded.
“Partial bans have proven ineffective and a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising is what we need to see to protect vulnerable Australians from the harms of gambling.
“We also need an independent, national gambling regulator which was another recommendation which wasn’t adopted by government.”
Dr McMullen was also critical of the day chosen to table the government response, noting that, for all its talk of acknowledging gambling harm, “tabling its response to this important report on gambling on budget day when the nation is distracted paints a different story”.
“The government says it takes gambling harm seriously, but its response stops short of the decisive reforms needed to protect Australians from a growing public health crisis,” she said.
“On online gambling, the government has again chosen half-measures over the comprehensive action needed to reduce harm.”
