Gambling “reforms” as weak as water

The Independent Federal Member for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan, has slammed the dirty deal agreed overnight by Labor and the Coalition, which risks locking in weak gambling regulation for years to come.  

Dr Ryan: “It takes special genius for the major parties to spend three years cooking up three pieces of legislation, theoretically aimed at gambling harm, which cumulatively fail to address the gambling industry’s predatory and harmful behaviour.” 

The final legislation is set to largely ignore the 31 recommendations of the Murphy Review. Instead, it’s come up with a set of undercooked half-measures that the gambling giants, professional sporting codes and commercial media outlets are ready to accept, and the major parties are ready to claim as a win.   

This despite the overwhelming desire of Australians to end to gambling ads which dominate their social media feeds and interrupt their sports broadcasts, and which groom young people to believe there’s something wrong with them if they are not gambling with their mates. 

Dr Ryan: “Gambling harm is a public health emergency. That’s why, today, I’ve introduced amendments to comprehensively ban online gambling ads, and to improve transparency around the tax-free income our billion-dollar sporting codes receive from the gambling industry. Earlier this year, I sought to extend the remit of the Australian Centre for Disease Control to include the health impacts of gambling harm. That none of these measures have been adopted reflects very poorly on the major parties.”  

“Politicians wonder why people are losing trust in government. Look no further than this utterly flawed legislation. Stronger gambling regulation is in our national interest and overwhelmingly popular, but the compromise cooked up by the major parties favours predatory gambling companies over vulnerable Australians. This dirty deal is as weak as water.” 

“Our communities deserve better political leadership. Too many young people from Kooyong have been harmed by gambling, their families damaged forever by this industry. I promise that I’ll keep fighting on this issue for as long as I have the privilege to represent my community. You deserve nothing less.”