1000 days of inaction on gambling reform must stop – 40 groups call on PM to take urgent action

A coalition of unions, community, public health, church, academic and advocate groups have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for urgent action on gambling reforms – 1000 days since the government received a parliamentary inquiry report into online and is still yet to formerly respond. 

The letter – signed by Unions NSW and the Victorian Trades Hall Council, ACOSS, the Salvation Army (Richmond), Mission Australia, GetUp, the Public Health Association of Australia, Australian Preventative Health Association, the Menzies Schol of Health Research and the NSW Council of Churches – acknowledges the government’s work on its social media ban but warns it will not protect children against gambling ads.

“Yet children continue to see gambling ads on those same screens,” the letter says.

“One thousand days since the Murphy Report (the parliamentary inquiry into online gambling) the need for equally bold action on gambling has never been clearer.

“Research reveals that 600,000 young people under 18 are already gambling, spending $18m annually. If gambling were a sport, it would be the most popular sports of Australia’s youth.”

The open letter to the Prime Minister comes 1000 days since the Murphy Report was delivered to the government and yet the government is still yet to formally respond to it.

The letter comes as the Alliance for Gambling Reform releases a public campaign, “1000 Reasons”, which is calling on Australians to share their reasons why there should be urgent and real gambling reforms.

The CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Martin Thomas, said polls have showed that three in four Australians (76%) support a total ban on gambling ads phased in over three years.

“These signatories demonstrate there is strong support across many sector of Australia for urgent and meaningful action on gambling reform. There is now an opportunity for the government to further its social media ban and to also move to protect children and the wider community from gambling ads,” he said.

The open letter calls on the government to:

• End online gambling advertising across all digital platforms including streaming channels
  
  
• Introduce harm-minimisation education in schools
  
  
• Fund a significant public health campaign that counteracts decades of industry advertising
  
  
• Ban gambling inducements, stopping companies offering free bets and promotions to trap people trying to stop gambling
  
  
• Establish a national gambling regulator with a mandate to reduce harm

“Australian children deserve to grow up in a country that puts their wellbeing before corporate profits,” the letter concludes

Find the open letter here, and the full list of signatories to the letter here.