Tim Costello has rejected claims from commercial broadcasters that a total ban on gambling ads could threaten their viability, arguing the true “existential crisis” is allowing “grooming of kids by these ads”.
The chief advocate of the alliance for gambling reform has urged Labor and the Coalition to back a total ban on gambling advertisements, acknowledging they are “very worried about taking on channels Seven, Nine and 10” but a bipartisanship push could ensure they “can’t be picked off” in the face of intense lobbying.
Independent MPs Zoe Daniel and Kate Chaney have also warned the government not to water down a proposed total ban.
Senior executives from Seven West Media, Nine Entertainment and Network 10 are in Canberra this week lobbying the prime minister on gambling reforms and the communications minister on a separate push by Free TV Australia for greater prominence of free-to-air networks on smart televisions.
In June a parliamentary inquiry recommended that ads for online gambling should be banned across all media and at all times within three years to combat the manipulation of an “impressionable and vulnerable audience”.
In response Free TV Australia called instead for caps on the frequency of ads, warning that a “total ban would ultimately hurt viewers and the television services they love”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has labelled gambling ads “annoying” while the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, agreed that the “status quo isn’t good enough”.
Broadcasters privately concede that in-game advertisements after 8.30pm, which are currently allowed, may need to be prohibited, along with radio ads during school pickup and drop-off times.
But they argue a ban an hour before matches, as the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, proposed in his budget reply, would be administratively difficult because this could mean cutting ads from non-sports broadcasts.
Costello, who met Albanese and Dutton earlier this week, said he was “very impressed both leaders are taking this seriously and they are aware of the level of anxiety and concern in the community”.
Costello said it was clear broadcasters were “lobbying hard” but he argued the government had “options”, including a levy on foreign sports betting companies to alleviate the pain of Australian free-to-air TV stations and foregoing the $45m of spectrum fees they pay.
Gambling ads are estimated to generate $200-300m of revenue for media companies annually.
“The existential crisis they claim this ban poses to free-to-air TV is actually not the case,” Costello said. “The existential crisis is continuing to allowing grooming of kids with these ads.”
Chaney, a member of the inquiry, said gambling was costing Australians $25bn annually – about $1,300 for every Australian adult.
Chaney said she had heard “harrowing” stories from her electorate, from a mother whose 21-year-old son gambled away $100,000 online to a six-year-old asking his father if he could bet on the Brownlow medal.
Daniel, the independent MP for Goldstein, said: “Governments should not bow to either the gambling industry or the media moguls.
“The government should show its backbone and protect our young people by acting on the unanimous report of the parliamentary committee on which it is in the majority and act now to ban gambling advertising on our screens.”
Free TV Australia, which told the inquiry that free sports broadcasts could be cut as a result of a ban, warned in June against what it called a “kneejerk” response on gambling ads.
Rowland has said the government will use the inquiry report as an “evidence base for comprehensive reform in this area” but did not commit to a total ban.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, told Guardian Australia the government was working through the recommendations but noted that “27 of the [31] recommendations of that report actually involve or impact states and territories so we’ve got to work through that”.
The Labor MP Peta Murphy, who chaired the parliamentary inquiry, told Guardian Australia that broadcasters had not provided evidence to substantiate claims that an ad ban would result in cuts to local news and sport.
Murphy said she found this “difficult to reconcile” with broadcasters’ attempts to downplay the claims about an “overwhelming” number of ads as “overblown and inaccurate”.
“There will be an impact but it doesn’t have to be such an impact that free TV as we know it would cease to exist,” Murphy said. “We believe as has happened before with tobacco advertising that alternative sources of revenue can be found.”
