Gambling reform advocates have blasted the Albanese government for ruling out a national gambling regulator and pushing ahead with a partial TV ad ban only.
The social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, said on Sunday that the recommendation for a national regulator “would involve states and territories handing over their powers to the commonwealth”, confirming that “at this point, that is not in the discussions”.
The comments come ahead of cabinet on Monday, which will finalise Labor’s plan to ban gambling ads online, in children’s programming, during live sports broadcasts and an hour either side, but limit them to two an hour in general TV programming.
In June 2023 a bipartisan committee inquiry chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended a total gambling ad ban, ban on inducements, a national regulator and a levy on wagering companies.
Tim Costello, the chief advocate of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said the government had “failed to deliver on the three most important aspects of the Murphy report”: a total ad ban, treating gambling ads as a health issue and creating a national regulator.
Costello told Guardian Australia the Labor proposal was “deeply disappointing” because it “fails to protect punters, and women”, noting that even the prime minister’s experts on domestic violence had wanted a total ban.
The absence of a national regulator “leaves the states who have shown they are totally inadequate to regulate this”, he said.
“The whole proposal is more Peter V’landys than Peta Murphy. I never thought I would see in my lifetime John Howard to the left of Anthony Albanese on an issue.”
Stakeholders are still in the dark about whether the ban could extend to in-stadium and on-jersey logos. A report in the Australian Financial Review that said banning these was back on the table was greeted sceptically, with speculation this would be presented as a concession to win over a restive backbench pushing for a total ban.
Associate Prof Charles Livingstone from Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said if in-stadium and on-jersey ads were left up to the states, they would “probably never do anything”.
Livingstone, who attended briefings in August about the reform package, rejected suggestions the commonwealth lacked constitutional power to ban these.
“It’s nonsense, of course they can if they want to. They can invoke one of their constitutional powers, particularly that it’s incidental to stopping kids seeing them in broadcast media.”
Rishworth told Sky News on Sunday that 21 of the report’s 32 recommendations “directly impact states and territories” including a regulator, which would require a referral of power from the states.
“I’m not suggesting they would hand over those powers,” she said. “What I’m suggesting is, the essence of that recommendation was about better national coordination.”
A national regulator was opposed by Responsible Wagering Australia and the New South Wales government, which wanted to retain the flexibility to go further than national minimum standards.
Rishworth said federal and state governments had already worked on the national consumer protection framework and BetStop together and would now consider “what comes next” for national collaboration and coordination.
Asked again about a national regulator, Rishworth replied: “Well, look, at this point, that is not in the discussions with states and territories.”
Senior government ministers including Bill Shorten have defended a partial ban on gambling ads on the basis media companies need the revenue.
