Labor and Coalition MPs have thrown their support behind a blanket ban on gambling advertising in a bid to curb the social and economic damage from heavy losses. Source: The Age.
The cross-party calls heighten the pressure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and senior ministers to toughen a draft plan to impose a partial ban that aims to appease media companies and sporting codes who fear the loss of about $240 million in annual advertising.
More than 70 prominent Australians, including former prime ministers and premiers, union leaders and medical experts, have signed an open letter calling on the federal Government to ban gambling advertising.
The Government risks a backlash from community campaigners and some of its own backbenchers who want it to impose the total ban recommended last year by a bipartisan committee led by former Labor MP Peta Murphy, who declared that partial bans would not work.
Ms Murphy died last December and many of her Labor colleagues believe the Government should honour her legacy with a comprehensive ad ban after a surge in online bets to about $10 billion a year.
Labor MP Mike Freelander blamed the surge for compounding the financial hardship in Australian households and said a total advertising ban was a necessary health policy akin to the controls on tobacco.
“It’s a way of transferring billions of dollars from poor people to wealthy people,” he said of the gambling industry, adding that he had seen the impact on households as a doctor in western Sydney.
Mr Albanese told Parliament on Monday that saturation advertising was “untenable” but he made no commitment to a ban when independent MP Zoe Daniel asked him in question time about the harm from gambling.
The draft cabinet plan suggests a cap of two gambling ads per hour on each TV channel until 10pm and banning ads an hour before and after live sport, but MPs are pushing for a tougher regime.
Gambling companies spent $238.63 million on advertising in the year to April last year, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
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Labor MPs say ‘total ban’ is the only way on gambling ads (By David Crowe, Paul Sakkal and James Massola, The Age)
