Former prime minister John Howard has joined more than a dozen Coalition MPs in a public push for stronger gambling laws, uniting with the crossbench in asserting Labor’s new package is too weak and pushing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to take tougher action.
Former Liberal premiers Jeff Kennett and Nick Greiner also signed the open letter to Albanese, published as an advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Friday, that calls for Labor to consider a national regulator and stricter advertising ban than it has planned.
Opposition MPs who signed include frontbencher Andrew Hastie, deputy Nationals leader Darren Chester and Cook MP Simon Kennedy, who co-chairs the parliamentary group on gambling harm minimisation. “Your proposed reforms do not go far enough,” the letter said.
“They leave too many loopholes and fail to properly protect families from an industry that profits from addiction. This is particularly disappointing given the late Labor MP Peta Murphy led a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry that recommended long-overdue reforms to reduce gambling harm.”
After crossbench MPs last month published a letter in this masthead that called on Albanese to “read the suicide notes” of people harmed by gambling, the letter signed by 17 Coalition MPs will signal there is even broader appetite in the parliament for stronger action.
Labor backbencher Mike Freelander last year told the ABC that if the parliament were given a conscience vote, “I’ve got no doubt we’d be able to ban gambling advertising”.
Support from the conservative side of politics also wedges Albanese, who until now faced most criticism for lagging on gambling reform from the crossbench and Labor’s left flank, having taken more than 1000 days for the government to respond to Murphy’s report.
Labor last week introduced laws to restrict gambling advertising by capping television ads at three per hour, phasing in an ad ban for stadiums and jerseys, introducing tighter limits on radio ads in school pick-up hours and an opt-in model for online ads, and banning sports stars from promoting wagering. It also moved to kill off the newer online keno and offshore lottery industries.
But it fell short of recommendations from the 2023 Murphy report, which called for a national gambling regulator and total ad blackout – policies advocates say are necessary to reduce Australia’s unwanted reputation as a world leader in personal gambling losses.
Howard, who supported former NSW Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet’s crackdown on poker machines at the last state election, told this masthead that there was “far too much gambling in Australia”.
“It worries me that many young people grow up thinking it’s normal behaviour to gamble heavily,” he said.
“I think the federal government would be well advised to follow the advice of their late colleague Peta Murphy, who made a lot of recommendations, not all of which the prime minister has chosen to implement.
“I strongly support anything that can limit the tendency of our society to treat gambling as normalised. It does cause a lot of misery in families. People gamble money they should spend on their children’s wellbeing. It causes tension. It probably leads to some violence. I think the case against it is overwhelming.”
Friday’s letter is signed by opposition MPs who have indicated their interest in gambling harm minimisation, but the process did not canvass the entire Coalition joint party room, meaning there could be more who support stronger laws.
Those MPs could join the crossbench in seeking amendments that strengthen Labor’s package, and also push Opposition Leader Angus Taylor into taking a harder line.
Tim Costello, the chief advocate of the Gambling Reform Alliance, who co-ordinated the letter, said the majority of Australians wanted a gambling advertising ban, including members of parliament.
“I know, because Labor members talk to me, that they want something stronger, but they’re toeing the line. We’ve known the teals and Greens view for a while, now we know the bulk of the Liberal Party’s view,” he said. “The prime minister should welcome this.”
Kennedy, the Liberal chair of the parliamentary group, said it was a test for Albanese. “When forced to choose between the gambling lobby and Australian families, whose side is he on?”
“Australia loses more money to gambling than any country in the world. We should be leading the world in protecting children from gambling harm, not settling for half-measures,” he said.
Albanese defended the government in question time on Thursday. “We’re taking action when it comes to problem gambling, more than any government in Australian history has,” he said.
“The next comprehensive level of reforms will continue to engage, and I’ll continue to engage, with people on the cross benches and across the parliament.”
The letter said the Coalition’s proposal under former leader Peter Dutton to ban sports betting in the hour before and after live sport, as well as during games, went further than the 8.30pm curfew for advertising limit that Labor has proposed.
“This is not good enough. Children are being exposed to gambling advertising at alarming levels, and betting is being normalised from a young age,” it said.
“We support stronger national action, including consideration of a national regulator, so gambling harm is addressed consistently across the country… The government should strengthen these reforms and put children ahead of the gambling industry.”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.
More:
Natassia Chrysanthosis Federal Political Correspondent. She has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect viaXoremail.
