Introduction by Croakey: The complex web of commercial determinants that are influencing the Federal Government’s decision-making on gambling advertising reform were outlined in an insightful article just a few days ago in The Saturday Paper.
Gambling companies are just one element of this unhealthy ecosystem; others include free-to-air TV broadcasters, major sporting bodies, big social media players – Google, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat – and the peak body for online advertising, the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
On the other side of the debate is a broad alliance – of former prime ministers and premiers, MPs, union leaders, sport, business, health, union and faith figures, academics, writers, social justice advocates and social service groups. They have united in calling on the Federal Government and the Opposition to commit to banning all gambling advertising within three years.
Below gambling reform advocate Rebecca Thorpe urges the Albanese Government to put public health first.
Rebecca Thorpe writes:
Australia is on the precipice of losing something great – a full ban on gambling advertising, which would have been a rare public health win.
This ban was the recommendation of the You win some, you lose more report, led by the now late Peta Murphy MP.
This sort of ban is not without precedent. Australia led the way on banning tobacco advertising through to the world-first introduction of plain packaging. This happened because smoking was and remains a public health issue.
Like smoking, gambling is a serious public health issue. At its worst, gambling kills. Too many lives have been lost to gambling-related deaths by suicide. Gambling takes a lot more than money – it takes families, relationships, time, health, homes, hopes and dreams.
Labor MP Mike Freelander, who is also a doctor in western Sydney, has said that the surge in gambling advertising is compounding the financial hardship in Australian households at an already difficult time. “It’s a way of transferring billions of dollars from poor people to wealthy people,” he says.
Beyond the bottom line
A combination of the gambling and advertising/media industries is putting pressure on the Federal Government to keep gambling ads on the air. The gambling industry has been targeting children to think gambling is a normal part of life ever since the ads first aired back in 2008. There’s a reason they advertise during family-friendly shows like Masterchef.
Both the gambling and advertising/media industries are only concerned about one thing: their bottom line.
To keep the industries happy, Anthony Albanese is proposing to significantly water down the recommendations from what is known as the Peta Murphy inquiry. This was confirmed by Bill Shorten in his comments on Q and A last night, suggesting that gambling advertising was needed to keep free-to-air media afloat.
Why is the Prime Minister worrying about the industry’s finances instead of the health and strength of Australian people, families, communities and even our broader economy?
How can he not see that the $25 billion lost every year to gambling in Australia would have a much bigger and better impact being spent elsewhere in our communities, be that on a pizza or a coffee in a small business, down to the household essentials many are missing out on due to the ravages of gambling?
And that’s before you start considering the significant cost of repairing gambling harm, including in the mental health sector.
A gambling ad ban is a public health win that Australia cannot afford to lose.
• Rebecca Thorpe is on the board of GHLEE — Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts.
More from social media
Meanwhile, Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman offers a history lesson from tobacco control
See Croakey’s archive of articles on gambling
