Action on gambling harm is overdue, but it should not have taken more than 1,000 days for the Prime Minister to act.
Gambling addiction is tearing apart Australian families and communities, and the need for reform has been clear for years.
Yet this is a Prime Minister who voted against meaningful reform, then spent three years delaying, denying, and deflecting.
Just last week, the Prime Minister claimed the Murphy Report had been dealt with. Today we learn Cabinet has only now made a decision.
Australians will rightly ask why action on an issue causing real harm in communities has taken so long.
Today’s announcement also exposes a clear case of hypocrisy. In 2023, Labor voted against the Coalition’s legislation to ban gambling advertisements one hour before, during and after live sport. Now the Prime Minister has announced a policy strikingly similar to what he once opposed.
The scale of harm is significant and growing. Australians are exposed to around one million gambling advertisements each year. According to the Alliance for Gambling Reform, around 600,000 underage teenagers aged 12 to 17 are gambling an estimated $18 million annually. Children as young as ten can recognise gambling brands and develop brand loyalty.
Among young men, the trends are deeply concerning. More than a quarter of men aged 18 to 24 and one-third aged 25 to 34 now bet on sport, with nearly one in five young sports bettors already showing signs of problem gambling.
Senator Henderson said the detail of the Government’s proposal would be critical.
“We will carefully assess this announcement to determine whether it delivers genuine reform or simply more headlines,” Senator Henderson said.
“We have particular concerns about how a ban on online gambling advertising for under-18s will work in practice and whether it will be properly enforced.”
Even now, Australians are being told to wait another six weeks for a formal response, in Budget week, after years of delay.
“This reinforces a pattern we are seeing time and again from this Prime Minister. He is always the last to lead,” Senator Henderson said.
“Australians deserve timely, decisive leadership, not delay, confusion and last-minute decisions.”
The Coalition will continue to advocate for practical, effective measures that protect Australians, particularly young people, from the harms of gambling.