Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, National Self-exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Amendment Bill 2026

Ms PAYNE (Canberra) (17:01): This is a really important debate that we are having today about protecting Australians from gambling harm, and I want to begin my contribution by acknowledging the brilliant work of Peta Murphy, the former member for Dunkley, and her committee that gave us the report You win some, you lose more. I want to acknowledge what she did to really elevate the voices of Australians who had experienced gambling harm and the recommendations that she and that committee made for how we can better protect all of us from that and how we can break the link between sport and gambling.

Through that process, I want to acknowledge everyone who has shared their own experiences of gambling harm and everyone who has advocated on this important issue—from the constituents that have spoken to me, written to me and met with me about it to everyone across this parliament who has advocated to reduce gambling harm. I also want to acknowledge Tim Costello, who has taken on some of the hardest issues in Australian politics and always does, whether it's human rights, poverty or gambling.

I want to thank him as well. I want to thank everyone who is contributing to this really important national conversation that we have to have, as well as the Canberrans who have really got behind the need to protect Australians from gambling harm. As I say, so many have written to me, have stopped me in the street, have come to my mobile offices, have made a time to meet with me to discuss this.

It's important, and they want to see change. I have been so proud to represent my community on this and to call for the strongest possible action on gambling harm in this place. And I have been heartened to stand beside so many of my Labor colleagues, who have that same dedication on this issue.

We have worked together over a long time on this, and there have been many Labor members from all around the country who have stood up on this, not just those you have seen in the media. Today we are debating legislation that will make a big difference—the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, along with the National Self-exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Amendment Bill 2026.

It is likely this legislation will be further strengthened; we have listened to the Australian community and we are open to strengthening it further. This is what Labor governments do. This is what I, as your Labor representative, have done.

I have listened and I have raised your voices in our government and in this place. That's what we've been doing, and it has led to delivery, which is what we are seeing today. My position on gambling harm is very simple and it's very personal to me.

I will always advocate for the strongest possible action to minimise gambling harm, because nothing justifies it. I have said that in so many emails to my constituents, and I want to explain it. Like so many Australians, I have seen gambling harm firsthand.

Honestly, I formed my views about what governments should do about gambling harm as a 19-year-old. I want to share a little bit about my personal experience not because it's extraordinary—quite the opposite—but because it is a common Australian experience, and it shouldn't be, and because I want my community to know that I mean it when I say I will always advocate for the strongest action on gambling harm.

When I was a young adult living in Sydney, someone close to me who I cared about very much had a problem with poker machine gambling. I was a uni student and he worked full-time. He routinely emptied his entire bank account into a poker machine, often on payday, meaning he had no money for food or rent or anything else.

I was the only person there to support him through it, but for the most part I was the only person who even knew about it—and was probably not best equipped to help someone through something like that. His story is not mine to tell, but suffice to say he was dealing with some difficult and complex issues in his own life that he had no control over. What sticks with me so much is how his gambling was so deliberately self-destructive.

He was vulnerable because of the other things he was dealing with, and I think the gambling was the way he dealt with the pain he was experiencing. It offered him a way to beat the system—and sometimes he would win, and it compounded that. A low point was when his housemates left the rent for him to take to the real estate agent—for younger people listening, that used to be how you could pay your rent; you took cash to a real estate agent.

But he walked past the pub and he lost it all. I gave him the money. At that time I had a friend who worked with people dealing with addiction, and I ended up confiding in her about what was going on.

She told me in the kindest way that I shouldn't have done that, because you need to let people hit rock bottom so that they can help themselves—easier said than done. He decided it might help if he got an alert set up by the bank, where a text message is sent every time you withdraw from your account, and he wanted it to be sent to my phone. I said I didn't think that was helpful for either of us and I didn't want that role.

But he set it up, so I got a text message every time he withdrew money. I remember us having an argument one night, and he went off and, through the night, withdrew his entire account, with me receiving a text for each withdrawal until the account was empty. I was unable to contact him because his phone was off.

I want to be clear that I don't share these examples to reflect on him. This is what happens when people are in the grips of an addiction that is destroying their life and they can't escape it. Problem gambling is very difficult stuff.

I recently met with financial counsellors in my electorate, and they welcomed the additional funding we are giving financial counsellors, as part of these reforms, to deal with gambling. They said to me that the stigma and shame around gambling is something very different to everything else they deal with. In fact, they said they will never put one of their counsellors only on gambling matters because it is that distressing to that person, and that person will burn out and leave.

He wanted to stop. He self-excluded from local venues, but he found he could still walk in, and, anyway, there were always more pokies to find—at that time, 24 hours a day. In the end, he went to financial counselling and he got help managing his debts, which involved losing his car.

I don't mean to say that, in the scheme of gambling harm, my experience is extreme. We didn't share a home. We didn't have children to support.

We didn't lose a business. The story doesn't include violence or suicide. But these are things that happen in Australian homes every day as a result of gambling, and it was enough to convince me that nothing justifies the harm that gambling causes—not the good that clubs do for our community, not the revenue that goes to broadcasting or sport, nothing.

Anyone who has themselves tried, or seen a loved one try, to escape problem gambling knows that. When people are vulnerable, this predatory industry draws them in and hits them where it hurts the most—with their money, which in turn impacts their ability to live and participate and have dignity, and with huge impacts on their families and loved ones. This is not about stopping people from having a punt; it is about ensuring people are not bombarded by the persistent invitation to keep gambling to beat the system.

My experience is with poker machine gambling, a state and territory responsibility. I want to take this opportunity to commend the work of Dr Marisa Paterson, the ACT minister for gaming reform, and what she is leading in the ACT, including the compulsory reduction of poker machines, the introduction of mandatory cashless gaming, revolutionised self-exclusion that will no longer be venue based and working with clubs towards a more sustainable model.

The reforms we are discussing today, though, relate to the approaches of the gambling industry that don't even require you to walk into a club. They are on your phone, on your television, in the stadium as you and your kids watch the sport that you love. As it stands, this legislation is going to make a big difference, and we don't want to lose that fact.

This legislation introduces important new restrictions, including restricting gambling advertising, strengthening BetStop, banning online keno and foreign match lotteries and closing the loophole that allowed fake trade promotion and reward club lotteries. Gambling advertising will be banned on TV during all live sport in set hours and limited outside of those hours.

Celebrities, athletes and influencers will be banned from promoting gambling. Online advertising will only be permitted if online platforms implement restrictions, including an opt-out function, and, if they choose not to, then the rules are clear—they can't show ads at any time to anyone. It will tackle illegal offshore gambling providers to ensure that Australia's consumer protections apply for any gambling activity, and BetStop will be strengthened to ensure that anyone recovering from gambling addiction can easily and reliably opt out of gambling marketing and inducements.

BetStop is an essential service that is actively improving the lives of Australians every day. It was introduced by this Albanese Labor government. Since its launch in 2023, it has supported 61,000 Australians to exclude themselves from gambling, many of whom have spoken about the positive impact it had on their lives.

But it can be stronger and more effective, and the changes in this bill will improve that. I am very pleased that we have listened to the community on this. We are open to further strengthening this bill, and those negotiations are continuing.

We are focused on strengthening the bill to provide stronger protections for children and vulnerable people from exposure to advertising or predatory industry tactics. We know that inducements are harmful, and this was rightfully recognised by our Labor rank and file at our recent national conference. I thank our Labor membership for their advocacy in that space.

The inquiry in recent weeks has also shone a light on this. Another local story for Canberrans is that of Luke Bateman, a former Raider. That showed the most disgraceful and illegal inducements that were offered, and we all want to see something more done about that.

Consistent with that, we are focused on ensuring that this bill strengthens measures around limiting the harm of inducements. We will continue negotiating, and I want to say to everyone in this House that I do want to see the strongest possible action that we can take on this and implore all of us to think about the people that this legislation is protecting and to think about what sport means in Australia.

I also think of my eight-year-old son, who is absolutely sports mad at the moment. He knows what Sportsbet is. He knows what odds are.

He's eight. I have already had to have a talk with him about gambling, and I don't think any parent should have to do that. I know that parents that I speak to are disgusted by all the advertising that they constantly see when their children are interested in sport.

I am really pleased that we are acting in this space, and I commend the minister for the role that she has had in this. This is not easy. This is difficult stuff.

This is a big step that we are taking, and there is always more to do. That may take time or happen as part of this debate. I mean it when I say I will always advocate for the strongest action on this because nothing justifies it.

I know that my friend and my 19-year-old self deserve better, and so does every Australian.