Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (12:46): I want to thank the parliament for coming together to deal with this issue and get a result that will work. This new legislation, the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, is the most significant gambling advertising reform by any Australian government ever. It increases protections for people who are most at risk of gambling harm while continuing to allow those who enjoy a bet to do so.

And Australians will be better protected from inducements and direct marketing, as we determined we would pursue at the Adelaide ALP National Conference. Importantly, this legislation concentrates on those who need our help the most: people at most risk of harm. It doesn't preach to the community, but it meaningfully increases protections for those who most need it.

I want to pay tribute to the minister, Anika Wells, as well as to the previous minister, the member for Greenway, for the work that has been done since we came to government in 2022. This is the next tranche of reform to make a difference. It will minimise children's exposure to gambling ads by banning gambling ads during children's programming and during live sport between 5 am and 8:30 pm.

It will result in fewer gambling ads during sport by blacking out wagering ads 15 minutes before a live sporting event. And it will ban celebrity endorsements as well as odds-style ads and ads in venues and on jerseys. This is what will make an enormous difference.

The majority of the NRL clubs currently in the National Rugby League have something on their jumpers or some form of sponsorship, which means that sponsorship is constant, and this will outlaw that. It will allow people who want to opt out of gambling ads to do so more easily through a simple opt-out gambling ad register, 'adstop', to back up the BetStop legislation previously introduced by the former minister, which, previous to this legislation, was the most significant antigambling measure ever and one that has been particularly successful.

It will protect vulnerable or addicted gamblers with strengthened measures, by prohibiting direct marketing of inducements to people at risk of gambling harm, extending to 90 days the ban on direct marketing for people exiting BetStop, and banning wagering companies from giving commissions to employees to increase customer gambling activity, with specific higher penalties for social media companies that publish illegal gambling ads.

This legislation, across the board, will make an enormous difference, and I want to thank all those who have engaged constructively in this process. These issues are not simple. These issues are ones where we want to make sure we identify those who are most at risk and take action to provide protection for them.

This legislation, with the amendments, both the amendments that will be moved by the government and the amendments that will be moved by the opposition, today, will make an enormous difference. It will also provide for more enforcement action—the pocket pokies ban, which is really important; the sports integrity boost; the social media ad crackdown; and the illegal offshore gambling—boosting enforcement against illegal offshore gambling providers and enabling the ACMA to issue removal notices requiring hosting service providers to cease access to illegal gambling websites for Australians.

This will make an enormous difference, as will the simulcast exception, enabling broadcasters to observe broadcast rules instead of the triple-lock rules for live channels on their BVOD platforms and extend the dedicated racing and wagering exception to online simulcast services. This is an example of a common sense change that will reflect what I think are community attitudes.

There will be a statutory review as well, where the minister will be required to initiate the review as soon as practicable after three years from the commencement of the act, expected to be 1 January next year. I commend the amendments of both the government and the opposition to the House. I commend the amended legislation to the House, and I'm very pleased that, after what's been an extensive debate today, reform will move forward.

Question agreed to.