Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026

Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (13:13): by leave—I move opposition amendments (1) and (2), circulated in my name, together: (1) Schedule 4, item 1, page 89 (lines 4 to 8), omit the item. (2) Schedule 4, item 11, page 92 (line 9), omit subparagraph 8D(2)(a)(iii). These amendments do one simple thing: they reinstate the exemption for foreign-matched lotteries.

If they're not agreed to, there are 50 people in my electorate whose jobs are about to disappear, not because they broke the law and not because their employer broke the law, but because this parliament is about to change the rules beneath them. Those 50 people work for the lottery office in Robina, in my electorate. I've spoken to the government.

I've spoken to the minister. I've asked this House to reconsider. I'm standing here again because my job is to stand up for the people who sent me here.

Behind schedule 4 are not just clauses and definitions; there are people. Rachel has worked at the lottery office for five years. She's a single mother of two school-aged children.

Her income helps provide for her children and pay her mortgage. Losing her job, she says, would cause significant financial hardship. Cher has worked there for four years.

She raised two children on her own. She fears that, because of her age, finding another job will be difficult, and she says that losing her job could mean she and her daughter have to leave the Gold Coast. Amanda relies on her job to support her young family and pay her mortgage.

She says that losing it could mean her family has to sell or lose their home. She said, 'This is more than just a job. This is the very livelihood we rely on.' Next week, if this bill passes, I will have to go to Robina.

I'll have to walk through the doors of the lottery office. I'll have to sit down with those 50 workers. I'll have to look them in the eye and I'll have to tell them that their parliament has decided that their jobs should no longer exist.

I'll have to tell Rachel that the job that supports her family has gone. I'll have to tell Cher that parliament's decision could force her and her daughter to leave the Gold Coast. I'll have to tell Amanda that we have taken away the livelihood that her family relies upon.

I ask this government: please don't make me have to make that decision and have to do that. These people did not break the law. They did not write this bill.

They did not design the regulatory framework. They simply went to work, and now they're being asked to carry the consequences of a decision that was made here in Canberra. That is not fair.

I support responsible gambling reform. I support strong consumer protections. But if there's a problem, regulate it.

If there's a consumer protection gap, close it. If there's a compliance issue, enforce the rules. The government's own review said that the harms associated with foreign match lotteries were not well understood, that there was insufficient data to establish a different harm profile and that further research was needed.

So I ask again: What changed? What new evidence emerged? Why should 50 Australians lose their jobs before those questions have been answered?

These are not transient jobs. People have built careers there. One employee has worked there for 24 years, another for 21 years and another for 19 years.

Kyra is 24 and in the final year of her design degree. Her job gives her financial independence while she studies and valuable professional experience as she builds her career. She says that, without stable employment, she does not know how she will manage her obligations or begin building a secure future.

Steven has worked there for 13 years. He has two young children and a significant mortgage. He says jobs in his field are scarce on the Gold Coast and his family genuinely risks losing their home if he loses his income.

This is what a decision made in this chamber looks like when it reaches an Australian family: a mother worrying about her mortgage, a father worrying about his children, a young person worrying about their future and a family wondering whether they will lose their home. That is why I'm asking the government to stop, put aside the politics, look at the people, look at the workers, look at the families and remove the prohibition.

Do the evidence based work that your own department said was necessary, strengthen the regulation where it's needed, protect consumers where they need protection, but don't destroy 50 people's livelihoods first and ask questions later. I know the government has the numbers, and this may well be defeated, but without this amendment the bill isn't just gambling reform; it's a Labor protection job.

Roger Cook, the Premier of WA, has asked Canberra to effectively kill off a legal Gold Coast competitor to shield WA's state owned lottery. The Prime Minister and the minister, through this legislation, are simply rolling over to support their Labor mates, so I make this appeal one final time directly to the minister. Next week I may have to walk into that workplace and tell 50 Australians that their parliament has taken away their jobs.

That's not a job that the minister has to do; that's a job that the minister is forcing me to do. Give these people the chance to keep going to work, give their families the security of a job, and give this parliament the chance to get this decision right, because this is not about a line in a schedule; it's about 50 Australians, their families, their homes, their futures.

I commend this amendment to the House.