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

Senator WHITEAKER (Western Australia) (11:09): I rise to speak in support of the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026. Australians love their sports. In my home state of Western Australia we've been spoilt for choice, with local and international sporting events coming to our great state in recent years—from the Matildas opening the AFC Women's Asian Cup last March in Perth to the AFL bringing games to the south-west town of Bunbury, where North Melbourne played the Dockers.

Might I just say, the mighty Freo Dockers are having an excellent season at the moment. Just on Sunday, the Freo Dockers women's team played their very first game at their new home in my local community of Cockburn. I can't wait to take my son to a game just down the road at the Dockers' amazing facility at Cockburn ARC, but, when I do, I don't want him to be exposed to gambling ads on the sidelines as we're watching the players play the game.

I know many families feel the same. When they're taking the train—on trains manufactured in WA, thanks to a Labor government, that are running along the Metronet network, funded by both state and federal Labor governments—they should be able to do it knowing that, when they arrive at the game, their kids won't be bombarded with ads that expose them to betting.

Families deserve to be able to go to a stadium and watch the game without being worried about the ads that their kids might see. Children should not grow up believing that sports and gambling go hand in hand. Aussies love sports, but they love it for the game, not for the odds.

When gambling advertising gets in the way of enjoying the footy or the rugby with your kids or with your mates, we should step up and make change. Gambling ads have taken over our sports, our stadiums, our teams, our TVs, iPads and phone screens for too long. Without these changes, you haven't been able to watch your favourite team without being told to have a crack.

This legislation is groundbreaking. Not only does this bill represent the largest reform to online gambling in Australia's history, but it is also the first time a federal government has taken proactive steps to regulate gambling advertising. The Albanese Labor government is taking the strongest ever action to tackle the harms of gambling.

We will protect Australians from the harms of online gambling and we will especially protect children and young people by minimising their exposure to betting ads. This bill places limits on ads so that no more than three gambling ads can be broadcast each hour between 5 am and 8.30 pm, the time that kids are most likely to watch any television. New measures announced this week, and that I'm really pleased about, enshrine what is in the code of practice into law, to legislate that gambling ads cannot be shown during shows for children.

There will be a total ban during live sports broadcasts within those hours, with the marketing blackout starting 15 minutes before each game. On the radio, ads will be banned during school drop-off and pick-up times, between the hours of 8 am and 9 am, and from 3 pm to 4 pm. We are banning wagering advertisements online unless you have a logged in account and are over 18.

We will make sure that everyone has the option to opt out from these ads should they wish. For people that need to stay away from gambling related products, this will make it easier for them to reduce their exposure, because opting out should be easy and straightforward. The new wagering advertising opt-out register is designed to allow Australians to choose to not be exposed to wagering ads through a single, simple mechanism, and it will have effect across all online platforms.

These are sensible and good measures. The Albanese Labor government will also impose a levy on gambling companies to cover the cost of this register and other measures on inducements, because if companies are ready to make a profit from gambling, they should also be ready to pay for the measures that keep people safe from gambling related harm. After the passing of this bill, online betting companies will not be able to enlist high-profile celebrities and sports players in their ads.

We know that the endorsement of these figures can be highly influential, especially with young people. Sporting fans will no longer be targeted by odds-style ads, limiting the ability of betting platforms to induce bets around sporting events. These reforms will also prevent gambling companies from plastering their logos and slogans across the uniforms of players and officials, and from around sporting venues.

In recent weeks, our government has strengthened our reform following significant consultation, the evidence heard by the Senate inquiry and also the advocacy of many, many Labor members around the country which led to a platform change at the ALP's national conference last month. We've added additional measures around inducements, and these are really, really important measures.

Inducements can very quickly become toxic. I think we've all seen some of the most terrible examples of those inducements in the evidence given at the Senate inquiry over the last few weeks, and there is absolutely no place for that in our country. We cannot stand for it.

We condemn that action in the very strongest of terms. Our strengthened measures in this bill include additional protections for consumers at the critical points that they risk tipping into gambling harm. These measures include banning inducements for 14 days after signing up with a gambling company, banning inducements on all red flagged customers, banning inducements for three months after a person deregisters from BetStop and banning commissions to staff or affiliates based on consumer activity.

These are sensible measures that I think add a lot of important weight to this bill. Banning ads during live sport, banning ads during children's television shows, banning radio ads during drop-off and pick-up, limiting ads online, giving people choice to opt out simply, banning ads featuring celebrities, banning odds-style ads, keeping gambling companies off players and officials and reclaiming our stadiums for sports—these are concrete, achievable reforms that will protect Australians.

These changes will be complemented with a comprehensive range of measures to address risky products and integrity concerns. The government will crack down on services that provide access to offshore lotteries. These foreign matched lotteries sell tickets locally but match their draws and prizes to products overseas.

Larger jackpots are promoted to encourage higher spending, but, because the draws are being conducted overseas, they are outside Australian regulation, creating a big risk for consumers. The agencies offering these products are exploiting gaps in the legislation and competing with Australian regulated lotteries. That means they're diverting funds that might otherwise go to supporting local businesses, newsagencies and community organisations through programs like Lotterywest in my home state.

We know that many charities and community groups rely on the funding raised through those lotteries. From now on, to sell lottery tickets in Australia, you will be required to run a local lottery. This will strengthen consumer protections and contribute to the financial sustainability of local community and charitable organisations.

Access to new technologies, which are ever-changing—it feels often day by day—makes these kinds of reforms an ever-evolving challenge. Our government will ban emerging, harmful, online 'pocket pokies', and we will keep working to address harms related to online gambling. In line with these changes, we will boost enforcement against illegal offshore gambling providers, making sure the reforms have the intended effect of keeping people safe.

Protecting Australians from the harms of gambling also requires protecting them from illegal activity that smears the reputation of our sporting codes. We've seen cases of criminal organisations fixing matches in order to make a profit from wagering. Sport Integrity Australia leads the way in countering competition manipulation by working with sports codes, clubs and international agencies to identify and prevent instances of match fixing.

We will build on these efforts by making match fixing a criminal offence consistent across the country, improving sports integrity and reducing the appeal of our local competitions as a target for illegal activity. This bill has been designed with people's safety front of mind. These commonsense reforms are an important milestone in Labor's long track record of safeguarding Australians from gambling harm.

We have already legislated a ban on credit cards, digital wallets and digital currency for both online and telephone betting services. Getting into debt to place bets is an extremely risky practice. It is already illegal for wagering companies to offer or help you access credit for the purposes of gambling.

We know that sometimes, for people that need to step away from gambling platforms, self-exclusion is the only viable option. That's why we created BetStop the National Self-Exclusion Register. Since its inception, more than 59,000 Australians have willingly registered, almost 40 per cent of those opting for a self-imposed lifetime ban.

We will continue to strengthen this scheme following the recent statutory review. Mandatory pre-verification imposed on online platforms ensures that children under 18 and people that have opted for self-exclusion will not be allowed to place bets. In addition to these measures, our government will expand access to financial counselling support for gambling and work to continue to raise awareness of the risks associated with online gambling.

This bill strikes a balance between protecting an individual's right to have fun safely and, importantly, shielding our children and young people and people who are vulnerable to harm from gambling advertising, keeping them safe and putting in place safeguards that can protect them. I know that there are people in this place and outside of this place who feel like this bill doesn't go far enough, but I think we can be really confident in the work that our government has done diligently over the last few years to come to a set of reforms that are the most significant to come to this parliament on gambling ever.

No government has done this before, and it is really important that we take this strong action to protect children and young people and people who are vulnerable to harm from gambling action. Thank you. Senator Hanson-Young: But you're not.

That's the point. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Hodgins-May ): Minister Walsh, on a point of order? Senator Walsh: Acting Deputy President, interjections are disorderly, and the senator deserves to be heard in silence.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Whiteaker, have you finished your speech? Thank you, Senator Whiteaker.