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 CHISHOLM (Queensland—Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Assistant Minister for Resources and Deputy Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (18:25): As we've been upfront on, as has been in the news and as we've seen through the Senate legislative inquiry, we understand that inducements can quickly turn for people and become toxic.

It also means that gambling no longer remains fun and goes to an addiction and becomes a problem. The Senate inquiry showed us the most toxic version of inducements, and we condemn those actions in the strongest possible terms. We also dealt with this at our national conference; this was something raised from the floor, and people identified the heightened risk of gambling harm.

We included a commitment around measures around inducements at that conference. Our strengthened measures as part of this include additional protection for consumers at critical points where they risk tipping into the domain of gambling harm. The new additional measures are: banning inducements for 14 days after signing up with a gambling company; banning inducements on all 'red flag' customers; banning inducements for three months after a person deregisters from BetStop; and banning commissions to staff or affiliates based on customer activity.

These gambling companies know who to target and who will bet more. These amendments will require them to use that intelligence to identify and protect potentially vulnerable customers. That is the focus of this government and how we intend to ensure that we're doing our best to reduce the harm caused by inducements.