The Albanese government has been accused of “a total cop-out” and lacking political courage after reports it is likely to stop short of introducing a blanket ban on gambling advertising.
The independent senator David Pocock said the government appeared to be pursuing a “watered down policy to appease the gambling industry”, while the crossbench MP Zoe Daniel slammed what she saw as a “half-hearted, half-arsed” proposal.
It comes as the Nine newspapers reported on Sunday that TV viewers were likely to see gambling advertisements for years to come.
According to the report, Labor is planning to propose “a cap of two gambling ads per hour on each channel until 10pm, and banning ads an hour before and after live sport”.
The report said Labor would, however, propose a blanket ban on betting ads on social media and other digital platforms. The package had yet to go to cabinet.
The Albanese government said on Sunday it would not comment on speculation about the content of potential reforms.
A spokesperson for the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said the government was “firmly committed to minimising harms from online wagering”.
“The government continues to engage with stakeholders regarding the recommendations from the online wagering inquiry as we formulate our response,” the spokesperson said.
In June last year, a parliamentary committee led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy called on the government to “implement a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising for online gambling, to be introduced in four phases, over three years, commencing immediately”.
That would begin with a prohibition of all online gambling inducements and inducement advertising, and all advertising of online gambling on social media and online platforms.
The second phase proposed by Murphy’s committee was a ban on “all online gambling advertising and commentary on odds, during and an hour either side of a sports broadcast” and also a ban on betting logos on players’ uniforms.
The third phase would ban all broadcast online gambling advertising between 6am and 10pm. The fourth phase would take effect by the end of year three and impose a “prohibition on all online gambling advertising and sponsorship”.
Pocock, the independent senator for the ACT, condemned the government for reportedly not going as far as the measures proposed by Murphy’s committee.
“What a total cop out and betrayal of the late Peta Murphy’s legacy,” Pocock wrote on the social media site X.
“There is support in the parliament to implement the Murphy Review recommendations in full – not some watered down policy to appease the gambling industry. Find some courage and end this harm.”
Daniel, the independent MP for the Victorian seat of Goldstein, said sports fans hated gambling ads. She called on Labor to “listen to what the people want” not to “the gambling giants”.
“What the government has in mind is half-hearted, half-arsed, won’t work and is a betrayal of Peta Murphy’s legacy,” Daniel said in a statement on Sunday.
“How many more young and impressionable sports fans are going to have their lives ruined before government gets the message?”
Daniel said the government should not settle for anything less than “a total ban on gambling advertising on all platforms, television, online, digital and the streamers”.
She accused the government of “giving the gambling giants pretty much what they want”.
She argued the government’s reported package gave the “appearance of action when all the proposed measures would do is enable them to continue to normalise the relationship between gambling and sport and wreck the lives of thousands more mainly young people”.
Rowland was offered the opportunity to respond to Pocock and Daniel’s specific comments.
Her spokesperson defended the government’s commitment to reform.
“Since coming to government, we have launched BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register, banned the use of credit cards for online wagering, agreed minimum classifications for computer games with gambling-like content for the very first time, and introduced evidence-based messaging to replace the ineffective ‘Gamble Responsibly’,” the spokesperson said.
