Online gambling ads could be phased out in three years. Following an inquiry into its impacts, a new report handed down today found children are being groomed to gamble by ads and video games. For more, we're joined by the chair of the committee, Peter Murphy in Melbourne.
Peter, good morning to you. Can you talk us through nice to see you. Can you talk us through some of the key findings in this report? Good morning. Thank you for having me on. In this beautifully warm Melbourne.
This look, the key findings the committee really accepted evidence to say that Australians hate gambling ads, and they particularly hate gambling ads being directed at their children or being shown at times that their children can see them, even if they're not directed at their children.
We heard a lot of evidence about the impact of gambling harm on individuals and families and communities and the fact that parents are really concerned that children, sometimes as young as seven and nine, are in the playground instead.
Of talking about who their favorite player is, who's going to win on the weekend, what the odds are for the Footy, and being able to identify gambling companies by their colors and their brands. And parents don't like that, and I understand why they don't.
What impact would a ban on sports and advertising industries have? Look an ultimate comprehensive ban on advertising of online gambling on television, radio, newspapers, if they still did it, and on social media would mean that children are protected from being exposed to advertising.
It would also mean that people who are experiencing harm from gambling and who are struggling to control their gambling would be protected. It would mean we would be taking a public health approach. So instead of emphasizing the stigma and the shame of people who can't control their gambling, we'd be saying, no, there's a public health issue, and you should feel.
Safe and free to reach out for. Assistance. I think it's gone too far. I think most sensible people would say that it's gone too far. I think they also represent a fair bit of power in terms of advertising to key platforms, so that may have to be fixed up in some way in some sort of compensation format.
Are you open to that? Look, I think that's right, that gambling advertising now plays a more significant role in broadcast television, particularly than it used to. That's one of the reasons that the committee, which, by the way, is a bipartisan committee, so Labor, Liberal, national and independent all agreed on all of these recommendations, which is a pretty big thing, I think.
But that's why we recommended a phased in approach and we don't recommend tweaking at the edges, which can have unintended consequences. We say, look, it needs to be phased in to give broadcasters sporting bodies advertisers time to adjust to changes.
But ultimately, where the committee thinks we should get to is a national strategy on harm reduction, a public health approach, a national regulator and a ban on all advertising of online gambling. Well, they've got a good chair in you.
It's not easy territory to navigate through. We always love seeing you, Peter. I hope you will. Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate that. Isn't she?
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