00:00Well, it's now 800 days since the Murphy Report, so you can either say, wow, they're
00:08going to come up with an incredible package that 80 per cent of the public want, banning
00:14gambling ads, treating it as a health issue, having a national regulator, but 800 days
00:21without a response equally allows the other possibility that they've been intimidated
00:28by free-to-air TV, by the AFL, NRL, by the sports gambling codes, 800 days may mean that actually
00:38they really have not listened to the public.
00:41We just don't know.
00:43Today, there was a piece in The Guardian on one media organisation calling for some kind
00:48of compensation if there was a ban.
00:50What's your perspective on that?
00:52Well, that media organisation, probably joined by the other media organisations, had
00:58trashed its social licence.
01:00You know, reportedly at the AGM of Channel 9 today, when asked about were they seeking
01:08compensation, Channel 9 admitted they were, if there were any ban on gambling ads.
01:14Now, Channel 9 made a $271 million profit last year.
01:20It's got a market cap of $1.8 billion.
01:24When you think that Channel 9 has the NRL and 80% of 10-year-olds know the sports betting companies,
01:35the odds on every NRL game, go on the NRL WhatsApp site and see the odds.
01:43That 80% of 10-year-olds have been groomed by Channel 9.
01:48They have trashed their social licence when 75-80% of the public, particularly parents, want
02:00the gambling ad banned because they regard their children as being groomed by a legal
02:05but an adult product, a product like cigarettes that's legal, but we don't allow to groom
02:12our kids.
02:13You used the word groomed there, that's a very strong word to use.
02:21Why are you comfortable using that kind of language?
02:24Sadly, that's what it is.
02:27So, most European nations have banned the gambling ads because they actually said this is grooming
02:34our kids.
02:35In other words, what happens with gamblers is, particularly when they get addicted, and we
02:41know that so many do, is they go to jail, they go bankrupt, maybe some get help or they commit
02:49suicide.
02:50I've done six funerals myself.
02:54And that means the industry doesn't have a steady supply of new gamblers.
03:01That's why they go to the next generation, grooming kids, saying that NRL and AFL and Australian
03:09cricket is actually only enjoyed by gambling.
03:12Kids never once identified their football heroes, cricket heroes with gambling.
03:20That's now what they do.
03:22And once upon a time, when kids could actually tell you, because of tobacco ads sponsoring
03:29sport, the brand difference of Marlborough cigarettes, Peter Stiven's cigarettes, the cost of packets,
03:36we said, no, that's wrong.
03:38Cigarettes are legal, but they're adult.
03:41That's exactly the case with gambling ads.
03:44And we've allowed them to groom our kids.
03:47The government argues it's undertaken some of what it describes as the most significant
03:52gambling harm reductions measures in Australian history, talking about including establishing
03:58mandatory customer ID verification for online wagering and banning the use of credit cards
04:04for online wagering, amongst other things.
04:06And gambling itself is a legal activity.
04:09Why, and you've already touched on this, but why should the advertising be so heavily restricted
04:15if it's a legal activity?
04:18Well, so is tobacco and alcohol, they're legal activities.
04:23But they can't advertise on the six o'clock news on commercial stations, but gambling does.
04:30We know that the government has implemented what were coalition under the Morrison government
04:36reforms, BetStop, which is self-exclusion.
04:40We're glad they implemented it, but it started under the Morrison government.
04:44Credit betting.
04:45We're glad they've implemented it, but it started under the Morrison government.
04:49What they failed to do is respond to their own courageous backbencher, Peter Murphy, who
04:54lost her battle with cancer.
04:56And a multi-partisan consensus.
05:00How long has it been since we've seen that?
05:02The Murphy report included independents, Greens, Liberals, Nationals that said ban gambling ads.
05:10It's grooming kids.
05:11This is absolutely wrong.
05:14Do not give in to the power of the free-to-air TVs, the 9, 7, 10s, Foxtel, nor AFL and NRL.
05:23Parents want their kids protected from watching their football sporting heroes and thinking
05:29about it in terms of gambling.
05:32So European nations have literally said, we're stopping this, and they have.
05:39Here is the nation with the greatest gambling losses per capita in the world.
05:43The greatest gambling harm, domestic violence three times more if there's gambling in a family.
05:49Suicides, crime, mental health in Indigenous communities, carving up Indigenous communities.
05:56And the government, after 800 days, hasn't responded to their own brave backbencher, Peter Murphy's
06:04report for recommending banned gambling ads.
06:08Yeah, you mentioned Peter Murphy there.
06:11She was a key voice, or the key voice, on that parliamentary report released two years ago,
06:17calling for a ban.
06:19You're obviously deeply concerned about the way this could go in the coming months.
06:25If there was to...
06:27If the government was to back away from a ban, how do you think that would reflect on the
06:33legacy of Peter Murphy?
06:35It would be a terrible failure.
06:37I was at her 50th birthday party with many cabinet ministers.
06:42I was...
06:43She died six weeks after that.
06:45I was at her funeral.
06:46The Prime Minister spoke really movingly and singled out her gambling inquiry and said,
06:54we are going to respond.
06:56After 800 plus days, he hasn't.
06:59So I don't think this is now a political issue.
07:03I think the coalition would actually support the Murphy report.
07:07Keith Wollahan and Jenny Ware, liberals on the Murphy inquiry, did support it.
07:13I think it's a moral issue.
07:14I actually think the Prime Minister at her funeral, speaking powerfully about her legacy and saying
07:21we must respond, the failure to do so isn't politics now.
07:27It's transcended that.
07:29And when you have 75 to 80 per cent of the public that want a ban on gambling ads, it's
07:36not like there's any electoral downside.
07:39Yeah, free to air TV might scream, but so what?
07:44They're cashed up.
07:45As I said, most of them, you know, Kerry Stokes and Channel 7 that has the AFL
07:51gambling ads.
07:52Kerry's share in Channel 7 is less than one per cent of his total wealth.
07:57Less than one per cent.
07:59To protect children, to actually say to parents, we know it's so hard in this environment to
08:05actually protect your kids.
08:07We're not going to let foreign sports betting companies take money offshore.
08:11Sportsbet from Ireland takes 2.2 billion out of Australia without one shop or outlet.
08:17It's all gambling ads.
08:19It's not even politics now.
08:21It's a moral issue.
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