House of Representatives Date: 02 September 2025
Speaker:
I give the call to the Member for Fisher.
Andrew Wallace MP:
Thanks, Mr Deputy Speaker.
We all arrive in this place because we want to make a difference. We come here as one of 150 members of parliament, striving to make our country a better place. I have advocated for a wide range of issues since arriving here in 2016, but one particular issue I am proud to have fought against is the alarmingly high rate of gambling addiction.
Gambling addiction is a curse in Australia. The economic toll is staggering. Australians are losing more than $25 billion a year to gambling, leading the world in per capita losses. Everyday Australians know this. We are addicted to gambling, whether in person or online, and it is only getting worse.
Australian governments can act to stop this addiction and end the curse. Yet history shows governments have not acted strongly enough. I am proud to have led the fight against gambling in my own electorate of Fisher, opposing the building of a casino on the Sunshine Coast. Soon after my election, there was a proposal to construct a casino. In 2017, I began a petition calling on the Sunshine Coast Council, which owns the CBD site, to reject it. The Sunshine Coast Daily supported this position, declaring the Coast no place for a casino.
I held many listening posts across my electorate and received overwhelming feedback from residents who did not want to see a casino built. This, along with countless individual conversations, convinced me that the overwhelming majority of Sunshine Coast residents opposed the development and wanted me to fight to stop it.
We know from other Australian cities that casinos almost always attract organised crime gangs who use them to launder money. They lead to increased family breakdowns. Numerous studies confirm that gambling is a huge, troubling and growing problem.
Last week, I attended an important round table on gambling harm. It again highlighted the worrying connection between sport and gambling. It breaks my heart, Mr Deputy Speaker. You are about the same vintage as me. When we were kids, we collected football cards. We had our favourite players. We knew who was good, great or not so great. But today, kids seem incapable of separating gambling from sport. That demonstrates the extent to which gambling companies have infiltrated the lives of children. It is a travesty.
According to polling by the Alliance for Gambling Reform, more than 70 per cent of Australians believe there is too much gambling advertising in sport and want it banned. I want to acknowledge Reverend Tim Costello for his tireless work in this space. After almost every NRL or AFL Grand Final, I get emails from parents asking, “When are you going to ban gambling ads?”
Online gambling ads are relentless. Whether you are watching your favourite team, scrolling through social media, or even trying to scan a document through what you thought was a credible app, up pops a flashy, high-octane gambling ad. “You bet big, you win big.” They are almost impossible to skip.
We must do more to protect children from gambling. In 2020, I tabled a report in this place entitled Protecting the Age of Innocence. We must stop kids from gambling before they turn 18.
END
Media Contact: Brendan West – 0402 556 646 – Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
