Sweeping last-minute changes to Labor’s gambling reforms, including a crackdown on inducements, have been unveiled in parliament, hours before the release of a damning report on the matter.
A Senate committee report on the proposed changes was tabled on Monday night, slamming the government’s attempt to protect vulnerable people from gambling addictions as being too little, too late.
It contained criticism from the coalition, Greens and independent senator David Pocock.
The reforms were referred to the committee for an inquiry over concerns they did not adequately break the connection between betting and sport nor protect kids from gambling exposure.
“This package is not an evidence-led public health response to a public health issue,” Senator Pocock said in the report.
“It leaves gambling advertising embedded in sport and across Australian media, shifts responsibility onto parents and preserves major parts of the system that have made Australians the biggest gambling losers in the world on a per capita basis.”
But the government appeared to anticipate the report’s critical contents.
Amendments to the reforms, announced just hours before the report was tabled, included restrictions on inducements and limited commissions for affiliate agents.
The changes respond to concerns from the Greens, who said they would not support the bill in its earlier form.
“Inducements are a toxic practice that prey on those who can least afford to gamble and must be outlawed,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“Gambling companies must not be allowed to continue to make massive profits off vulnerable people.”
The government also pledged a new opt-out register for gambling ads, which would allow Australians to sign up for a one-stop shop for removing the ads from online platforms.
It would function similarly to the Do Not Call register for spam calls, following concerns raised that people would struggle to stay on top of individual opt-out options on each online service.
A levy would be imposed on gambling companies to cover the cost of the register, Communications Minister Anika Wells told parliament.
But critics of the government’s work, including the coalition, have said the drawn-out changes were far too delayed.
A report by late Labor MP Peta Murphy into the matter was published in 2023 and contained more than 30 recommendations to limit the power of Australia’s gambling industry.
Feedback in the committee report noted many of the recommendations had not been included in the reforms.
“Even the government’s response to this (Ms Murphy’s) report, tabled on May 12, 2026 – the day of the federal budget when many journalists were in the budget lock-up – became a cynical exercise in media management,” the coalition said in its response.
The amendments are expected to be debated on Tuesday and signify an end to lengthy pushback from the coalition and crossbench.
Reforms are likely to proceed quickly through both houses by the end of the sitting week, though the coalition has not yet publicly committed to supporting the package.
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