Independent senator David Pocock has criticised Labor for pressing ahead with its controversial gambling reforms as the legislation heads to the Senate, where the Coalition will help pass the measures.<\/p>\n
The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026 passed the House of Representatives 103 to 14 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Changes include a partial ban on advertising, restrictions on commissions based on customer activity, and a new opt-out register for gambling ads funded by a levy applied on betting companies.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Senator Pocock \u2013 who is among the strongest critics of the proposed laws \u2013 warned Australians would be \u201chugely disappointed\u201d by Labor\u2019s reforms.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the You Win Some, You Lose More report chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy as a \u201cblueprint\u201d that had been effectively ignored by the government.<\/p>\n
A key recommendation of the Murphy report was a comprehensive, total ban on online gambling advertising. The government rejected this in its formal response released in May, more than 1000 days after the report was handed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is trying to sell us this \u2018getting the balance right\u2019 (idea), which is three ads per hour on TV and a fairly unworkable opt-out system online,\u201d Senator Pocock told ABC News Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really tragic to see vested interests and their capture of the major parties, meaning that we don\u2019t get evidence-based policy in this country.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we don\u2019t get policy that actually puts Aussies and our kids ahead of the gambling companies.\u201d<\/p>\n