Online Gambling Reform:
Open Letter - Tanya Plibersek MP, Member for Sydney, Parliament House, Canberra, 19th August 2024
Dear Tanya, I again assure you of our prayers for your work in Parliament, especially as Member for Sydney where our Cathedral is located.
I am distressed about media reports that the ALP Government – of which you are a senior member – is considering abandoning the work of your late and loved colleague, Peta Murphy MP, and walking away from the complete ban she recommended on all forms of advertising for online gambling.
As a pastor, who has been involved in gambling-harm reform for well over a decade, I am sick and tired of talking to those impacted by gambling harm… suicidal young men, families with their furniture being repossessed, shame-ridden debt-laden ordinary people from all strata of society, who have been hooked by predatory tactics, especially by online gambling and poker machines.
Online gambling products are the fastest growing cause of this misery.
Your government should not put the vested interests of big-business gambling and broadcast companies over the public health and welfare of ordinary Aussies, especially our children and youth.
It will be to the ALP Government’s lasting shame if you fail to act on the recommendations of your own federal parliamentarians, in incisive and unanimous cooperation with MPs from across the political spectrum in their report: “You win some, you lose more: Online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm”.
But it is not too late to show some spine and to care for the needy in our community.
The Australian Government can still implement a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising for online gambling, commencing immediately and to be phased in promptly, along with other Murphy inquiry recommendations, such as getting all gambling sponsorship logos off jerseys and grounds!
As a Christian leader, I have no idea about Jesus’ attitude to sport. But I know St Paul was a fan, from his many athletic illustrations. But Christians are even clearer that if you see someone in need but have no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? (1 John 3:17!) Australians lose more than any other nationality on online gambling. And we worry at the exposure of our kids to the normalisation of gambling.
That’s why most Aussies have had a gutful of sports bet ads around our favourite matches and at all other times of day.
Yours sincerely,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney