David Pocock on the “cowardly” announcement hidden on budget day
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Daniel James and you're listening to 7am. 7am. Senator David Pocock has been one of the fiercest advocates of the You Win Some, You Lose More report, known as the Murphree Review, and its recommendations to reduce the harms of online gambling. It took the Albanese government 1,049 days to formally respond to the landmark inquiry that called for urgent action to reduce gambling harm, including the phased ban of gambling advertising. When the government did finally release its response this week, it was hidden on Budget Day and stopped well short of that central recommendation, prompting anger from advocates and crossbenchers who say the government has failed to meet the scale of the problem.
I genuinely do think it's cowardly to try and slip it out when there's less attention. And I said it was disrespectful because they didn't even respond to these recommendations. They just said, yeah, we've noted this and we're doing something else. I think they should at least tell us why they don't think we need something like a regulator.
What is the significance of the Murphy Review on gambling?
Today, Senator David Pocock on the government's handling of the Murphy Review, the power of the gambling lobby and why he says the response shows a failure of clinical leadership. It's Friday, May 15. Senator Pocock, in the middle of all the budget coverage this week, the Albanese government finally released its formal response to the Murphy Review into the harms of gambling. What did you make of the timing? Hi, Daniel.
Yeah, very suspicious of their timing. After three years, the PM announced publicly what they were going to do in terms of a policy response the day before the Easter break. Then the one day of the year where basically every journalist in Canberra is locked up in a room with budget papers without their phone, they decide, well, we're going to respond to this report. Respond is generous because they didn't actually respond to any recommendations, they just noted them.
Why do you think they didn't want anyone to see it?
Well, I think they're genuinely embarrassed about it.
Why did the government delay its response to the Murphy Review?
And there's a lot of pressure from backbenchers. It does not do the Murphy Report justice. As I said, they didn't even respond to individual recommendations. And what they've said that they're going to do, this partial ban, some money for an ad education campaign, and then cracking down on illegal offshore gambling, goes nowhere near the central recommendations and is so out of step with what the vast majority of Australians want. There was a poll that came out the same day they released it. It was like 77% of Australians back a full gambling ad ban and 80% of Labor voters. So of course you're just going to try and squeak this thing out during budget lock-up and just hope that there isn't much scrutiny of it.
You've mentioned some of the things that they've touched upon, but What is the government's formal response to the review? What have they said broadly about it?
They've said that they're going to go with a partial ban, which we know partial bans don't work. The government's own regulator says that partial bans don't work. In the past where there's been a partial ban, we've seen more ads from gambling companies. And they've also gone with the option when they released their sort of policy response, there was the underlying analysis from the department that said that a full gambling ad ban is cheaper to enforce and better for Australians, has a larger benefit for Australians. A partial ban will be harder to enforce. won't benefit Australians as much. They've just capitulated, sided with vested interests and not the Australian people. As I said, there's some money for an awareness campaign and then cracking down on illegal offshore gambling, which is exactly what the gambling companies have actually been pushing for.
One of the tragic things about their response is it doesn't address things like inducements, which Peter Murphy says was the most urgent thing we can do to reduce gambling harm was to ban inducements. Things like ongoing funding for gambling research, no response, nationally consistent data collection on gambling harm and suicide,
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–1:05
2
What is the significance of the Murphy Review on gambling?
1:05–2:14
3
Why did the government delay its response to the Murphy Review?
2:14–4:28
4
How does Senator Pocock describe the government's handling of gambling legislation?
4:28–8:27
5
What are the main criticisms of the government's response to gambling harm?
8:27–15:54
6
What does the government propose regarding gambling advertising?
15:54–17:10
Speakers
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