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The federal government has introduced its long awaited gambling ad legislation to parliament but it's already facing backlash. The proposal limits ads during certain times of the day on television and radio. Both the Greens and the Coalition want it to go further while independent senator David Pocock is among members of the crossbench calling for a complete ban.

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00:02Labor's legislation seeks to limit daytime gambling advertising on television to three
00:09ads per hour, as well as banning radio gambling ads during school pick-up and drop-off times.
00:16There'd be a total ban of gambling ads during live sports broadcasts, but no restrictions
00:23after 8.30 at night. There'd also be a move to ban all social media influencers who promote
00:31betting or gambling products, and ban online gambling ads for under-18s on social media,
00:39as well as require social media platforms to offer opt-out functions for adults, and
00:45eventually move to phasing out gambling advertising and sponsorships in stadiums and on players'
00:54jerseys. The government says this is strong legislation and wants it to pass the Senate
01:01as soon as possible. It wants this law to be operational from January 1 next year. But in
01:07order for that to happen, it needs either support from the Coalition or the Greens and the crossbench
01:12in the Senate, none of which are willing to support the legislation in its current form.
01:19The Greens and the crossbench have called for amendments that would implement key recommendations
01:26from the Murphy review into gambling harms that was handed down three years ago. They include
01:32setting up a national gambling regulator to oversee the industry, as well as banning inducements,
01:40which is basically when gambling companies offer people credits that they can only cash out if
01:46they keep gambling. Independent ACT Senator David Pocock, who's the former captain of the Wallabies,
01:54says that sport and gambling has become too linked in Australia, and this legislation gives the
02:01parliament an opportunity to address that. The government needs to look after Australian children. This is an
02:08opportunity to actually stop the normalisation of gambling amongst Australian kids. We now know
02:15that three-quarters of Australian children think that gambling is just a normal part of enjoying sport.
02:21We should be enjoying sport for what it is. The Communications Minister, Annika Wells,
02:26has told the ABC this morning she thinks the government has addressed issues around inducements by setting up a
02:33gambling self-exclusion scheme called BetStop. But there have been some regulatory concerns raised around how
02:40BetStop's working, with reports of 500 breaches by Ladbrokes and Neds.
02:46Labor backbencher Mike Freelander, who's been a vocal critic of his own party's efforts on gambling, said that while these
02:55reforms are significant, much more needs to be done. We heard from Labor frontbencher Ann Ali saying that
03:03the government will always consider further reform. There's always more that we can do and we're not
03:09a government that sits still. You know, we're a government that undertakes action and that keeps on moving.
03:15So Sarah, where does the coalition then stand on these laws?
03:19Lorna, the coalition has broadly said it wants to work with the government to pass this legislation, but has some
03:26concerns that the provisions as they stand don't go far enough. The Shadow Communications Minister, Sarah Henderson,
03:34has raised concerns around how a ban on online gambling ads for under-18s would actually work. She's also pointed
03:41to some of the
03:41issues with BetStop and inducements, whilst we've heard from Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan, who's spoken
03:49about some concerns around kids still being exposed to gambling ads while watching sports matches after
03:568.30 at night. So this legislation has now been referred to an eight-week Senate inquiry, Lorna, so
04:04that will report back on August 17th.

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