Foundation attends Senate inquiry on banning of gambling advertisements during live sport

In December 2017, the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee commenced an inquiry on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Online Content Services and Other Measures) Bill 2017.

This matter relates to an announcement by the Australian Government in May 2017 that gambling advertising will be banned during the broadcasting of live sport between 5 am and 8.30 pm. These restrictions on free-to-air television, subscription television, SBS and commercial radio are planned to commence in March 2018.

The Bill seeks to establish a legislative framework that can be used by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to impose gambling promotions restrictions on online content service providers. If the Bill is passed, ACMA will have the power (if directed by the Minister for Communications and the Arts) to determine program standards about gambling promotional content that apply to broadcasters and subscription providers.

The Foundation’s submission to this inquiry was one of 14 submissions published by the Committee.

The Foundation also accepted an invitation to attend a public hearing on 1 February 2018 to further discuss our submission. The Foundation was represented by:

• Chief Executive Officer, Louise Glanville
• Strategic Advisor, Tony Phillips
• Policy and Knowledge Officer, Lindsay Shaw.

At the hearing, we tabled a Foundation research report and a Foundation discussion paper to assist the Committee.

• Read the transcript of the public hearing.
• Read the Foundation’s research report – Child and parent recall of gambling sponsorship in Australian sport
• Read the Foundation’s discussion paper – Gen Bet: Has gambling gatecrashed our teens?

The Committee must report to the Senate by 12 February 2018.