Grievance Debate

Online Gambling

Mr MULLIGHAN (Lee) (15:03): I rise to talk about a growing and substantial problem in the Australian and South Australian community, and that is the problem of increasing online gambling and sports betting. It is the fastest growing area of gambling in Australia due to, particularly, digital advancements and the growing number of smart phone-based and iPad-based applications. It is growing at 15 per cent per annum, and it is becoming an epidemic, particularly amongst young men and South Australians.

Advertising is targeting people between their 20s and 30s, who make up 75 per cent of the sports betting market; and the marketing is aggressive. In six months alone, Sportsbet spent a massive $62 million on sales and marketing efforts in Australia in 2017. Research shows that it is hard to get away from Sportsbet advertising, with almost five solid minutes of a typical AFL broadcast taken up by gambling advertisements by up to seven different wagering brands. We have seen examples of high-profile people struggling with sports betting, including David Schwarz, South Australia's Ryan Fitzgerald and former South Australian footballer Brent Guerra. These are only a small number of the people brave enough to admit their problem.

It is a growing problem presenting issues very different from traditional forms of gambling. Indeed, sports betting has traditionally occurred in local pubs or TABs, where there is human supervision, where there are gambling limits, including ATM limits. None of this supervision and none of these limits are available on sports betting, particularly by individuals.

It is important to note that the Independent Gambling Authority approves markets for betting in South Australia, known as contingencies. South Australians cannot bet on markets that are not approved contingencies by the Independent Gambling Authority. However, many betting agencies—bet365, LiveBet and Sportsbet, to name just a few—offer markets on amateur sports here in South Australia, including Basketball SA, Premier League games, South Australian volleyball games, including a game recently between the Henley Hawks Volleyball Club and the Mt Lofty Volleyball Club, and the South Australian amateur soccer games, including SA women's national premier league and men's reserves league games.

This raises legitimate concerns about sports fixing. That is why nearly two months ago I successfully moved an inquiry to look at the growing problem of online gambling and sports betting in the parliament's Economic and Finance Committee. This inquiry was strongly supported by welfare agencies, including SACOSS. Not only did I move it but it was the first inquiry that was moved in that committee. It is unfortunate, as the member for Waite provocatively winks at me, that twice this inquiry has been delayed by government MPs.

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite will cease interjecting and winking.

Mr MULLIGHAN: It has twice been delayed by government MPs. Today, it was delayed in place of a poorly attempted witch-hunt against the former Labor government's policies and investment attraction. Poor member for Waite could not have picked a worse day to kick off his inquiry. Why? I will give you three reasons. First of all, the Prime Minister of the country, tory Malcolm Turnbull, turns up to snip the ribbon on a company that Investment Attraction South Australia, the agency of the former Labor government, attracted to this state. There was a full-page article in The Advertiser.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point or order, sir.

Mr MULLIGHAN: Here we go. Run down the clock on a grievance.

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee, please be seated for one moment. Let's hear it.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: A very, very quick question: is it appropriate for a member—

The SPEAKER: What is the point of order, minister?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Is it appropriate for a member to discuss parliamentary standing committees, which are responsible to the parliament, in this way?

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully. Member for Lee, please continue.

Mr MULLIGHAN: Sorry, it was Tudge; I got the wrong tory 't' there. It was Alan Tudge, of course, who distinguished himself in his discussion of the Mayo by-election result on FIVEaa this morning. Not only did that occur today but we also had nearly a full-page report in The Advertiser of the success of fintech company Tic:Toc, which has been established here in South Australia to help South Australians gain home ownership. It is another company attracted by the former state government agency Investment Attraction South Australia.

Of course, the third thing that happened today is that we had a prominent report in The Australian quoting the growing problem of sports betting in Australia and online gambling, which found that the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission estimates that, in 2015-16, $9.7 billion was gambled on Australian sport alone—billions of dollars of which is coming from overseas punters.

It is a tremendous disappointment to me, but a grave mark on the behaviour of those members on the Economic and Finance Committee who seek to use its time and resources to try to rerun the arguments the Liberal Party ran at the last election about investment attraction. They are more than happy for their federal colleagues to come and cut ribbons. They are more than happy to make announcements about the successes of agencies they have now shut down and defunded while at the same time trying to conduct witch-hunts against the public servants and the ministers who were responsible for growing jobs here in this community. I realise it is important to the member for Waite. It cannot be easy sitting back there when he sees the quality of others sitting in front of him, particularly during question time. If this is meant to be the big audition, well, it is not going too well, member for Waite.

Try as they might, the only little nugget of information is that out of the Northern Economic Plan we see a delay by the new transport minister, potentially shutting down a bus manufacturing operation which was attracted to this state and which is trying to win a tender to build Adelaide Metro buses. Of course, this raises the concerning issue of whether the Liberal Party of Australia, quite cleverly perhaps, might be responsible for twice shutting down automotive manufacturing in the northern suburbs within only five years. What a remarkable achievement; it is something that not even Margaret Thatcher could achieve in the United Kingdom.

Here we have the Liberal Party of Australia covering itself in glory by trying to shut down manufacturing jobs in the northern suburbs. That was the strategy today: trying to demonise a program that was designed to grow jobs in some of the most difficult suburbs when it comes to employment outcomes in our state, in the northern suburbs. They have tried and tried hard, and they have failed every time. It is an indictment on the government members of the Economic and Finance Committee that they are wasting the time of the committee and the parliament with this inquiry. I have to say, it is an indictment on the member for Waite and does not bode very well for his future career prospects.