In short:
Bill Shorten all but confirms to Q+A the federal government will reject calls from some in his party for a total ban on gambling advertising.
Ads during kids’ TV will be targeted but Mr Shorten says media companies need gambling [ad] revenue in a battle with social media giants.
What’s next?
- Cabinet is expected to sign off on legislation regulating gambling advertising on traditional and social media this week.
Related coverage:
- SBS: Former PMs, premiers and sportspeople demand Labor go all-in on gambling reform
- The Conversation: The gambling industry is pulling out all the stops to prevent an ad ban, but the evidence is against it
- The Conversation: Does free-to-air TV really need gambling ads to survive?
- [Satire] The Shovel: New hotline to help television networks addicted to gambling revenue
If keeping these companies running is so important to public interest, why aren’t they receiving public funding rather than relying on money given to them by shady third parties with their own political interests?
I also fail to see how these particular networks owned by international multinational corporations are really any better than any other international multinational corporation like Meta. There is just as much misinformation on Channel 7, for example, as there is on Facebook, and the fact that often that misinformation is communicated as news, therefore making it seem more trustworthy, makes it a lot worse.