Gambling ‘not the same as tobacco’, Shorten says
Bill Shorten also said that he understands the harm that gambling can do, as he has seen a family member struggle with a gambling addiction.
But he maintains there needs to be balance when it comes to weighing up advertising bans, with the revenue lost to free-to-air commercial media networks.
“The point about it is gambling, in my opinion, is not the same as tobacco,” he said.
Key events
Paul Karp
Greens say tax on big tech can fund free-to-air TV in place of gambling ads
The Greens’ communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, is up at 11:30 to discuss taxing big tech and funding journalism.
Yesterday, she responded to Bill Shorten’s comments that gambling ads were needed to fund free-to-air TV, describing them as a “clanger”.
She told Guardian Australia:
We all know that the business model of media in this country is broken, but profiting from the misery and addiction of gambling is not the answer.
The Greens have put forward real solutions to support quality journalism. If we want to fund journalism we need a tech tax, not more problem gambling and predatory ads during the footy.
Instead of funding journalism with the human misery of gambling addiction, Labor should get real with a tech tax on the global giants like Meta, Google and TikTok to make them pay for the journalism and content they monetise.
Asked if she was calling for new security checks, or for intermittent checks, Jane Hume said:
Well, that’s up to our intelligence and securities agencies.
I’m not going to tell them how to do their jobs,
…That’s up to them as to how the appropriate ways to deal with this cohort, but what we’re saying is, unless we can be assured that those security checks have been done and that we are not inviting people in that are active supporters of terrorist organisations, particularly Hamas, which we have identified here, but we can’t then be assured that we’re keeping Australians safe.
That’s the government’s first job – keep Australians safe. If they can’t guarantee that that’s the case, well then there should be a temporary pause on visitors from that area.
Mike Burgess, the head of Asio, has said that security checks have been done.
Here is a little bit more from the Jane Hume interview on Sky News from earlier this morning.
(A reminder, the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt is under Israeli control on the Palestinian side, and has been closed for some time).
Hume:
We have asked Tony Burke, the new minister, to make sure that Asio does appropriate checks of those … to cease all …temporarily cease, all, all visitors from Gaza, from that area … unless that can be assured there’s those appropriate checks.
But more importantly, those that have already come here, to make sure that they retrospectively have security checks.
(Asio has confirmed they have been involved in security checks of people receiving visas to Australia.)
Adeshola Ore
Melbourne mayor says e-scooter ban will ‘make our city safe again’
The Melbourne lord mayor, Nicholas Reece, says the city council’s decision to end its rental e-scooter scheme will “make our city safe again”.
Melbourne city council on Tuesday night voted to rip up contracts with rental e-scooter operators Lime and Neuron. The council has given the operators 30 days to remove their e-scooters from the council area, which includes the CBD and Docklands areas.
Speaking to reporters, Reece says the decision is the “reset that Melbourne needs” for the scheme:
This was an opportunity to end the havoc on Melbourne’s footpaths and make our city safe again.
Private e-scooters will still be able to be used in the Melbourne city areas and the rental scheme will continue to operate in Port Phillip and Yarra councils.
Police remove climate protesters from Parliament House
Police have removed climate protesters who were carrying out a sit-in, in the marble foyer of Parliament House.
The hall is a public area of the parliament and is often the scene of protest action.
The group wanted “the prime minister to come and hear from community members from the frontlines, or agree to a meeting”.
In a statement, the protesters said they felt “betrayed by the Albanese government’s abandonment of major reform to our environment laws earlier this year, following pressure from coal and gas companies”, and say “it’s clear the government is not listening to those hit hardest by the climate crisis”.
Melissa Davey
Would a gambling ad ban really drive punters to offshore operators?
As mentioned earlier in this blog, Anthony Albanese told the ABC, when asked what the unintended consequences of a gambling ad ban could be, “You’re aware that there’s this thing called the internet? And the internet means that people can gamble offshore”.
Albanese said it made it “much more difficult to put restrictions on” companies.
Yesterday, the chief executive of Responsible Wagering Australia – which, despite its name, is in fact the peak body and lobby group for the gambling industry – argued bans don’t work because they only drive gamblers to illegal offshore services.
Spain dealt with the same industry arguments when it proposed stronger gambling advertising reforms. The Spanish gambling regulator noted;
The gambling industry and the TV and advertising sectors lobbied against the reforms. None of the dire predictions have occurred … The TV stations said that they would go broke without gambling revenue and this has not happened … Spanish sports teams said that they wouldn’t be competitive if they were the only ones not allowed sponsorship, and this hasn’t happened either … The threat of gamblers migrating to illegal operators had not occurred either.
This all came out in Australia’s parliamentary inquiry.
The Australian communications regulator, Acma, does a fairly good job blocking problematic gambling sites, and there have been calls to give them more resources to implement regulations.
From previous reporting, we know that because of the realities of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, security agencies have access to more information on Palestinians than most people who apply for Australian visas.
Even before the war, Palestinians were made to go through daily checkpoints and security checks to move around. Palestinians were required to receive permission to travel and had to have special identification documents in order to move through different territory.
The head of Asio, Mike Burgess, told Guardian Australia in March his agency had not been pressured by the government to speed up the security checks of anyone applying for visas from Gaza.
He said then:
If we have grounds to say that we are going to impact [an] individual, we have to have the evidence and that’s subject to a rigorous assessment. It can’t just be, ‘I feel … there’s a bit of doubt, so we’ll do it.’
We don’t work that way.
Burgess confirmed on Sunday that Asio had been involved in security checks of people being granted Australian visas as per the usual processes.
Sarah Basford Canales
Jane Hume said security checks should be done “retrospectively” on those already in Australia.
What we’re saying is unless we can be assured that those security checks have been done and that we are not inviting people in that are active supporters of terrorist organisations, particularly Hamas, which we have identified here [as a terrorist group], we can’t then be assured that we’re keeping Australians safe.
The Victorian Liberal senator also flagged the terror threat level had been recently raised.
The Sky News host asked whether Hume had received briefings to link the two issues.
Hume said no, but added “there are lots of hot spots around the world, but this is one of them”.
Sarah Basford Canales
Liberal senator says Palestinians from Gaza should have ‘retrospective’ security checks
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, has told Sky News Palestinians fleeing Gaza should have “retrospective” security checks after Peter Dutton earlier urged for a temporary ban.
Dutton told Sky News on Wednesday morning he didn’t think “people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment”, citing national security.
The Asio boss, Mike Burgess, told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that all the necessary checks are made ahead of anyone being granted a visa for Australia.
Still, the Coalition insists it needs “assurances”.
Hume said a temporary pause on granting visas for those in Gaza was necessary for the sake of “safety”.
Hume told Sky News:
If [visa security checks have] been done in 24 hours, and some as little as an hour, it’s kind of hard to imagine that they have been [done adequately] – certainly not to the satisfaction of ordinary Australians.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier hopes Melbourne council will ‘have a change of heart’ after e-scooter ban
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has questioned the City of Melbourne’s decision to ban e-scooters, less than a month after spruiking their benefits at a joint press conference.
Allan told reporters this morning the lord mayor, Nick Reece, had joined the public transport minister recently to announce a new framework for their use.
She said:
It’s only two or three weeks ago, the lord mayor was out there talking about the 3m trips that e-scooters have saved across the city, and how they have a role in that public transport network. And that is why, as part of our evaluation of the trials that have been under way in different parts of the state, we’ve recognised that e-scooters have a role, but that also the safety framework needed to be strengthened.
And there is a personal responsibility around how people use e-scooters, and we’ve seen from time to time that that personal responsibility hasn’t been followed to community expectations, and so we’re strengthening the safety framework around that.
She urged the council to reconsider its decision and did not rule out intervention:
There is a role for e-scooters in our public transport network, particularly for those last mile journeys, for getting cars off local roads.
And I really hope that the City of Melbourne can have a change of heart.
Albanese suggests gambling ad ban would encourage offshore betting
Over on ABC TV Breakfast, Anthony Albanese was asked what the “unintended consequences” of a gambling ad ban could be. (The prime minister and government MPs have often cited “unintended consequences” as one of the reasons they are taking the go-slow approach in responding to the Peta Murphy inquiry recommendations).
Albanese:
Are you aware that there’s this thing called the internet?
And the internet means that people can gamble offshore.
That means there are no, much more difficult to put restrictions on. There’s a range of issues that you need to deal with, issues which people who look at this in a sensible way understand we want to make sure that we deliver further change.
We know there’s more to do, but as I said, we’ve already done more in two years than any previous government combined.
Coalition criticises CFMEU administration bill but says it will help it pass
The shadow workplace relations minister, Michaelia Cash, has said the Coalition stands “ready to help Labor clean up a mess of its own making” by helping to pass the bill to appoint administrators to the construction union.
However, Cash said the current bill is not strong enough, one could “drive a truck through it” and it looks like it could have been “co-authored by the CFMEU [Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union]”.
This is obvious hyperbole, because the CFMEU is fiercely opposing the bill, arguing it takes away their rights to due process, because the federal court is currently considering an application to appoint administrators.
The Coalition has 20 proposed amendments to the bill. Cash is meeting Murray Watt at 10am to discuss them. Cash refused to say if the Coalition will block or delay the bill if Labor does not agree – instead she just reiterated that the bill would pass this afternoon if Labor agreed to its demands.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Coalition is prepared to vote with the Greens to delay the bill, which would be a win for … the CFMEU.
As the interview continued, the host revealed that maybe he wasn’t quite across the way visas are granted in Australia. Or the fact that the border crossing between Palestine and Egypt is now controlled by Israel (on the Palestinian side) and closed. No one is allowed out other than the most serious of medical transfers, and even that is not guaranteed. So there is a “pause” – because Israel is not allowing people to leave Gaza, even if they have a visa.
People who came to Australia before the border crossing was shut did undergo security checks, including with Asio, as is standard practice. This has been confirmed by the head of Asio himself, Mike Burgess.
Host: Why not refer it all to Asio?
Albanese: They are.
Host: Why not have Asio decide every entry, every visa …
Albanese: Guess what they do? There’s security checks.
Host: So you think there shouldn’t be a stop? At least a pause …
Albanese:
There’s security checks. There’s security checks. What I think is important, but what the director-general of Asio thinks, who commented on this just on the weekend, is pretty important too, I would have thought.
Albanese responds to Dutton’s comments on visa screening for Palestinians
Anthony Albanese also went on Sky News this morning, as part of the media carousel of “woohoo Olympians” that went on this morning.
He was asked about Peter Dutton’s comments about not allowing Palestinians into Australia.
Albanese:
Even on a day like today where we’re just celebrating and coming together as a country …
Host: Well, to be fair, I asked him about it, so he was responding to a question.
Albanese:
Peter Dutton is always looking to divide. We’ll listen to the security agencies when it comes to national security, and the director-general, Mike Burgess, will play a critical role in that. And, you know, I seek to try to bring people together, not always looking for a wedge or to divide.
The joint standing committee on treaties (yes, there is a committee for almost everything) has recommended the parliament ratify the following treaty agreements:
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Protocol on the Accession of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and associated side-letters (UK Accession to the CPTPP)
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Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity Agreement relating to Supply Chain Resilience (IPEF Agreement),and
Melissa Davey
Is gambling really ‘not the same as tobacco’?
Earlier this morning, Bill Shorten said: “The point about it is gambling, in my opinion, is not the same as tobacco”.
Gambling has been identified as a serious public health issue, with the industry using the same deceptive and harmful tactics as big tobacco to influence politicians and policy.
As Prof Samantha Thomas wrote in an editorial for Guardian Australia, the parallels between tobacco and gambling are in fact striking. Thomas has comprehensively researched gambling marketing tactics, finding the industry intertwines itself with sporting codes, media companies and politicians.
Guardian Australia has interviewed many young people affected by gambling as part of this series on youth gambling, along with teachers and parents, who told us about kids gambling before, during and after school.
One of the young people we spoke with was just 10 years old when he started gambling online – an addiction that by the age of 15 would see him lose about $2,000 and grappling with addiction, embarrassment and despair.
Young people we spoke with wanted the government to ban gambling advertising; this sentiment came out strongly among young people surveyed as part of Thomas’s research, who said they want the government to protect them from the marketing tactics of the industry.
Commonwealth Bank winds back fossil fuel investment in latest climate report
Peter Hannam
In a move that might have some political reverberations, Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s biggest bank, has released its annual climate report which further winds back financing for the fossil fuel industry.
As we noted here last month, CBA was already lending the least among the big four Australian banks to gas, coal and oil industries.
Now they’ve gone further, declaring today it will halt “new corporate or trade finance, or bond facilitation” for companies in that sector beyond the end of this year unless they meet the bank’s core criteria.
That criteria is based on keeping temperatures “well below” the 2C goal of the Paris agreement (not the 1.5C end of that range, mind). Still, CBA demands clients provide a “transition plan” on how they’re cutting emissions – and if the plan falls short or they don’t provide one, the funding tap is turned off.
Market Forces, a lobby group, hailed what they said had been “the worst offender on climate and lending to fossil fuel companies to the first of Australia’s major banks to announce its break up with climate-wrecking clients”.
Kyle Robertson, the group’s senior banks analyst, said CBA’s move stood in contrast with ANZ, NAB and Westpac which were all busily arranging a new $750m for Santos for its “massive and dangerous expansion plans”.
ANZ, NAB and Westpac shareholders, customers and staff will be furious these banks are breaking their climate promises again, and expect them to match CommBank when they release their disclosures in November,” Robertson said.
Apra imposes licensing requirements on Cbus Super over CFMEU links
The industry super fund Cbus has responded to Apra’s announcement it is imposing additional licensing requirements on the fund.
The CFMEU is a shareholder of one of the trustees of Cbus (United Super).
In a statement released this morning, the watchdog said it “notes the recent public allegations regarding serious misconduct within the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) and the steps taken by state and federal governments and the Fair Work Commission”.
While these allegations are yet to be tested or proven through a court or tribunal process, APRA is concerned about the potential impact on trustees.
The CFMEU is a shareholder of United Super and has appointed three directors to its 14-member board. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Industrial Union of Employees, Queensland (CFMEU-Q), a separate legal entity to the CFMEU, is a shareholder of BUSSQ and has appointed four directors to its eight-member board, three of whom are also CFMEU officers.
Under the additional licence conditions, the trustees are “each required to engage an independent expert to conduct a review” to ensure it meets the “fit and proper” standard.
Cbus Super released a statement in response supporting the authority’s announcement and says the independent review “will build on the work that Cbus has previously commenced”.
Cbus continues to work constructively with the regulator and will fully cooperate with the independent reviewer.
Telstra and Optus delay 3G network shutdown
Josh Taylor
Telstra and Optus have announced they’re delaying the shutdown of their 3G networks to give more time for customers to switch over.
The networks were due to begin shut down at the end of August, but that has now been delayed until 28 October 2024.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said at the start of this month around 77,000 mobile devices, both 3G and 4G, would need to be upgraded before the shutdown to keep operating – down from 740,000 at the start of this year.
But another major concern has been connected devices that use 3G like ATMs, Eftpos machines, CCTV and medical alert devices. It is estimated hundreds of thousands of those devices may still be connected via 3G.
The two telcos are going to use the extra time to communicate with customers. The move is voluntary, but Rowland has faced calls in the past couple of weeks to use her powers to force the companies to keep 3G operating for now.
The shutdown will allow 3G spectrum to be reused for 5G, allowing faster speeds and more users.
