Abbott would legislate to cut gambling ads

Abbott would legislate to cut gambling ads

• by:By Lisa Martin and Belinda Merhab
• From: AAP
• May 05, 2013

 

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has put the television industry "on notice" to clamp down on broadcasting live betting odds during sports coverage or face a legislated ban.

Mr Abbott has said if he wins the September election he will legislate a ban, unless the industry takes action first.

"We always prefer self-regulation over government regulations but there are some social problems that from time to time demand government attention," he told reporters near Geelong in Victoria on Sunday.

"I welcome the fact that the industry is moving to ensure that we don't have gambling promotion posing as commentary at sporting events."

Mr Abbott said he was "putting the television industry on notice".

"They've not just got to talk the talk, they have to walk the walk," he said.

But Australian Greens senator Richard Di Natale said Mr Abbott's plan was an exact replica of the government's policy, which hadn't worked.

"His announcement today is that we will hand it over to the industry to fix (and) if the industry don't fix it, then the government will, but that's exactly the government's position," Senator Di Natale said.

"That's resulted in a meaningless code of conduct and it's resulted in a quadrupling in the number of gambling ads that young kids are exposed to.

"The government has tried Tony Abbott's policy and it's failed."

Anti-gambling campaigner and independent Senator Nick Xenophon said he was encouraged by Mr Abbott's intention to shield children from gambling, which "reflected overwhelming community sentiment".

"There's a real concern about gambling culture pervading our sports," he told Sky News on Sunday.
He said micro-bets or ball-by-ball bets were open to corruption and match fixing.

Senator Xenophon urged the coalition to support his private members bill to ban gambling advertising during all G-rated programs and overturn the exemption for sports programs.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the federal government had been working with the commercial television sector to develop a new code.

"I suggest Mr Abbott reads it," he told reporters in Sydney.
"What you will find is that there's an agreement in place that's under consultation."

He said restrictions on live sports betting odds were being put into place and the Australian Communications and Media Authority would pursue stations that breached the code.

"People are having live betting pushed down their throats," Senator Conroy said.

Meanwhile, Senator Xenophon reiterated his call for an independent inquiry into the spat between race horse owner John Singleton, trainer Gai Waterhouse and her bookmaker son Tom.

"A number of potential key witnesses may be refusing to appear before the stewards inquiry, which strengthens my argument that there ought to be a judicial inquiry independent of the racing industry to get to the bottom of this," he said.

Monday's stewards inquiry follows the poor performance of the Singleton-owned and Waterhouse-trained More Joyous after she finished second last in last weekend's All Aged Stakes at Randwick.
Singleton announced after the race that he had sacked Waterhouse as his trainer because her son had told people More Joyous had a problem and could not win.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/mixed-reaction-to-abbott-betting-odds-ban/story-e6freono-1226635428624