PHILIP HOPKINS
By PHILIP HOPKINS
GAMBLING ads should be banned or at least come with severe warnings, while banks and financial institutions should take some responsibility for allowing people to bet and suffer from gambling harm, according to former Member for Morwell, Russell Northe. Mr Northe, a former Nationals and Independent MP, made these and other recommendations to the federal government’s standing committee on social policy and legal affairs. The committee is holding an inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm. Mr Northe has a history of gambling debts and is facing legal charges. He prefaced his remarks by taking full responsibility for his actions. “My ‘plight’ is of my own doing and subsequently I accept responsibility for the pain and damage I have unintentionally inflicted upon my family, my friends, my staff and my community,” he said. “The committee may find it challenging to grasp how seemingly intelligent people can get trapped in the vicious cycle of online gambling…this is understandable and the question of, ‘why didn’t you just stop’ is often asked and this is a very legitimate question; however, the answer can be quite complex, particularly when you factor in neuroscience and the mental health status of a person. My point is, it’s just not that simple.” Mr Northe said he was not calling for online gambling to be abolished, but aspects of the industry needed to be significantly reformed. “This requires governments, banks and online gambling companies to take their share of responsibility and embrace changes that see people being put first and profits second,” he said. “Consumer protections need to be enhanced markedly and interventions introduced so that people, particularly vulnerable and unwell people, aren’t allowed to fall and continue to be failed by a system that is not working.” Among Mr Northe’s recommendations to the committee were: Ban all gambling advertising or place strong limitations when and how advertising can take place; If online gambling advertising continues, it must be accompanied by a very strong warning message; Require that a customer of a bank or financial institutions can only transfer a maximum of 15 per cent of their nett annual income to an online gambling account; Further, if a bank/financial body believes a customer has gambling harm, they should be mandated to stop transferring funds to any online gambling organisation and get the customer to have financial counselling; Ban all MPs or employees of government departments and agencies from accessing online gambling accounts when using publicly funded electronic devices; Establish an independent authority that has consumer welfare and gambling hard minimisation as its key objective; Establish an Australian online gambling harm compensation fund; Create a new law that gives those with gambling harm the right to sue for their losses; Gambling harm should be treated as a serious public health issue, with funds for providers such as financial counselling, mental health, legal and other services; Treat problematic gambling as a factor in unexplained deaths, and; Create a Minister for Gambling Safety at federal and state levels. Mr Northe said ads were misleading that showed gamblers excited and having a good time when gambling losses were huge. “We must accept these are harmful products and subsequently, advertising attached to every harmful product should be banned or restricted to protect the consumer,” he said. Strong warnings were attached to ads for cigarettes and alcohol. “Saying ‘gamble responsibly’ at the end of an advertisement is just pathetic and it doesn’t work. (It) places every aspect of the problem back to the person rather than the company who is supposed to protect the consumer,” he said. Mr Northe said it made sense to put safeguards in place before money was transferred to online ambling companies. While customers could stop the practice, “self-exclusion does not work, but mandatory interventions do”. The 15 per cent limit of nett annual income “will work”. “The committee may wish to consider a different percentage,” he said, with most people not affected by this 15 per cent figure, especially if they gambled infrequently. “Saying a customer can self-exclude is just a cop out. Banks have the analytical data and information to understand where their clients’ money is being transferred to. People who are in gambling distress should be identified by banks,” he said. “I can say from my own personal experience, none of my banks ever raised an eyebrow at the transfers I made to online gambling organisations.” Mr Northe said a new law should hold banks, financial institutions and gambling companies accountable to their customer, particularly when the customer was unwell or incapacitated. “I do understand the complexities of implementing such a law,” he said, given the danger of vexatious and illegitimate claims. “There could be a ‘deemed knowledge’ test for online gambling operators, banks and financial institutions which encompasses recklessness to obvious signs of gambling harm. Essentially what did you know and why didn’t you intervene,” he said. “If companies fail to uphold their duties and values, then there should be a law that gives recourse to the consumer to sue for their losses.” Mr Northe said he feared for the younger generation who had not yet felt the full impact of gambling harm. “It doesn’t take much for one to become totally consumed. I have been contacted by numerous young people who have conveyed their own heart-breaking journey, and it is just so sad,” he said. As an MP, Mr Northe said he received hundreds of complaints from constituents pleading with the saturation of gambling adverts on television screens, print media and social media to cease. “Online gambling companies are able to advertise so extensively because they are profitable, and why are they so profitable? It’s because Australian citizens are losing so much money,” he said. “Australia has the highest gambling losses per capita in the world.” Online gambling was a major issue. “Being able to gamble in secret and isolation, at all times of the day and the night, is a recipe for disaster for vulnerable and unwell persons. I would not be game to make the bets I did if I had to do so in person,” he said. “Some say depression comes after gambling harm and some say depressions leads to gambling harm. Does it actually matter? Either way if you are experiencing or have experienced gambling harm, you will likely have depression or some other mental illness as well – they go hand-in-hand!” Mr Northe said he was not against gambling and the economic, social and job opportunities it brings. “So my fight is not to stop gambling, but rather to close the consumer gaps and loopholes that is allowing vulnerable people to fall and fall,” he said. “Gambling harm is squarely a public health issue and needs to be treated as such in all aspects.”
