Addictive, dangerous, out of control. Yet Labor lets betting giants win again
Never pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton.
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This, now rather antiquated quote, often attributed to Mark Twain was a warning about the power of the then newspaper barons.
While the technology has changed, the media barons of Australia still wield unholy power in the Australian political landscape today.
It is why the Albanese government has agonised for more than year over the recommendations of the Murphy Report, 31 recommendations that come from a parliamentary inquiry chaired by one of their very own, Peta Murphy who lost her battle with cancer last year.
A key recommendation was the complete ban on all gambling ads to be phased in over three years. This is not unlike the approach the nation took with tobacco advertising decades ago.
But with an election on the horizon the government is nervous and it has been lobbied furiously by the gambling industry, media networks and the major sporting codes who have all entwined themselves to line their pockets and bombard us with endless gambling ads across our screens.
News reports on the weekend that the government was seeking a compromise in which advertising would be banned one hour before and after live sport are weak and ill conceived.
Tinkering........
© Canberra Times
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