Andrew Wilkie
Clark · Independent · Australia
“Now, with the avalanche of gambling addiction from online and sports betting, we can safely assume it's hundreds of thousands of Australians either addicted to gambling or at serious risk of developing an addiction.”
“From 2010 to 2013, my first term, I had a written contract with the Prime Minister that there would be widespread and deep gambling reform in the country. But, of course, the gambling industry applied the blowtorch to the government, and I assume the factions applied the blowtorch to the Prime Minister.”
“It has completely ignored that there be a phased out but ultimately complete ban on gambling advertising, which three quarters of Australians desperately want.”
“While governments continue to pledge their commitment to ending family violence and femicide, victim-survivors need to see tangible reform. Perpetrators must be held accountable, removed from their victims' lives, and our system must prioritise community safety. Australia can, and should, do better.”
“It was one of the significant factors among a complex set of factors as to why the Labor Party lost power in 2013, and here we are again—an opportunity for a Labor government to enact very meaningful gambling reform and implement the 31 recommendations of the Murphy report, which is without doubt the best blueprint for gambling reform thi…”
“Last month, I met with a group of victims-survivors of family and domestic violence from my community, and I'd like to use my time today to read some of their experiences into the parliamentary record.”
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“Of course, day care is not simply about returning to work for financial reasons. Early childhood education is also about the many benefits it provides to children, all of which are denied to children if there's no child care available. Newton's first law of motion states that an object at rest stays at rest, which explains Australian childcare policy because clearly a policy at rest stays at rest. On behalf of the people of Hobart and Tasmania, I urge the government to get on their bikes and actually get moving.”
“Way back in 2022 the new federal government made much of its commitment to remedy the national early childhood education shortage and to alleviate the prohibitive costs families pay for such services. Almost three years later, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, there is scant evidence of progress, especially in Tasmania where the pace of reform is glacial at best. For example, Greater Hobart, which includes my electorate of Clark, has 27,000 children, with almost 13,000 aged under four, but only 4,000 day care spaces currently available. Astonishingly, since 2022, the only signs of a remedy to this chronic shortage are one development approval and one project in early planning. In other words, for many Greater Hobart families day care is just a daydream.”
“I have said it elsewhere and I will say it again here: this is the time for the government, with the support of the opposition, to step up and to stare down the media companies, stare down the gambling companies, stare down the AFL, stare down the NRL and, instead, govern in the public interest, because we know the single most significant reform that is proposed by Peta Murphy and her committee was a phased in complete ban on gambling advertising. I will end it there. Circling back to the bill moved by the member for Mayo, it is great idea, easy to implement, won't cost much, will help members of the community, and, ultimately, will save lives. Debate adjourned.”
“Instead, we will go to the election not only with almost no reform but with not even a response from the government to that report, and certainly no reform when it comes to the flagship recommendation of a complete ban on gambling advertising. I tell you why there will be no movement in that space. It is because the government and the opposition—they are peas in a pod on this one—are scared stiff of the gambling companies, are scared stiff of the media companies that profit hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from gambling advertising and are scared stiff of the major sporting codes, in particular the AFL and the NRL, who, between them, pocket tens of millions of dollars each year from the gambling companies.”
“But my praise for the government ends there, because none of what the government has done, even if it supports the member for Mayo's excellent idea, will let the government off the hook, quite frankly. It is now well over a year since the so-called Murphy report brought out its 169-page report which contained 31 recommendations. The government is still to respond to that report and that is unforgivable. That report provides an excellent blueprint for reform. It is the most comprehensive inquiry ever done in this country, certainly by any parliament, into gambling and gambling harm. Those 31 recommendations are an excellent blueprint and they should be being rolled out right now.”
“It is my pleasure to second the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Know Your Losses Activity Statement) Bill 2025 moved by the member for Mayo. I also implore the government and the opposition to support it. What the member for Mayo basically proposes is that gamblers are kept abreast of how much they have lost. It's very straightforward. It's a modest reform. It's technically very easy to implement and, I understand, would cost very little to implement. In other words, it wouldn't be an impost on anyone. I suggest that it would also complement quite well the commendable work done by the government so far. BetStop, the exclusion arrangement, is a good reform. The ban on credit card gambling is another good reform.”
“So I urge them to get on board and support it and, in doing so, to finally demonstrate that they really do recognise whistleblowers as an essential building block of a healthy democracy and society. Whistleblowers actually are the heroes here, not the villains. In my remaining time, I'd like to invite the member for Indi to say a few words.”
“The bill would also establish a Whistleblower Protection Advisory Board to provide advice to the commissioner and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Whistleblower Protection Authority to appoint the commissioner, and to monitor and review the performance of the commissioner. This bill has been drafted in consultation with experts who specialise in whistleblower protections, and in particular I would like to thank Kieran Pender and Madeleine Howle from the Human Rights Law Centre and Professor A J Brown from Griffith University, who is also Chair of Transparency International Australia. My crossbench colleagues and I are ready to work collaboratively with the government and opposition to reform our country's whistleblower protection framework, and it starts today with this bill.”
“The authority would consist of a whistleblower protection commissioner, deputy commissioners, a chief executive officer and appropriately experienced and trained staff. It would be empowered to receive and facilitate the investigation of whistleblower disclosures; assist whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers; investigate the mistreatment of whistleblowers; and undertake enforcement activities as necessary. Importantly, the authority would conduct research and policy work in relation to the efficacy of Australia's whistleblower protection laws, and would monitor, educate and advise on how to prevent detrimental actions against whistleblowers.”
“Clearly the Public Interest Disclosure Actin particular,as well as the whistleblower protections in the Corporations Act, need to be completely overhauled, which is something Labor, and specifically the Attorney-General, committed to doing before forming Government in 2022. But that wouldn't be the end of it, because another yawning gap is the means to facilitate whistleblowing in a practical sense, by establishing a whistleblower protection authority, which is what this bill I'm introducing today would do. Such an agency is long overdue and is something the Labor Party actually promised before the 2019 election. As the title suggests, this bill would establish an independent statutory authority responsible for providing information, advice, assistance, guidance and support to whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers.”
“And then there's David McBride, the former Australian Army lawyer who provided the ABC with documents containing information about Australian soldiers committing war crimes in Afghanistan, which led to the ABC's publication The Afghan Files in 2017. And again, despite these allegations being backed up by the horrific findings of the Brereton report, it is David McBride, the whistleblower, who was the first person to front court, and indeed the first person to be convicted of any crime. David is currently serving a five-year and eight-month jail sentence for revealing this horrific wrongdoing. This is just baffling. Clearly, we desperately need to reform our whistleblowing laws.”
“But parliamentary privilege should only be used as a last resort, because better still would be for our laws, practices and agencies to actually work. But in my experience, they don't, which is why whistleblowers don't feel safe to speak out themselves and often come to me instead. If you want hard evidence that our whistleblower protection legislation doesn't work then just look at the case of Richard Boyle, the former Australian Taxation Office official who faces the prospect of life in prison for revealing information about egregious behaviour within the Australian Taxation Office, information which has been proven to be correct. I'll say that again. Richard Boyle revealed information about appalling misconduct within the ATO, information which has been found to be true, and it is he who faces prison time.”
“For example, there was the evidence I tabled in 2017 of Crown Casino tampering with poker machines and turning a blind eye to family violence and drug use; and the footage of an Aldi bag stuffed with millions of dollars being laundered at the Casino. Then there was the internal report provided to me by the former head of ClubsNSW's anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism unit, Troy Stolz, which found that up to 95 per cent of registered clubs in New South Wales were non-compliant with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism laws. More recently there's the evidence I revealed in the parliament of widespread fraud within the Australian export coal industry; the thousands of documents I tabled showing misuse of funds by Hillsong Church; and the dangerous and secret drug testing being conducted by the AFL.”
“Where would we be if Chelsea Manning, with Julian Assange and Wikileaks' publication, hadn't blown the whistle on US war crimes, including revealing that grainy video of a US helicopter gunning down Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists in Iraq? My point is that whistleblowers make Australia a better place and we should be doing everything we can to support them. Otherwise, we won't have whistleblowers, even though they're so essential to our democracy. Now some people may recall my own history as a whistleblower over the lies justifying the invasion of Iraq, but also my work exposing misconduct under the protection of parliamentary privilege.”
“In other words, it's way beyond time for Labor to get serious about transparency and good governance, including by enshrining media freedom laws, meaningfully and not just strategically reforming political donations, legislating truth in political advertising and, vitally, overhauling whistleblower protections. Where would we be if Toni Hoffman hadn't blown the whistle on Dr Patel at Bundaberg hospital? Or if Allan Kessing hadn't blown the whistle on gaps in security at Sydney airport? Where would we be if Witness K and Bernard Collaery hadn't blown the whistle on the illegal spying on the East Timor parliament building? Or if Alysha hadn't blown the whistle on the shocking criminality within the Tasmanian youth justice system?”
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I'm introducing this bill because the community has been waiting three years for the government to enact meaningful reforms to protect whistleblowers, but so far bugger-all has been done and we're all bitterly disappointed. Labor talked a big game about transparency before forming government, and they point to the National Anti-Corruption Commission as evidence that the job is done. But the reality is that, until we have effective whistleblower protections, the NACC will be diminished because people won't have the confidence to raise allegations.”
“Following up on my earlier question, I simply asked the minister: does he concede that, in recent years, it has not been uncommon for that fault to have been attributed quite reasonably to different financial institutions who have not taken reasonable steps to protect customers and have failed to intervene when transactions have been patently out of order?”
“WILKIE () (): Can the minister please explain to my community and the thousands of Australians across the country who are targeted by scammers each year exactly why the government won't rebalance the power in scam compensation and is choosing instead not to impose a UK style presumption of reimbursement by banks and other responsible parties?”
“What I also hear from my community, and from thousands across the country, is encouragement to continue pursuing meaningful political donations reform, gambling reform and media freedom and whistleblower reform as well as stronger action on climate change, on welfare and more humane treatment of asylum seekers. I plan to take these priorities forward and, should the people of Clark choose me again, I will do all I can to progress them in the next parliament.”
“While it shouldn't take an election to do it, I'm hoping all of us will now take the time to refocus and reprioritise the things that matter most to the community. This means standing up to big corporations and vested interests, and making decisions for the benefit of our constituents. Moreover, Australians are demanding a sharper focus on the soaring cost of living as well as the housing and health crises. It's not enough to tinker around the edges anymore and to pretend the job has been done. Australians are also desperate for improved service from the ATO, Centrelink, the NDIS and DVA. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect by their government and to be able to trust that government services are actually there to help. Instead, too often these systems grind on and people fall through the cracks.”
“Other notable outcomes championed by the crossbench include making the stage 3 tax cuts fairer, reforming the aged-care system and making HECS indexation more affordable for students and those with student debts. Particular highlights for me have included legislating a date to end live sheep exports, banning credit card use for gambling and busting Julian Assange out of Belmarsh prison—all issues I have pushed hard on for many years. But we've also had our fair share of disappointments over the last three years with some shocking behaviour towards each other, wilful ignorance on some issues and downright gutlessness on others—not least this government's abandonment of environmental law reform and the gambling advertising ban.”
“Despite most of us in this place having turned our minds to the forthcoming election, it's also worth us reflecting on what's happened and been achieved in this term of parliament. The 2022 election brought us a new federal government and, mercifully, an unprecedented number of Independents. This has undeniably helped lift the tone of the parliament and helped ensure some good outcomes. For instance, we finally established the National Anti-Corruption Commission, something I and many others have long called for. This parliament has also enacted some reforms on climate change, which, while far from perfect, were needed after nine years of inaction by the previous government.”