This week, we took the federal government to task over its decision to release two important reports responding to committee recommendations on gambling and diabetes on the day of the federal budget.
The government published its response to the late Labor MP Peta Murphy-led inquiry into gambling, “You win some, you lose more: online gambling and impacts on those experiencing gambling harm”, 1,095 days after its tabling. Its response to the Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport Inquiry, “The State of Diabetes Mellitus in Australia in 2024” came after 678 days.
The government’s release of the two reports on federal budget day appeared to be a ploy to avoid media and public scrutiny of two public health crises.
It appears the chief consideration in releasing the reports on the day of budget has been avoiding accountability for not only the delay in publishing these responses but the content itself.
While waiting for the government’s response, Australians have suffered cumulative losses to the gambling industry of more than $90 billion, and an estimated 2,500 lives have been lost to Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
The strength of the government’s response to each inquiry falls short of meeting the respective committee’s recommendations.
In April the government announced some limited reform measures around gambling, including partial restrictions on advertising, proposals to protect children and young people from exposure, limited strengthening of the industry’s duty of care obligations, and an acknowledgement of the importance of support services. These reforms fall short of the full suite of recommendations in the Murphy report.
Similarly, the federal government supports many of the recommendations on diabetes but has still not committed to new and meaningful reforms. We need to see impactful prevention measures, including food labelling reform, restrictions on marketing to children, and our long campaigned for tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
The AMA was represented at a preventive health roundtable, convened by Dr Sophie Scamps MP, at Parliament House yesterday, which is focused on banning unhealthy food and drink marketing to children, and introducing a levy on sugar-sweetened beverages.
