Senator Nick Xenophon and the Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie say they will use their key crossbench positions in the new parliament to put gambling reform back on the federal agenda.
They say sports betting advertising during G-rated television broadcasts ought to be banned and maximum $1 bets on poker machines should be introduced.
They hope to revive a parliamentary committee to push for reform in relation to online gambling and poker machines.
“We will be planning a whole series of measures, both in the parliament and outside the parliament, to deal with the issue of gambling reform and, in particular, one issue that has resonated throughout the community and that is on the issue of sports betting advertising,” Xenophon said on Thursday.
“So many parents have approached all of us to say they are appalled their kids are talking about – their seven and eight and 10-year-old children – are talking about the odds of a game rather than the game itself.”
Malcolm Turnbull has previously supported gambling reform, including $1 maximum bets on poker machines. But the prime minister told Wilkie in the last parliament that gambling reform was a matter for the states and territories.
Wilkie said on Thursday that the federal government had “clear authority” for television advertising and online gambling so Turnbull’s claim was wrong.
He said it was true that state governments had already regulated poker machines but said they had proved to be “untrustworthy” regulators so there was a “compelling case” for federal intervention.
The anti-gambling campaigner Tim Costello said the Alliance for Gambling Reform was calling on the Turnbull government to ban sports betting advertising and to enforce $1 bets, with maximum $120 losses for machines.
He also said the alliance was launching a case, with the law firm Maurice Blackburn, about product liability regarding “predatory” poker machines that are highly addictive.
Costello appealed to the “old Malcolm”, saying many Australians wanted him back because he was in favour of serious gambling reform.
“The old Malcolm was very clear in supporting $1 bets,” he said. “I’m appealing to that Malcolm now as PM, and congratulations for forming government, to actually take a stand against the pokies lobby, knowing with the alliance there is now support.”
Similar attempts at gambling reform were introduced in the 2010 hung parliament but they were later watered down by the Gillard government, then ditched by the Abbott government.
The gambling and clubs sectors fiercely opposed the requirement to implement mandatory pre-commitment technology on poker machines. Clubs NSW and the gambling lobby launched a strong opposition campaign, with help from the Sydney radio host Alan Jones, to wind the laws back.
The campaign targeted marginal seats, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, which forced backbench Labor MPs to pressure Gillard to step back from the reforms.
Gillard eventually balked and Wilkie accused her of breaching the agreement they had signed after the 2010 election to enforce serious gambling reforms.
