On Tuesday August 18, I crossed the floor and did not vote with Labor, the Liberals and the Nationals on the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026. As a National Party member outside of the Shadow Cabinet, I am absolutely free to do so. This is one of the reasons I am part of The National Party. You work as a strong and unified team for the good of Regional Australia, but you are allowed the freedom to follow your own convictions. I am proud to be part of this team and I exercised that freedom.
I did so because I do not believe that the legislation went far enough. I don’t believe that it truly considered the unanimous “You Win Some You Lose More” Parliamentary Inquiry and subsequent report. As the Deputy Chair of that inquiry three long years ago, I heard first-hand the testimony from all sides of the equation. I worked hard with the Inquiry Chair, the late Peta Murphy MP, to get the settings right and as a result we received no dissenting reports and presented a fully supported bi-partisan set of recommendations. Many of the key components of these have since been discarded and, in my view, still allow predatory practices to occur.
While I agree that the legislation that has now passed is a marginal improvement, I am disappointed that we as representatives missed the opportunity to truly get it right.
