SUN 26 MAY 2013
Prime Minister, Minister for Communications
Sydney
Today I announce something that will be good news for Australian families, and that is that there will be no live odds during sporting events.
From the moment that the players step onto the field to the moment that they leave the field, there will be no live odds.
This is good news for families because families I think have become increasingly frustrated about the penetration of live odds into sporting coverage, and worried that their young son or daughter is now talking about the game not through the prism of what’s happening on the field, but through the prism of the associated betting.
So no live odds.
In addition there will be no crosses to gambling representatives at the ground or near the ground. And gambling advertising will be limited to scheduled breaks in play. What that means is that it can happen at half time or quarter time.
So for someone who wants to sit with their young son or daughter and watch the match, they’ll be able to settle down as play is starting, watch all of the play without seeing any live odds or any gambling advertisements.
This, I think, is very good news for Australian families.
The way in which this will be achieved is we are saying to Australian broadcasters that they need to bring forward a code to us that complies with these requirements and then it will get the assessment and approval of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Should they fail to do so, then we will legislate to ensure that this happens.
I’ll turn now to Senator Conroy for some comments. He’s been working long and hard on this policy move.
MINISTER CONROY: Thanks very much Prime Minister.
Yes, we’ve been in discussions with the television industry, the sports bets industry, for quite a considerable period of time and I think what today’s announcement reflects is that Australians are sick of having gambling and live odds in particular rammed down their throat.
It is not a satisfactory circumstance where kids are looking at newspapers, watching matches and they're talking about what’s the odds on the match rather than what a brilliant game Adam Goodes played on Friday night and what a miserable game Collingwood played on Friday night.
That should be the focus of a discussion that is taking place around the television, around a breakfast table, and where we've got to now is that the industry and the TV stations are on notice that they have to make these changes.
So we expect this code to be supplied in the next few weeks, matching our announcement, agreeing with our announcements today, to the ACMA.
And the ACMA will then be charged with regulating this code and overseeing this code as it does with all of the other broadcasting codes.
But I did want to make one point that I hope you’ve all had a chance to see this morning.
Tony Abbott is claiming that we've adopted his policy.
Well, let me read to you a very simple quote that Tony Abbott gave just a few Sundays ago on 5 May, and he said very specifically, ‘if the industry is to act on these proposals, the Coalition will be satisfied.’
So Tony Abbott a few weeks ago signed up to the code that is out there on the table.
We’re being very clear; we do not think that goes far enough.
We want to see the changes the Prime Minister’s just announced.
But Tony Abbott on the record in a press conference said they would be satisfied with the code as it was.
We reject this and we believe that Australian families will support a tougher code.
PM: Thank you, we’re happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I just wanted to clarify, there will be no gambling advertisements during the broadcasts. Does that mean commentary dressed up as advertisements or does that mean cutting to actual commercial breaks there will be no advertising, any gambling advertising?
PM: Whilst the players are out on the field, so AFL, NRL, the players run onto the field, they play the game, there’s normally some carry-on at the end of the game, one team elated, another team not so happy, and then the players exit the field.
For the entire time that they are out on the field there will be no reference to live odds by anyone in any circumstance.
There can be advertisements for gaming, that is a reference to a gaming organisation, but only during scheduled breaks in play in advertisement time.
So that would be half-time, quarter time, three-quarter time. That’s the way in which it would work.
You would not be able to have someone who is a gaming representative integrated into the commentary team.
JOURNALIST: As a technicality, could you not have a betting agency, and only because he’s been the poster-boy for it, Tom Waterhouse, coming in in an advertisement during the broadcast and say right now you can bet live on this game, go to our website?
PM: You would be able to have a gaming advertisement, but no reference to live odds.
It would only be during quarter time, half time, three-quarter time, and so for football lovers who don’t want to watch those advertisements, well as they do now, half time’s a good time to get up and go and get a drink and then come and settle yourself down for the rest of the match.
You would be able to do that, watch every minute of play, without seeing a gaming advertisement and certainly you would not be able to hear any reference to live odds.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if you want to get rid of the influence of gambling in sport, why don’t you go as far as to ban any gambling related advertisements even through half time onward?
PM: Well we considered that but the proposal that we’re announcing today, we believe, gets the balance right between protecting the community from gaming and the influence of gaming and making sure that there is an appropriate revenue stream for broadcast rights for our sporting codes.
People want to watch great sporting matches on TV. Obviously that’s got to stack up as an economic model for broadcasters, so we believe that what we’ve announced today gets that balance right.
JOURNALIST: What’s the timeframe in terms of media authorities – ACMA – making its assessment and will legislation be required?
MINISTER CONROY: We are calling on Free TV to adopt what we've announced today.
We’ve been through the consultation period and we expect to see Free TV adopt the policies we've put forward today and submit it in the next few weeks to the ACMA, and once it’s submitted we then expect it to be adhered to.
And the ACMA’s job is to ensure that the TV stations adhere to that code.
So we don’t believe if it’s adopted by Free TV that legislation is needed, but as the Prime Minister has said, if the TV stations don’t adopt that then we’re prepared to take it to the floor of parliament.
JOURNALIST: Some critics would suggest that there should be a ban on gambling ads altogether, that the evil is just as bad as cigarettes, in which we do see that. What’s your response to that?
PM: It’s the same response as I gave over here.
The thing that’s really been frustrating me as someone who watches sport, and I think worrying families, has been the constant references to live odds.
It’s been the integration of gambling representatives into what appears to be the broadcast, the commentary, the round-the-ground, the round-the-play.
I think that has really frustrated families too.
And so, through what we’ve announced today, all of that would be cut out whilst you’re watching a sporting match that you love, whether it’s NRL or AFL or any of the other codes.
We’ve needed to get the balance right between making sure families can enjoy a great match without being exposed to lots of advertisements and live odds.
We’ve needed to get the balance right between that and the economic proposition that brings those great matches to our screens.
And what that means is it’s got to stack up for the broadcasters to pay the money to the codes to have access to the game, to put it on TV, so you and I can sit there and watch it.
We think we’ve got the balance right because people know when half time is, they know when, if they’re watching AFL, quarter time and three-quarter time are.
That means if you’re sitting there and you don’t want to watch any gambling advertisements, then have a chat amongst yourselves, go and get a drink, have a little wander around, settle back in for the next section of play.
You can watch every moment of the match and not see a gambling ad and not hear any reference to live odds.
JOURNALIST: Do you suspect this will be the most politically popular thing you’ve ever done?
PM: I think it has just got over the top, and so I think people will be relieved to hear this today. Just the penetration, particularly of the live odds into matches, has got over the top.
So what’s motivating us is it’s the right thing to do.
I want kids to know their maths, but I don’t want them to learn their maths by watching live odds on sporting events. I want them to learn their maths in classrooms and in other ways.
When they watch a great sporting match, what I want them to be doing is enjoying the contest, the physical prowess, the display of teamwork, all of those things that we think is very inspiring about sport for our young people.
JOURNALIST: Won’t kids still be watching during half time?
PM: That’s a question for parents, but I know when I watch an AFL match at home, what you do, for me, is check the phone, check the emails, those sorts of things at quarter time, half time, three-quarter time.
In days gone by when I had a little bit more spare time, you’d have a potter round the house and go and grab a drink and something to nibble on for the second half of the football.
People can do all of that. If they do all of that, then they will not be exposed to any gaming advertisements.
MINISTER CONROY: Let me just reiterate a point the Prime Minister has made, that if TV stations try and abuse that period by putting wall-to-wall gambling ads on in the half time breaks or quarter time break, then we will act further.
It’s not going to be an acceptable process, they are on notice, that if they abuse that period we will take further action.
And if you’re like me on Friday night, you’re probably turning off the footy to go and do something else, but we’re being very clear about this.
If they start increasing the intensity as a response to this in those now allowed periods, we will take further action.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
MINISTER CONROY: We will go an consider and put in place legislation so that they can’t abuse the process.
So we’re saying let’s be reasonable, let’s have a conversation about this, but if they choose to abuse and increase the intensity at half times and the other periods they’re allowed to then we will take further action.
JOURNALIST: Given the response of gambling (inaudible) thus far, why not legislate now?
PM: If a code is brought forward in accordance with what we’ve announced today, then there is no need to legislate because the whole industry will be regulated as we’ve announced today.
So the code will come into the relevant government authority, and that government authority will regulate it.
If the broadcasters don’t step up and bring forward a code that complies with what we’ve announced today, then we will legislate.
As Minister Conroy says, we believe we’ve got the balance right by enabling there to still be gambling advertisements at half time, quarter time.
But if the intensity of those advertisements gets over-the-top then we reserve the right to come back in and make further changes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you about Gonski. Are you still confident that you can reach an agreement with the states by 30 June?
PM: Well on our school funding reform, can I start by making an apology. Yesterday I referred to the Minister for Education in New South Wales as a Liberal minister.
Of course Mr Piccoli is a member of the National Party and I want to apologise for any offence or umbrage that was taken by Mr Piccoli because I referred to him as a Liberal.
So if we could get the record straight on that.
Second, on our school funding, school improvement agenda, we’re continuing to work hard with other states and territories and I’m continuing to call on premiers and chief ministers around the country to do what Barry O’Farrell has done here and to put the kids in their jurisdiction first.
We’ll keep working on this, I’ve got some confidence that we will make further progress because I do believe the case for change is overwhelming.
And if I can point to the National Party Minister Mr Piccoli, he over the course of this weekend has destroyed every argument put forward by Tony Abbott and his team against school funding reform.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on another issue, overnight David Cameron has said that he would consider banning clerics from inciting hate speech following the death of the soldier in the UK. Are you going to consider something similar here?
PM: Hate speech is already unlawful in Australia under our Racial Discrimination Act.
There is a proposal for change and that is that the Leader of the Opposition has announced if he were prime minister he would abolish that provision.
I believe in the hate speech provision, I think it should be unlawful for people to use speech to incite acts of violence and to incite discrimination and hatred, so we will be fighting to preserve the provision that makes it unlawful.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve backed calls from the union movement for a summit on the car industry. Have you had any further discussions about when that will be held and what will be up for discussion?
PM: I, as Prime Minister, created the Prime Minister’s manufacturing taskforce.
We knew that in this time of transition in our economy, it would be difficult days for manufacturing.
Our economy is a resilient one, we’ve come out of the global financial crisis strong; a by-product of that is a very strong Australian dollar and that’s been bringing a lot of pressure to bear on manufacturing.
We knew that that would be occurring, that’s why I created the manufacturing taskforce and why we announced our billion dollar plan for Australian jobs.
In the wake of Ford’s announcement, what I’ve determined to do is to bring taskforce members back together for some further discussion.
So we will be building out of the Prime Minister’s manufacturing taskforce structure.
We haven’t set a date for that yet, but we were able to have a preliminary conversation on Friday because I have a regular meeting with the business community and with trade unions, and that meeting was Friday.
We’ve already announced substantial assistance to make sure that we can diversify the economies of Geelong and Broadmeadows, and get those working people who are obviously feeling the brunt of Ford’s announcement a new opportunity.
MINISTER CONROY: Could I just emphasise the point the Prime Minister’s making.
On Friday, in unfortunate timing, I was at the opening of the new part of a Corning’s factory that is building the cables that are being used for the National Broadband Network. They’re moving from about a 180 workforce to nearly 400.
In the afternoon I was visiting a company called Warren and Brown in Maidstone in Melbourne, who increased their workforce because they’re supplying manufactured parts to the National Broadband Network.
And while I was at Corning’s they announced that they had just let a contract to a Mordialloc based company in Melbourne that is building the housing for all of the parts that are used in the Corning’s fibre cabling.
So there is a lot of work coming in the manufacturing area around the National Broadband Network, and that was demonstrated to me very ably on Friday.
So there is a future for manufacturing in this country and those who want to argue that we should just give it up are just ideological zealots.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the NRMA is suggesting that perhaps you could provide a hundred million dollars to improve (inaudible) for various streets. Is that the sort of money you’d be able to find anywhere?
PM: We’ve been very big investors into infrastructure in Sydney.
We’ve invested $5.5 billion, that’s 15 times more than the Howard Government did during all of its years in office, and much of that money is directed to fixing the spots where the gridlock gets the worst.
Just in recent days I’ve been to the Central Coast to look at the site where our money will be making a difference for people who travel from the Central Coast to Sydney.
That is the work that we’re doing to improve the F3 and to build the missing link to the M2 – a $600 million package.
So we’re continuing to work hard to improve Sydney’s infrastructure.
Yes there was a lot of neglect under the Howard Government and we've been working hard to make that neglect up.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: You can say yes to our continuing investments at record levels trying to overcome the backlog from the Howard Government; investment 15 times more.
JOURNALIST: But no an additional $100 million?
PM: We announced just in Budget Week $24 billion of extra investment into infrastructure, that’s our next Nation Building package, and you can see in there the investments that we’re making in New South Wales.
So we’ll continue investing at record levels.
JOURNALIST: Just quickly, have you ever had a cheeky fiver on the Dogs?
PM: No, I've never bet on football.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: I do my football tips, so I tip the Dogs every week.
That does mean that some weeks it’s pretty hard to get a clean sweep on your footy tips. I've never had a bet on a football match.
I put the occasional ten bucks on the Melbourne Cup and that’s the limit of betting for me.
Thank you very much.
[ENDS]
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