After more than 1,000 days without a response to the landmark Murphy report into the harms of online gambling, and growing pressure from advocates, experts, the crossbench and from within his own caucus, Anthony Albanese last week released his government’s response.

The prime minister’s response falls tragically short of the suite of measures Peta Murphy and her multi-party committee identified. These measures, implemented in full, could genuinely stop the harm that a deluge of gambling advertising is having, especially on children and young men. That is not what Albanese has announced.

In a country with the highest per capita gambling losses in the world, and where 75 per cent of young people now think gambling is a normal part of enjoying sport, we cannot celebrate tinkering. Because gambling ads work. What is being proposed is not evidence-based, and it will neither reverse the normalisation of gambling among young people nor stop the now widely held perception that gambling and sport are inseparable activities. The Murphy report insisted on a full ban on gambling advertising and 30 other recommendations – such as establishing a national gambling regulator and banning inducements – for good reason. Gambling companies are predatory and innovative – history shows if you leave a loophole, they’ll exploit it.

All the evidence from public health experts like Prof Samantha Thomas at Deakin University, to the government’s own regulator, the ACMA, shows that partial bans do not work. Previous tweaks by the Coalition government around when ads could be shown led to more ads on TV and radio and, unfortunately, they ended up in........

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