This bill did not become law and is no longer proceeding.
Health, care & disability
The bill would formally treat gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling. and addiction as a public health matterAn issue the Centre can research and advise on..
Independent MP Monique Ryan said gambling should be treated as a community-wide health problem rather than an individual failing. She said Australians lose $32 billion to gambling each year and more than three million adults — about one in seven — experience gambling-related harm annually. She also said almost 70 per cent of high-risk gamblers experience thinking, behavioural or mental health problems, while 16 per cent experience suicidal thoughts.
Parliament had passed laws establishing an Australian Centre for Disease Control, but its statutory public-health remit did not expressly cover gambling, even as the 2023 Murphy report and later advocacy highlighted widespread financial, mental-health and family harms. Monique Ryan MP's private bill, introduced on 2 March 2026, would have filled that gap by recognising gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling. and addiction as a public-health issue and enabling national evidence and advice, but it was removed from the Notice Paper on 15 September without reaching passage.
The evidence pack contains no speech opposing or criticising the bill itself. Kate Chaney (Independent) supported it, but criticised the government's wider response to gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling., saying it had still not responded nearly 1,000 days after a parliamentary inquiry report was tabled.
Monique Ryan MP introduced this bill. Speeches supporting it came from some crossbench members.
Did it become law?
No
The bill did not complete passage through Parliament.
Final passage
No final passage
The bill has not completed passage and is no longer proceeding.
Time before failure
197 days
From introduction to the final recorded step before the bill stopped proceeding
Meaning
The bill would formally treat gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling. and addiction as a public health matterAn issue the Centre can research and advise on.. This includes financial distress, mental health impacts and harm to families and communities.
The change would allow the Australian Centre for Disease Control to develop, publish and promote information about the health impacts of gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling..
The Centre's Director-GeneralThe Centre official empowered to provide public health advice. could advise federal ministers and agencies, state and territory governments, international organisations and groups representing healthcare professionals about those impacts.
The bill would start the day after it receives Royal Assent. Its explanatory memorandum says it would have no financial impact.
Australian Centre for Disease Control Act 2025 1 Section 5 (at the end of the definition of public health matters) ; (i) the health impacts of gambling harm and addiction, including financial distress, mental health impacts, and the impacts on families and communities.Australian Centre for Disease Control Amendment (Gambling as a Public Health Issue) introduced text
The Bill will broaden the definition of ‘public health matters’ to include ‘the health impacts of gambling harm and addiction, including financial distress, mental health impacts and the impacts on families and communities’. In doing so, this Bill formally recognises gambling harm as a significant public health issue rather than solely a matter of individual behaviour or personal responsibility. This definitional change will enable to Director-General of the Australian Centre for Disease Control to develop, publish and promote information on the health impacts of gambling harm. Further, the aAustralian Centre for Disease Control Amendment (Gambling as a Public Health Issue) explanatory memorandum
The Bill will broaden the definition of ‘public health matters’ to include ‘the health impacts of gambling harm and addiction, including financial distress, mental health impacts and the impacts on families and communities’. In doing so, this Bill formally recognises gambling harm as a significant public health issue rather than solely a matter of individual behaviour or personal responsibility. This definitional change will enable to Director-General of the Australian Centre for Disease Control to develop, publish and promote information on the health impacts of gambling harm. Further, the aAustralian Centre for Disease Control Amendment (Gambling as a Public Health Issue) explanatory memorandum
2 Commencement (1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms. Commencement information Commencement Date/Details 1. The whole of this Act The day after this Act receives the Royal Assent. Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this Act.Australian Centre for Disease Control Amendment (Gambling as a Public Health Issue) introduced text
Context
Parliament had passed laws establishing an Australian Centre for Disease Control, but its statutory public-health remit did not expressly cover gambling, even as the 2023 Murphy report and later advocacy highlighted widespread financial, mental-health and family harms. Monique Ryan MP's private bill, introduced on 2 March 2026, would have filled that gap by recognising gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling. and addiction as a public-health issue and enabling national evidence and advice, but it was removed from the Notice Paper on 15 September without reaching passage.
Murphy report on gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling. is tabled
The report set out 31 recommendations, including a national strategy for online gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling. and a harm-reduction levy, but Ryan said none had been answered by March 2026.
Hansard ↗Online safety consultation flags gambling harms
The Alliance for Gambling Reform urged the government to include online gambling harms and advertising in the Basic Online Safety Expectations Determination.
Department of Infrastructure ↗Parliament establishes the Australian Centre for Disease Control
The Centre was established as a national authority for public-health data, evidence and advice, but the existing definition did not expressly include gambling harms.
Australian Centre for Disease Control Amendment (Gambling as a Public Health Issue) explanatory memorandum ↗Monique Ryan MP introduces the bill
The private member's bill responded to gambling losses and associated mental-health, family and community harms by seeking to bring them within the Centre's public-health remit.
Hansard ↗The bill is removed from the Notice Paper
The bill was removed under standing order 42, and the supplied parliamentary record contains no later passage or Royal Assent.
Parliamentary timeline ↗Legislative route
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Key criticism
The evidence pack contains no speech opposing or criticising the bill itself. Kate Chaney (Independent) supported it, but criticised the government's wider response to gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling., saying it had still not responded nearly 1,000 days after a parliamentary inquiry report was tabled.
Ryan presented the bill as a first step towards prevention, earlier intervention and policies based on evidence. Chaney said adults would still be able to gamble and argued that recognising the harm as a public health issue was not the same as banning gambling.
Further sources
Votes
No recorded votes were found before this bill stopped proceeding.
Parliamentary debate
Start here — lead voices
Monique Ryan supports the bill because treating gambling harmFinancial, mental health, family or community damage linked to gambling. as a public health issue would enable evidence based research, prevention and regulatory reform, particularly to protect young people from gambling advertising.
Read in Hansard ↗Kate Chaney supports the bill because gambling addiction causes severe, predictable and preventable harm across Australian communities and should be treated as a public health issue.
Read in Hansard ↗All speeches by bloc
2 speakers · 2 support
“We have to deal with the scourge and the harm associated with online gambling advertising, and we have to start by recognising gambling harm as an immediate and severe public health emergency. I cede the remainder of my time to the member for Curtin, and I commend this bill to the House.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
“I second the motion. I'm pleased to support the member for Kooyong's bill to recognise gambling harm as a public health issue. Let's be honest about what we're up against. In 2024, Australia had about 550,000 high-risk gamblers. Of these, 16 per cent experienced suicidal thoughts; two-thirds faced serious financial hardship, including going without meals; and 19 per cent of people whose partner gambled weekly or more often experienced intimate partner violence. If a pharmaceutical drug caused that level of harm, we would pull it from the shelves. If an industrial chemical produced that collateral damage in Australian homes, it would be banned. This is a public health problem because it affects whole communities, because the harm is predictable and preventable, and because it's driven by an environment designed to maximise addiction.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
Record
House · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
House · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
House · Removed from the Notice Paper in accordance with (SO 42)
Removed from the Notice Paper in accordance with (SO 42)
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
