This Liberal took his teacher to gambling anonymous

His high school teacher asked him for money to gamble, now he’s fighting for an advertising crackdown Tue 30 Jun 2026 at 8:00pm Liberal MP Simon Kennedy says his party must "stand up" and lobby on behalf of Australians who have suffered gambling harm, arguing the government's planned limit to gambling advertisements falls short. In an interview with triple j hack, he called on his colleagues to fight back against the gambling and television lobbyists "walking up and down" parliament's halls, and revealed he witnessed gambling addiction at a young age. Mr Kennedy says one of his teachers asked to borrow money from him and his mates during his final year of high school. He remembers thinking at the time it was a "little bit strange," but it was not until after high school that he realised his teacher had a gambling problem. Reflecting on it now, he remembers feeling "helpless". Loading...They ended up sharing a friendship across more than a decade, and through that time, he watched addiction change his friend's life, resulting in him losing his job and car — and suffering worsening mental health. He says he attended Gambling Anonymous meetings alongside the friend, and through that, met other people who had lost their jobs and had family breakdowns, caused by gambling harm. Although the pair are no longer in contact, he is drawing on the experience to demand his colleagues take stronger action to limit gambling advertising. "It's a national shame,"he said. "We have an opportunity to stop this kind of harm and help a countless number of Australians." He called on his colleagues to act as lobbyists on behalf of gambling victims. "There are gambling lobbyists who walk these hallways, there are TV lobbyists who walk these hallways. Who doesn't have lobbyists? The victims. "The job of my party and me…is to stand up for those families and act as their voice and act as their lobbyist — that's what we've been elected to do." Gambling ad crackdown expected before parliament this week The government is expected to introduce legislation to crack down on gambling advertisements into parliament this week, but Communications Minister Anika Wells said it would not differ much from what the prime minister announced earlier this year. Although when asked on Tuesday, Ms Wells appeared open to a Senate inquiry into the legislation. "That would be the usual run of events and if that's what happens, we understand that," she told reporters. Ahead of his party's response, Mr Kennedy said he felt assured the opposition would not waive through the government's proposal as is. "I am confident we will be able to go further and push the government further than they have currently gone,"he said. Labor's proposal includes restricting the number of betting agency advertisements on television to three per hour between 6:00am and 8:30pm and banning those ads on the radio during school pick-up and drop off. The prime minister also said he wanted to end gambling adverts on uniforms and in stadiums. As part of the changes, the government said people must be able to opt out from betting ads on online platforms. But prominent anti-gambling advocate Tim Costello said SBS has had an opt-out feature on its on-demand video site for two years and it had not worked. Mr Costello said just 0.2 per cent of users had opted out. A SBS spokesperson said it could not reveal how many of its users opted out of ads because it was "commercially sensitive," but the broadcaster noted that as more people created accounts for their on-demand service during the World Cup, opt-outs also increased. Advocates criticise betting advertisement before Socceroos game Mr Costello also said he was disappointed to see gambling ads televised shortly before the Socceroos played in Friday's World Cup because children in schools around the country were tuned in. A SBS spokesperson said the Bet365 advertisement broadcast before the Paraguay-Australia match complied with the restrictions. "SBS takes its obligations seriously in relation to gambling advertising restrictions and is committed to meeting all regulatory requirements and maintaining the trust of its audiences," a spokesperson told triple j hack. "As an independent public broadcaster, SBS accepts all advertisements that comply with the relevant legal and regulatory requirements." Greens not closed off to working with government A range of independents have slammed the plan, arguing that three ads per hour is still too much exposure, and that plenty of children stay up past 8:30pm. The Greens have heavily criticised the proposal too, but communications spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said the party had not dealt itself out of negotiations and was open to working with the government, although she said there needed to be big changes. "There are loopholes riddled all the way through it,"Senator Hanson-Young said. She also called on the government to introduce a national online gambling regulator, as part of the reforms. "So, there's plenty of space for the government to come back [and] correct their homework," she said.