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Australia politics live: Kate Chaney pushes for action 1,000 days after gambling ad ban report; AI companies face fines over explicit chatbots | Australia news
1,000 days since Murphy report on gambling ad bans
Josh Butler
Today marks 1,000 days since Peta Murphy’s landmark report calling for a banning of gambling advertisements. Independent MP Kate Chaney will soon seek to introduce her own private member’s bill to legislate a gambling ad ban, frustrated with the government’s drawn-out process to respond to the report.
Chaney said:
This is a deeply disappointing milestone to be marking – 1,000 days of delay and inaction on reforms widely supported by Australians.
I’m doing the work, even if the government is not. My private member’s bill to end online gambling ads is needed to stop children and young people being groomed to gamble as they watch their favourite sports.
The government has still not responded to the report from Murphy, the late Labor MP who died in 2023 after a battle with cancer. The communications minister, Anika Wells, is consulting with sporting organisations, harm reduction advocates, media organisations and the wagering industry about further restrictions on gambling ads.
Chaney’s bill, which will be introduced next week in parliament, would seek to phase in a complete ban on advertising for online gambling ads over three years, including on TV, streaming services, social media and at sporting grounds.
I’ve been fighting for gambling reform for 1,000 days and I’ll continue to keep the pressure on for as long as it takes the Albanese government to enact meaningful gambling reform.
Key events
Penry Buckley
NSW opposition calls 24-hour fuel cap and free Easter public transport
The NSW opposition will introduce legislation today to require retailers to set an upper limit on fuel prices every 24 hours amid concerns about price gouging and fuel shortages in the state.
The opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, is calling for a system similar to those in Victoria and Western Australia, under which retailers have until 2pm local time each day to set their fuel price for the following day.
She told 2GB this morning:
There’s that uncertainty. You turn up at the bowser, you don’t know what you’re going to be hit with some days. So, at least with that certainty, you can check out the fuel price the night before and know the next day you can fill up either on the way to work or home and that’s a locked-in price.
Last week, the NSW energy minister, Penny Sharpe, said the opposition’s policy was “basically what already happens in terms of FuelCheck”. Under the current system, retailers have to update their prices in real time online, with penalties for non-compliance, but they do not have to fix prices.
Sloane has also called for public transport to be made free over the Easter long weekend, after the NSW Rail, Tram & Bus Union called for public transport fares to be slashed as long as fuel shortages continue. The premier, Chris Minns, told ABC radio yesterday he did not support free public transport, arguing transport was already heavily subsidised by the government.
Listen: Inside One Nation’s orange wave in SA and what it means for Australia
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation surged ahead of the Liberal party and secured seats in both sides of the South Australian parliament in the recent state election.
It’s the first time the rightwing anti-immigration party has won a lower house seat outside Queensland, leaving many asking whether the fringe party has gone mainstream and whether the weekend’s election result will be replicated in other states.
Tune in to the latest episode of Full Story as Tory Shepherd and Dan Jervis-Bardy talk to Nour Haydar about whether the SA result will lead to more culture wars and anti-migrant rhetoric nationally.
What’s happening today?
Things are a little different today with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen in the House.
So, being a Tuesday, means that the party room meetings will be taking place shortly, and we’ll bring you anything we hear from that.
Parliament will begin sitting at midday, which is when Von der Leyen will address parliament. She’ll be the first female foreign political leader to do so.
The rest of the regular parliamentary business will take place after, BUT question time will begin a bit later, at 3pm instead of 2pm. (I’m not sure why – inquiries have been made!)
Fines for AI chatbots to ensure age appropriate content
The government will fine tech companies up to $49.5m if their AI chat bots are not age appropriate following concerns from the eSafety commissioner that AI bots and companions are manipulating and exploiting young users.
A report from the eSafety commission found the AI services are failing to protect children from exposure to sexually explicit content.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning, the communications minister, Anika Wells, said the threat of fines has been in effect since 1 March this year, and that tech companies were notified ahead of time.
They’re not there to look after the health and wellbeing of your child. And we know there are instances where they have led them towards things like suicide ideation or content that I probably don’t want to be too explicit about.
7,863 Australians have now returned home on 72 flights from the Middle East since 4 March.
The government has provided an update this morning on the number of Australians who have left the region, as another two flights arrived this morning from Dubai.
Two additional flights – one from Abu Dhabi to Sydney, and the other from Dubai to Perth – are scheduled to arrive later today.
The latest advise from Smartraveller is do not travel to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, UAE or Yemen. Reconsider your need to travel to Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Canavan concerned major fuel companies ‘seem to be hoarding fuel here’
Moving on to the fuel crisis hitting Australia, the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, says he’s concerned that a two-tier system has formed in Australia for companies with access to the four major fuel importers, versus the companies that are contracted to independent suppliers.
And he says he’s concerned companies are “hoarding” fuel here.
I do fear that the majors seem to be hoarding fuel here, not supplying spot market. I’ve also heard reports now that the majors are running around trying to clean up all their competitors’ markets.
That kind of predatory conduct during a crisis is not only completely immoral, it should be unconscionable. And I don’t think the government seems to have pushed and prodded the ACCC here strongly enough to take the quick action necessary to deter this kind of predatory conduct during a crisis.
Canavan says the government has significant powers under the Petroleum Act to get “fuel flowing” but that a threat should be enough to force fuel companies into action.
He says he doesn’t know “how much longer this [crisis] can go on without major, major pain”.
Government can’t guarantee households will be saved from fuel crisis
The government is working to pull a bunch of levers it has in its power to help ease the fuel situation around Australia, but unsurprisingly it can’t guarantee people won’t be affected by price spikes or disruptions.
Speaking to Sky News earlier, the assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, said the government has been doing everything to secure supply, and “so far that has occurred”.
But to say that we can guarantee that it’s not going to have an impact on price or that there won’t be any disruptions in local areas I think is unrealistic.
On the Today show, Amanda Rishworth was asked point-blank if the government could guarantee supply would continue to come from Asia. She said the country is facing an “uncertain time” but that the government was working to ensure supply continues.
We don’t know how long this war is going to go on for. We don’t know what assets might be attacked in any one day. What I can reassure people is that we are working every single day. At the moment, we still have fuel coming to this country. We’re working with states and territories to make sure that the distribution gets the fuel to where it needs to go.
The government revealed yesterday there are hundreds of bowsers across the country running empty (out of tens of thousands).
Are Australia’s beef exports to the UK ‘unlimited’?
A moment ago, the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, told the ABC’s RN Breakfast that when Coalition signed a free trade agreement with the UK, it negotiated for unlimited red meat exports.
Is that correct?
The answer is … basically, yes.
So, there are technically quotas in place for the amount of red meat Australia can export to the UK. For 2026 that quota for beef meat is 60,000 tonnes, and just over 41,000 tonnes for sheep meat.
But the amount that Australia actually exports to the UK is far less than the quota.
As at 10 March 2026, Australia has used up about 10% of its beef meat quota
(6,069 tonnes) and 7% of its sheep meet quota (2,965 tonnes).
In contrast, as at 16 March 2026, Australia exported 3181 tonnes of total red meat (including beef, lamb and mutton) to the EU.
Canavan ‘concerned’ over looming EU Australia free trade agreement
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, says he’s concerned about elements of the free trade agreement to be signed with the EU – possibly this morning.
Negotiations have been ongoing for eight years, set back by key sticking points such as naming rights to products including feta and prosecco ironed out. One of Australia’s biggest hurdles has been to increase how much beef and lamb would be allowed into the EU.
Canavan tells RN Breakfast he’s concerned the government has “rolled over” and compromised Australia’s national sovereignty if there is a limit on beef and lamb exports.
He says when the Coalition was in government, it negotiated unlimited red meat exports to the UK under a free trade agreement signed between those two nations.
It certainly shouldn’t be seen as some kind of “reprieve” because we get to maintain those [naming] rights. So, I mean, it doesn’t sound all that attractive right now … I mean, when the Coalition were in government, we signed a deal with the UK. We have, under that deal, eventually unlimited exports of beef … And the early reports indicate that the best we could perhaps hope for is a few 10,000 tonnes more of red meat access to a much larger market, EU, much larger than the UK, of course. So it certainly doesn’t seem to meet the hurdle of being described as a free trade deal, that’s for sure.
I want to see a good deal. I want to see improved market access for Australian exporters, farmers and the like. But I’m not in the interest of selling out Australia’s sovereignty.
AI bots exploiting vulnerability of children, says eSafety commissioner
Australia’s eSafety commissioner is deeply concerned about the impact AI chatbots and companions are having on children, releasing a recent survey which found 97% of children aged 10 to 17 had either used an AI companion or AI assistant.
Eight per cent, or around 200,000 children have used an AI companion, which Julie Inman Grant believes is just the “tip of the iceberg”.
Speaking to ABC’s RN Breakfast earlier this morning, Inman Grant warned AI companions exploit developmental vulnerability and they don’t have proper safety guardrails.
They can be your romantic partner, your therapist and your friend all at once. And they’re developed with emotional manipulation in mind. So they exploit developmental vulnerability. They’re what we call sycophantic. So they’re always affirming and they don’t question. And they, you know, they don’t have adequate guardrails.
Kate Chaney implores government to do something on gambling ads
Independent Kate Chaney says she feels so sad today, as we mark 1,000 days since the Peta Murphy-led parliamentary committee handed its report to the government calling for a gambling ad ban and action to minimise gambling harms.
As my colleague Josh Butler brought you earlier, Chaney will soon introduce her own bill to ban gambling advertising.
Speaking to ABC’s RN Breakfast this morning, Chaney pushes back against the government’s claims, when asked why it has not acted on the Murphy report, that it’s done more than any other government in Australia.
She says the government can “jump up and down as much as it likes” but it hasn’t implemented any of the recommendations of an inquiry it commissioned.
Ongoing gambling ads normalise the issue, she says, and the government needs to do something to tackle the impact it’s having on young people.
I feel sad for all the people who gave evidence and told their heartbreaking stories during that inquiry we did. I feel sad for Peta Murphy, who was so passionate about reform in this area and has passed away since. I feel really sad that we’re normalising sports [betting] for a generation of kids.
We remain the biggest losers in the world.
