Updated ,first published
Former prime minister John Howard has made a last-ditch plea for Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor to take on powerful media and sports outfits by cracking down hard on sports betting ads, just as the prime minister and his counterpart met in Canberra to thrash out a compromise position.
Howard rubbished Labor’s proposed opt-out system which relies on people telling a social media platform or broadcaster they do not want to see ads. The former Liberal leader, whose voice carries more weight in the party than any other living leader, told this masthead it was “against human nature to expect people to sit down and opt out”.
Instead, Howard declared it would be “far better” to create a new opt-in system whereby people would be shielded from promotions unless they volunteered to see them. The opt-in model is supported by the Greens and a minority of major party MPs keen to change Australia’s rank as the biggest per capita gamblers in the world.
“I think it should be the attitude of all the major political parties, both Labor and Coalition, to legislate in the public interest. And if that means disappointing major companies, then disappoint them!” Howard said in an interview on Monday.
“It’s a very poor thing that young people grow up thinking that gambling on sport is a normal part of life.”
“I don’t favour a nanny state approach. If people want to bet, they can bet… [but] the negative impact of gambling in working-class suburbs is very serious and very intense.”
Media firms including this masthead’s owner Nine are fighting against the opt-in for the same reason Howard supports it, that not many people would volunteer to watch more ads.
As politicians returned to Canberra on Monday after the winter break, one of Albanese’s first items of businesses was scheduling a meeting with Taylor to salvage his big tech agenda from the brink of defeat, holding talks with counterpart Angus Taylor to win support for plans to force US platforms to pay for news and block gambling advertising.
The gambling crackdown was at risk of being blocked by the Greens and the Coalition. Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson last week said the draft bill was “riddled with deficiencies”.
Albanese has tried to land a compromise, which falls short of the full advertising ban supported by a vocal minority of Labor backbenchers, as well as a religious and civil society groups.
In an attempt to protect media firms’ revenue from ads and stave off a nanny-state argument from One Nation, Albanese is proposing to cap ads at three per hour. He holds the view that it would not be morally justified to ban ads for a legal product such as gambling, but is aiming to limit children’s exposure.
Albanese and Taylor are expected to come to an agreement on a proposal to force tech firms and media companies to create new tools for users to opt out from gambling ads. This has turned into a sticking point. Media companies want to avoid million dollar fines for failing to create an appropriate online tool within months before the laws come in.
Labor and the Coalition are also likely to agree on making it harder for betting firms to offer inducements like free bets, a week after bombshell allegations that betting firms were holding drug-fuelled events with big gamblers.
Taylor criticised Labor for moving too slowly on gambling ads.
“We’ve seen three years of delay from Labor on dealing with this but … we will work with the government to make sure it is right,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“It’s about getting the balance right and predatory inducements are a focus for us in making sure we get that balance right.”
A week after the largest news firms pleaded with the prime minister to reverse last-minute changes to the News Bargaining Incentive, Albanese will speak with Taylor on Tuesday to make a deal on a model to push Meta, Google and TikTok to pay for news articles.
The tech giants argue there is no justification for the policy because news outlets benefit from distributing their work on social media.
Albanese has pledged to stand up for the scheme in the face of threats from the Trump administration, which has described the tech taxes as extortion.
The news scheme was at risk of collapse after Nine and News Corp savaged amendments that may have lowered payments to big media outlets and pushed money to smaller ones. The news bargaining incentive is a world-first framework to draw revenue from tech firms to fund journalism.
The key change that infuriated the news organisations was one that would hypothetically reduce any one firm’s portion of the fund from $25 million to less than $17 million.
The change was made by Labor without consultation. It was designed to benefit smaller publishers, but large outlets argued it undervalued the bigger players who hire the most journalists and create most of the news.
If Albanese and Taylor strike a deal, the bill could speed through parliament this fortnight and set up another clash with the White House. The Trump administration has cast Labor’s model as “foreign extortion” of American tech firms, raising the prospect of tariff retaliation.
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Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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