Cup Day shame: Government still at the barrier on gambling reform

Wesley Mission

Media release
For immediate release

4 November 2025

Cup Day shame: Government still at the barrier on gambling reform

As the nation celebrates the Melbourne Cup, Wesley Mission CEO Rev Stu Cameron has renewed calls for urgent gambling reform, calling out the Albanese Government for failing to act on the Murphy Report’s 31 recommendations to curb gambling harm.

With sports betting ads flooding screens and social media through football finals and racing carnivals, Rev Cameron says the Government’s inaction is leaving a generation at greater risk and allowing gambling harm to spread unchecked.

“The only thing slower than the last horse in the Melbourne Cup is the Albanese Government acting on the Murphy Report recommendations,” says Cameron.

“The Murphy Report gave parliament a roadmap for sensible, proportionate reform of the sports betting industry more than two years ago yet not a single one of the 31 recommendations has crossed the finish line.”

Rev Cameron says it is time to move beyond talk and deliver on long-promised protections against online gambling harm.

“Every year we see more families struggling, more young people being drawn into the web of addictive betting apps and more lives being damaged. We know what needs to be done - now it is time for action.”

ENDS

Wesley Mission CEO Rev Stu Cameron is available for interview.

Media contact: Anne Holt 0418 628 343 or [email protected]