Drugs & escorts used to lure gamblers + The $200m race to save our wildlife

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (0:07)
Hi, Sacha Barbour Gatt with you. Welcome to The Briefing. Bird flu is here, and stopping it isn't an option now that the first mass mortality event has officially been confirmed on our shores. But conservationists say we can slow it. They just need $200 million from the government to get it done.

**Jack Gough** (0:24)
What we need to be doing is building up the resilience and health of wildlife populations. We can't stop bird flu spreading. It's a bit like COVID. It's about flattening that curve so the populations can deal with what is going to be devastating.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (0:38)
That conversation is coming up in the second half of this episode, but first it's time for the headlines with Chris Spyrou on Tuesday the 4th of August.

**Chris Spyrou** (0:49)
Morning Sacha. Executives for major gambling companies will be the next to front a Senate inquiry examining the harms of their business today. It follows bombshell evidence from a line up of former addicts yesterday, including ex-NRL player Luke Bateman, who revealed he was plied with drugs by at least one betting company to get him spending more.

**Luke Bateman** (1:09)
There were times where I would be flown into state and taken to race days, put in marquees with alcohol and food provider all day, things like that. But also before getting there, your VIP manager would offer you, go, hey mate, what drugs do you want? Do you want a couple bags for this weekend? We'll organise that for you. We'll have that ready for you when you get here.

**Chris Spyrou** (1:25)
Other witnesses spoke about similar experiences and being offered escorts and travel, along with drugs and alcohol.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (1:31)
The inquiry, which we'll wrap up today, is aiming to put pressure on labour to strengthen its existing gambling reform package, which has not yet passed parliament. And independence and the Greens say those laws don't go far enough. There are calls for a ban on inducements, which includes things like text messages from companies offering extra cash or bonus bets if you place a bet. There are also calls for a national regulator and a full ban on gambling advertising.

**Chris Spyrou** (1:59)
Labour's package, which Anthony Albanese is so far standing by, includes restrictions on ads during the day and on radio during school drop-off and pick-ups, as well as an opt-out system for online advertising. There is some support from within labour to strengthen the proposed laws, with delegates at the party's national conference last month voting in favour of tackling inducements in its policy platform. The coalition meantime has not yet decided its position on the bill, but several backbenchers are calling for stronger measures.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (2:29)
The Senate committee will hand down its report in two weeks' time on August 17, with debate on the bill to resume in parliament once it's tabled. It is worth noting parliament is resuming from winter break next Tuesday. So then the following week is when we can expect to hear debate on this. Bateman's evidence was interesting because there was some talk around whether what he was being offered, you know, flown places, the drugs, the alcohol, the marquee events, things like that, whether that was inducement. There were a couple of gambling executives who spoke at the inquiry yesterday afternoon who said, no, no, no, that like the drugs is a separate issue. That's a criminal thing. That's not something that, you know, we can talk to because it's illegal. It should be a police matter.
But the idea of the alcohol and the travel and you come to this event, we'll look after you. Bateman himself said he was a willing participant, but he was 23 years old at the time and he was, you know, living the high life and enjoying it. But, you know, that he was given this sense of friendship and trust by his VIP manager from this gambling company. And he says the idea was to sway the punter to keep betting with that company and only that company. So it's definitely a form of buttering someone up at the very least.

**Chris Spyrou** (3:40)
New polling suggests the next federal election could come down to a fight between Labor and One Nation. Roy Morgan's latest numbers still put Labor out in front on 27.5%, with Pauline Hanson's One Nation second on 24
And while support for One Nation slipped in the latest poll, down 1.5%, support for the Coalition crept up to its stronger showing since the May budget.

**Sacha Barbour Gatt** (4:02)
There was a separate poll out yesterday by Redbridge, which had One Nation ahead of Labor, 31% to 29%. So it shows these polls are fallible. There's, you know, they're not completely accurate all of the time. There's differing numbers that we're gonna see keep coming out in the lead up to the election.