Under fire for slow response to antisemitism and gambling ad reports

“Labour treats parliament with disdain and leaves a surprising number of committee reports unanswered,” he said.

“The fact that his government has yet to respond to Peta Murphy’s online gambling report is a huge stain on the Prime Minister’s record, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the Labor backbenchers.”

A government spokesman said ministers and departments were taking the time necessary to provide concrete responses to key policy issues and that Labor had cleared “a significant backlog of committee reports from previous governments”.

Asked about the delay in responding to inquiries into antisemitism in universities, they pointed to the antisemitism education taskforce launched in the wake of the Bondi massacre, which addressed recommendations contained in the antisemitism ambassador’s July report.

“We will introduce legislation that will strengthen the higher education regulator’s powers and penalties where universities fail to act,” they said.

Governments are not required to implement the inquiry’s reports, but Murphy’s latest recommendations on gambling advertising have attracted support from across the political spectrum since his death.

Labor backer Mike Freelander said in late November that the reforms would pass if MPs were allowed a vote of conscience.

Freelander told the ABC: “I have no doubt that we could ban gambling advertising because I think there is general consensus that we need to act on it and that it causes too much harm.”

The Prime Minister rejected the stance during one of his repeated questions from independents about whether MPs would allow a conscience vote, at one of the last question times of the year when Labor said it was voting as a party.

Albanese said Coalition MPs were leading “a political party, not a group of individuals” whose autonomy was taken for granted by Labor backbenchers.

“Peta Murphy was a Labor member,” shouted Nationals understudy Pat Conaghan.

Labor supporter Jerome Laxale backed the prime minister’s response, saying reform should go through the regular caucus process, but vowed to continue agitating for bigger action.

“I am one of many Labor MPs discussing this internally,” he told the ABC. Afternoon Briefing. “Personally, I see gambling reform as unfinished business for the Labor government and am hopeful for some positive action.”

The worker committed to acting on the recommendations of the investigation, but paused plans to ban online ads and limit TV and radio advertising It follows concerns raised by media and sports companies about the impact of loss of advertising revenue.

Bipartisan committees review legislation and research issues before making policy recommendations to the government. The government must respond to House and joint standing committee reports within six months, while Senate committee reports must be considered within three months.

The latest committee report audit covers a 12-month period instead of the usual six months because parliament was dissolved in March for an election. The report is a snapshot of the year and is not a comprehensive review of the government’s response to the reports over various periods.

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