A new shareholder activism campaign has been launched that targets media companies Nine Entertainment and Seven West in an effort to stop them taking adverts from gambling companies.

The Alliance for Gambling Reform has joined forces with activist share trading platform SIX to use investor power to stop gambling ads at Australia’s big media companies.

Rather than lobbying from the outside, the Alliance for Gambling Reform and SIX will aim to change Australia’s big media companies from the inside as shareholders. This includes plans to propose shareholder resolutions at the company AGMs of Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media this year.

Chief Advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Reverend Tim Costello, said “We can’t get gambling reform until we’re inside these companies”

“I’ve bought the minimum parcel of shares in these companies. I’m encouraging others to do the same or to use their existing shares in these companies to support this campaign too. That’s how we get inside these companies and push for change.”

“The media companies are completely out of touch when it comes to gambling ads. 7 out of 10 Australians want gambling advertisements on TV to be banned. Australians lose $25 Billion each year to gambling, the highest per capita spend in the world.”

“It’s clear that these big media companies are not going to tackle the scourge of gambling ads until they are forced to. We’ve waited too long for governments to act, so now we’re using shareholder power to take action.”

Adam Verwey, CEO and co-founder of SIX, said “Time and again, Australia’s biggest companies have shown that they only care about one group of people, their shareholders. So if we want to make change at some of Australia’s biggest companies, then we need to do it as owners of those companies”

Shareholder resolutions at company AGMs are commonplace overseas, but are rarely used in Australia due to our strict Corporations laws which require 100 shareholders to propose a resolution.

This will be the first time shareholders have mobilised to propose shareholder resolutions at Seven and Nine.

The proposed shareholder resolution demands the removal of all gambling advertisements from the company’s television, radio, streaming, digital and publishing platforms.

The campaign already has the support of the Reichstein Foundation and leading ethical investment firms Ethinvest and Future Group.