Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I rise to support this profoundly significant matter of public importance put forward by my friend the member for Newcastle—not least because this is an issue that matters to so many people across our great country but also because it matters to so many parents in my electorate of Banks. It is also pertinent to the many young children we have up in the gallery today.

My sister and I are raising our own families in the area where we grew up, but times have changed a lot since then. While each of our children is still a little too young to understand social media fully, they deserve to grow up without the constant, pervasive pull of social media. When I'm speaking to locals in my community, parents share the same concerns with me. They are worried about the type of content that is out there online that their children could inadvertently be exposed to. They want to see greater protections for their children online.

Keeping Australians safe online, particularly children and young people, is a top priority for this government. Our social media ban for under-16s is aimed at delivering the protection our parents want to see and our young people need. It is a world-first initiative and it is lighting the way for other countries, with Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United Kingdom among 20 other countries implementing legislation or announcing plans to follow Australia's lead.

We have seen progress. Already more than five million social media accounts have been removed, deactivated or restricted. Unfortunately, though, in March of this year the eSafety Commissioner published their first compliance update, which contained some unwelcome news. The commissioner had serious concerns about compliance and the practices of some of the platforms in the tech industry. The eSafety Commissioner made it very clear that, while they are actively investigating the compliance of five different platforms, when considering potential enforcement action in response to this noncompliance they required stronger investigation powers.

The government made it clear at the outset that we would not hesitate to take further action to ensure the effectiveness of these reforms and to hold big tech to account if we needed to, and this is what we are trying to do. As the compliance update demonstrates, the need exists, and the legislation passed by this House earlier this week is the consequence of big tech failing to respect Australian law and uphold the standards Australians expect. The legislation ensures that eSafety has every tool available, with stronger information-gathering powers, so that big tech can't avoid providing the information needed to assess important compliance. Additionally, the bill doubles the maximum civil penalty for noncompliance with minimum-age obligations to $99 million, strengthening deterrence and aligning it with recent changes to other consumer laws.

The compliance update shows that big tech is trying to get away with doing the bare minimum and failing to meet their obligations to our communities. Let's be clear: if these companies want to do business in Australia, they must obey Australian laws. It is important to note that the legislation passed by the parliament to institute this ban was the beginning and not the end of this reform. The same is true of the legislation passed yesterday. Being the first in the world to institute these reforms means we have to create our own road map to success. Taking on tech giants means we have to be responsive. We have to be adaptable. This is exactly what we are doing.

When the need to hold big tech accountable and keep our children safe online arises, this government is not afraid to take action—unlike some others. It is inexplicable that those opposite are seeking to delay the important legislation not by days or by hours but by months. I'll let them explain to Australian parents this choice of theirs. (Time expired)

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