House debates Bills
Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026; Consideration in Detail
Anika Wells Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sport
11:00 am
Let me first respond to the member for Warringah's questions. I can confirm that AI generated images that cause serious harm would be defined as adult cyberabuse. They can be taken down by the eSafety Commissioner. That would include deepfake nude images. The duty would also require platforms to have systems in place to prevent the harm from occurring.
The member is correct in that material and content that does not cause serious harm is not the subject of this bill. We feel that the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence that is currently on foot is meant to be looking into these particular issues, and we intend to incorporate those informed findings into the forthcoming Australian AI standards, which we believe is the more appropriate place for them. Other feedback is noted. I also thank the member for Curtin for her amendments, which the government will support.
On user empowerment tools, the government recognises the importance of making sure that the primary bill mandates that the user empowerment tools are accessible, easy to use, prominently available on the service, and functional and available on an ongoing basis. We support that. On attachment hacking, we also recognise that the use of AI chatbots and companions are creating risks to children's long-term development and it's horrifying. As sociologist Sherry Turkle observed: 'Social media came for our attention. Chatbots are coming for our attachment.' I've spoken in this chamber before about the boy who was found to have 50 different tabs open seeking companionship, and whilst some of those chat—
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