Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications. How will the Albanese Labor government's world-leading social media minimum age law protect young Australians online?

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Canberra for her question, and I'm sure everybody in this place joins me in wishing her all the very best for the months ahead. We absolutely cannot wait for the next junior vice-undersecretary of Canberra to join us back in this place very soon.

Today we have hit a significant milestone in the Albanese Labor government's mission to reduce online harms experienced by young Australians. We have 100 days to go until the start of our world-leading social media minimum age reforms. A hundred days until we give kids three more years to build real-world connections and online resilience; 100 days until our children are empowered to know who they are before platforms assume who they are. Delaying access to social media until the age of 16 will protect young Australians at a critical stage of their development. It will allow families reprieve from the pervasive and persuasive pull of social media platforms. The onus will be on the platforms, not the parents, to make sure under-16s cannot access social media. Because, if social media companies are using our data for their own commercial benefit, I don't think it is too much to ask for them to also use that for the benefit of Australian kids and their safety online.

This belief is backed by the findings of the 1,200 page age assurance trial, published today in full. The trial report shows that age assurance online isn't just possible, but it can be done privately, effectively and efficiently. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to age assurance online, there are a range of technologies that can keep kids off social media and protect them from violent and explicit content. There is no perfect solution when it comes to keeping young Australians safer online, but our world-leading reforms will make a meaningful difference, which is why I was incredibly disappointed to see the coalition team up with the Greens and conservative conspirators to pass a motion in the Senate designed to sow doubt and fear about online age assurance.

While the Greens and coalition seem to be teaming up to protect the interests of platforms with big tech talking points, the Albanese government is firmly on the side of parents. Online platforms can target children with chilling control, and now we are mandating they use that same control to give kids three more years to build real-world resilience. Australia should be immensely proud that, as a country, we are prioritising the online safety of our children and leading the world with these reforms.