Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) | Hansard source

The coalition supports these amendments. We are pleased to say we have been involved in constructive negotiations with the government to strengthen the bill. One of the major issues we sought changes on related to privacy. This is a very important issue. We provided the proposed changes to the government, which of course have now been incorporated into this amendment. We are very pleased that the government has accepted our changes, which, as I said, are reflected in the government's amendments. The new provisions make it clear that people cannot be compelled to provide digital ID or government issued identity documents, such as drivers licences or passports, under this legislation. This has now, due to the hard work of the coalition, been explicitly prohibited.

There was a second important change as well regarding strengthening ministerial oversight. Following our negotiations with the government, changes will be made so that the communications minister will be able to make rules specifying information which social media platforms are not able to collect in order to comply with the legislation. This will enable the minister to make rules to ensure that guidelines issued under the legislation are appropriate and proportionate to the objectives of the law. These are both very significant changes which materially strengthen the bill. We, of course, thank the government for agreeing to make these changes.

The coalition has led the charge on this bill, and we know what has driven this. What has driven this is the very profound mental health concerns that so many young people are suffering as a result of social media. We know there is widespread concern and evidence about the severe mental health impact of social media on children. We've seen very disturbing global trends in youth mental health since the rise of social media, especially for girls. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, there has been a more than three-fold increase in the rate of intentional self-harm hospitalisations for girls under 14 from 2008-09 through to 2022-23. In recent years, there have also been very large increases in the rate of mental health issues amongst children and young people. As a 2022 independent report on self-harm, commissioned by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, noted, there have been very large increases in all intentional self-poisonings in older children and adolescents worldwide over the recent decade. We know that, particularly for the parents of the children who have tragically taken their own lives, passing this bill right now is absolutely critical.

I have a question for you, Minister, but I want to first reflect on the bravery of parents who've spoken out about the importance of this bill—parents like Mat and Kelly Howard, the parents of Charlotte O'Brien, with whom I met a couple of weeks ago. When I met with them, all I could say was that there are no words for the tragedy that they have suffered. Charlotte took her life in September after suffering systemic bullying, in part caused by social media. Her message to her mum and dad was that she wanted them to raise awareness about what she had endured; she wanted to see change. I cannot tell you how humbling it is to meet with parents like Mat and Kelly, to listen to their story and listen to their mission. As I say, I think it is absolutely incumbent on this parliament to do the right thing.

I want to also commend both the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton—who has led the charge on this; I'm pleased that the government has caught up—and the shadow minister for communications, Mr Coleman. They have really led the charge on behalf of the coalition. We have heard the cries of families who are suffering, and we cannot continue to allow this to happen.

Minister, does the government believe this legislation will force the tech giants to actually use their technology to help identify and remove underage kids? We're very cognisant, of course, that TikTok removed 76 million underage children from its platform around the world; one million young Australians are here in Australia. Minister, could you just provide confirmation in relation to that?