Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

What a sham this is. This is a piece of legislation that does not do what the government or the Leader of the Opposition propose that it does. It doesn't make social media safer. It doesn't make children and young people safer online. It's a sham. The whole process has been a sham. The bill has been rushed through with limited inquiry—three hours of inquiry—and with no ability for the bureaucrats to actually answer questions properly, all under the guise that this is urgent and needs to be done, but it doesn't take place for another 12 months.

I'll tell you what this is about. This is about the pretence that parents over the summer holidays can tell their kids: 'It's illegal to be on your phone. It's illegal to be on social media. Get off it. The Prime Minister says, the Leader of the Opposition says, the parliament says, it's illegal, kids. It's not my fault. I'll take it away.' It doesn't actually make social media safer for young people, and that's the devastating thing about this. We know that there are families who are struggling with this. We know there are young people who are struggling with their body image and their connection with their community, their peers. There are young people who are finding themselves addicted to these dangerous algorithms. But this bill doesn't do any of that; this bill does none of that. All this bill does is gives the government and Peter Dutton the illusion, the fig leaf, that they've given parents some certainty. You can say, 'Look, kids, it's illegal.' This is a rubbish bill. It has no substance, and it doesn't even take place for another 12 months. This bill is so weak, is such a veneer. It's to make old people, oldies, adults feel like they've done something. It's a false sense of security. It's also obvious that the people who have drafted and fought for the particular elements of this bill actually have no idea how young people engage with the internet—absolutely no idea. It's almost embarrassing. This is boomers trying to tell young people how the internet should work. That's what this bill is: boomers trying to tell teenagers and young people how the internet should work to make themselves feel better.

We have Australian artists in this country who have only been discovered because young people have found them on YouTube and they've engaged with their music, their creativity. This is going to put an axe through Australian creatives. The government hasn't even thought about that. The opposition leader hasn't even thought about that. The consequences of this bill are going to reach far further than this government and this parliament has been able to uncover.

It is being rushed through. It hasn't been considered properly. It's not even going to take place for 12 months. There is no excuse for doing it in this way, except for the desperation that the Prime Minister had to match the dare that the Leader of the Opposition put, which was get it in place before Christmas. It's pathetic. It's a headline. It doesn't do what they say it will do. It creates a more unsafe culture and platform and environment and will have unintended consequences. I can't fathom who in the Leader of the Opposition's office is advising him and who is advising the government to understand that this was a good idea to rush through. The Leader of the Opposition called the Prime Minister's bluff, and the Prime Minister blinked. Silly, silly, silly. This is a piece of legislation that says boomers want to control what young people access online. They don't even know how it works. It's pathetic.