Question Time Response - Social media reform helping parents keep children safe online

Question – Member for Adelaide, Steve Georganas

How will the Albanese Labor Government's social media reforms help support parents and protect children when it comes to online safety?

Answer - Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland: 

The Albanese Government has introduced world-leading legislation to establish a minimum age of 16 years for social media. We acknowledge that this is complex and novel reform. 

As the Government has outlined, this Bill is about supporting parents and protecting children. It is about making sure that children have a childhood and parents have peace of mind. 

It is also about the Parliament working together to progress important reforms that will set a new community standard. I can assure the House, Mr Speaker, this legislation is centred on the key principle that supports parents to say no. This is a powerful reference point for society. 

It also centres on the principle of protecting young people, not isolating them. Social media in its current form is not a safe product for them. Access to social media does not have to be the defining feature of growing up. There is more to life than constant notifications, endless scrolling and pressure to conform to the false and unrealistic perfectionism that can be served up by influencers. Social media is having a detrimental impact on our young people and their mental health and that is why we are acting. 

It is important that we support young people and their digital inclusion. The legislation before the Parliament, and its associated Rules, will exclude messaging, gaming, educational and health support apps from the age limit. Examples of excluded services include, but are not limited to, Google Classroom, Kids Helpline social platform, ReachOut’s peer chat, and You Tube.

In protecting children, the legislation features stronger than typical data protection requirements. Companies will be required to ring-fence to destroy data collected for age assurance once the age is complete. Not destroying data would be a breach of the Privacy Act, with penalties of up to $50 million, and we have made clear the digital ID framework is not in scope and would not be used for age assurance.

The Government is also providing additional resources to the Information Commissioner to ensure that it is equipped to oversee this legislation when it comes to privacy. Mr Speaker, this legislation will deliver greater protections for young Australians during critical stages of their development. It places the onus on social media platform, not parents, not young people, to take reasonable steps to ensure that these protections are in place.

I welcome the prompt review of this Bill by the Senate Committee; I look forward to its assessment and we will consider further steps in response that the Bill should take on the protection of Australian children.