Hello all, a pleasure to be here. Thank you Maurice Reilly and the National Press Club board.

I want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which we gather.

Together we stand on the shoulders of 1600 generations of First Nations people and that is our shared history.

I also want to acknowledge the parents in the room, the hundreds of thousands of parents who campaigned for this law, NewsCorp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign and Wippa and the 36 Months group.

In one week, Australia will become the first country in the world to ban under 16’s from having social media accounts.

With one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by predatory algorithms described by the man who created the feature as “behavioural cocaine.”

Through one reform, more kids will have their time back to learn an instrument or a language, or walk their dog, master a torpedo punt or the perfect lob pass. 

This is my second NPC address.

Two years ago, I stood on this stage to outline Labor’s aged care reforms… stepping out a path for older Australians towards a better future.

Today I will step out the path for younger Australians towards a better future.

A future that balances their right to connect, learn, and create, with the growing need to protect them from social media harms.

I will bust some myths, sign post where we’re going and be frank about the challenges ahead.

I won't re-prosecute the harm that social media apps do to young brains – I’m going to do that a kilometre away from here in the High Court.

But what I will say is this isn’t the first time the harms of social media have been laid bare.

The evidence gathered in journal articles and disclosure documents is spreading like wildfire, belling the cat on previously secret strategies by social media giants.

And around the world, we are seeing governments, whistle-blowers and ordinary citizens fight back.

Like a claim filed in the Northern District of California and reported in the media, which alleges that Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat know exactly how addictive their platforms are, but deliberately target teenagers to maximise engagement and drive advertising revenue.

Media reports on the court case quote internal documents from each of the companies.

Reports allege Meta has aggressively pursued young users, even as its internal research suggested its social media products could be dangerous to kids. 

Reports allege Meta employees proposed multiple ways to mitigate but were blocked by executives who feared new safety features would hamper teen engagement or user growth.

Reports allege Snapchat executives admitted that people who “have a Snapchat addiction have no room for anything else. Snap dominates their life”.

Reports allege YouTube employees acknowledged that “[d]riving more frequent daily usage was not well-aligned with … efforts to improve digital wellbeing.”

Reports allege an internal TikTok document recognised that “minors do not have executive mental function to control their screen time.”

Social media companies have made billions of dollars from Australian families because we spend two seconds longer than usual on a video while we’re doom-scrolling.

These companies wield an incredible power we willingly hand over to them because of the benefits the platforms bring to us.

From 10 December, we start to take that power back for young Australians.

We have a lot to get through but first, let’s bust the biggest myths I’ve heard visiting schools, talking to parents and teachers, and entering the belly of the beast - my social media comments.

You will not be forced to present government ID to verify your age - despite the dog whistle campaign encouraged by my Coalition counterpart.

The law states platforms must always offer a reasonable alternative to their users.

Companies caught forcing users to hand over their ID face fines of up to $49.5 million.

If you’re an adult - you probably won’t need to do anything extra to prove your age, because like I said before, these platforms have plenty of data to infer your age.

They see that you’ve had an account since 2015.

They see your cruise holiday snaps

They see you’ve been talking to other adults, signing off your comments “hope the kids are well, love Helen and Paul.”

And similarly, if you’ve had your account since 2020, been DM’ing your 14 year old friends about Stranger Things and applying for a tax file number, barely open the app during school hours but start doom scrolling when the school bell rings – you will be identified as probably under the age of 16. 

Yes - there will still be kids with accounts on 10 December, and probably for some time after that.

Not only because kids are clever and inherently seek to circumvent systems…but because this law is a world first.

However, if a child has a social media account on December 10 then that platform is breaking the law. 

With almost 86% of Australian children aged between 8 and 15 on social media, it will take time for the age assurance sieve to filter out the existing accounts and stop new accounts from being created.

Most parents, carers and teachers I talk to don’t expect perfection, but what they do say to me is “thank you for trying this – do not back down!”

Increasing the minimum age to have a social media account is not a cure, it is a treatment plan.

And this is not set and forget. We can’t be static in dynamic environments - because the tech sure isn’t.

eSafety will watch and respond to migratory patterns and if LinkedIn becomes a secret online meeting place for under 16s, I will not hesitate to act.

And eSafety will be conducting an evidence-based evaluation of the impacts of the law - good and bad, intended and unintended - to inform the government’s two year statutory review.

I understand that losing access to social media is going to be hard for many under 16s – especially because the apps have been deliberately designed with addictive features.

The co-creator of the infinite scroll feature, Aza Raskin, described his design as behavioural cocaine. 

Teenage addiction wasn’t a bug. It was a design feature. 

And on December 10 there will be withdrawal symptoms. 

Teenagers will be upset, some will fight to get back on, and some will manage to find their way around the tech and keep their accounts.

But I truly believe short-term discomfort will be worth long-term benefits.

If you or someone you worry about feels disconnected, stressed or overwhelmed – there is strength in reaching out. 

Please go to esafety.gov.au where you will find helpful resources developed in consultation with youth mental health organisations, as well as links to their websites, counselling hotlines and online chats.

The first social media platform was a humble little service called Six Degrees. 

Launched in 1997 as an online twist on six degrees of separation, it was designed purely for connection. 

Closer to ancestry.com than Snapchat.

 It wasn't until MySpace launched in 2003, that social media became social.

 By 2007, MySpace had more than 100 million monthly users.

 Depending on your age, you might recall when MySpace surged in popularity through its controversial feature - top eight friends.

It's easy to pretend the savagery of socials is new but even 18 years ago, MySpace was tearing friendships apart through the culture of comparison as Australians agonised who to include or exclude in their top eight friends.

 Way back in 2007, before a single hashtag was used online, Caitlin Flanagan wrote in The Atlantic about the dangers of MySpace.

Noting…"In the future it may be unheard-of for a teenage girl from a loving family to disappear into her room every night for two hours of unsupervised e-chatting and instant messaging and MySpacing."

It’s taken a while, but in one week, that future begins.

And I use the word begins with purpose.

Across Australia today, curious children went to school and took away a lesson from a teacher they admired, felt a sense of achievement with a grade they got back, kicked the winning goal in lunchtime soccer, made a new friend on the buddy bench. 

Tonight, children around Australia will go home and their curiosity will be used against them.

The algorithm will attack them so deftly and subtlety it resembles an embrace. 

Their interactions will be unsupervised and weaponised - because their parents can’t watch them 24/7.

From the lockers to the living room. From the port racks to the pillow.

We know many kids don't tell parents they are seeing harmful content on social media often because they worry parents will “overreact” and deny access.

Sometimes they don’t even recognise what is happening to them is harmful.

As whistle-blower Sarah Wynn-Williams said in her testimony before the US Senate - social media platforms target teenagers with ads based on their emotional state.

Ms Wynn-Williams said if a teenage girl uploaded a selfie and then deleted it, advertisers would see that as a good time to sell her a beauty product or a weight loss product because the act of deleting that selfie indicated she may not be feeling great about her appearance.

That is predatory behaviour.

And we must act. 

We must act for Robb Evans and his daughter Liv.

Three years ago, Liv was struggling. 

15-years-old and vulnerable. 

Liv had a diagnosed eating disorder and began searching for low calorie recipes on social media platforms, the ones captured in the law.

But Liv didn't realise these platforms’ internal drive is executed through aggressive, divisive, content that prompts longer screen time.

Liv found reels with women providing advice on how to exist on 200 calories a day.

She found coded hashtags directing her to harmful content. 

The algorithm latched on and never let go.

Those platforms grasped Liv's vulnerable 15-year-old hand, and guided her down a dark neurological path towards anorexic content.

Liv's dad Robb found screenshots of this content on his daughter's phone and tried to convince her these videos were created for engagement and the advice was dangerous.

Robb Evans is here with us today.

Liv isn't.

So, when I say this is too important not to have a crack, I say it thinking of Rob. 

I say it thinking of Liv.

I recently received an email from a 13 year old girl from Queensland who said: “I understand the whole mental health thing, but you guys don't understand what it’s like to be young.”

“All we know is social media.”

When I read that, I thought to myself – that’s the problem.

When Gen X and Millennials were growing up, we had a computer in the family room, a TV in the loungeroom, and a landline in the kitchen.

When we got a bit older, we got a flip phone, but every text cost credit and we only got $30 credit a month so we had to use it sparingly.

If we were having a fight with a friend at school, or dealing with a bully, we left it at the school gate.

Some of us spent our pocket money buying the latest edition of Dolly or Girlfriend Magazine to look at the latest beauty and fashion trends and tips about how to talk to the boy you liked.

Yes, the images were photoshopped, yes, they set unrealistic expectations, but the magazines were monthly.

Compare this to Gen Alpha. Since they got their first smartphone and their first social media account, they have been connected to the dopamine drip.

In the palm of their hand, they have constant access to a TV, phone, a computer, a comparison.

Targeted algorithms, persistent notifications, and toxic popularity metres are stealing their attention for hours every day.

If they put the phone away, they might miss something. There is no reprieve.

That’s why this law matters – to give Gen Alpha, and the next generation, a break from the persuasive and pervasive pull of social media.

This specific law will NOT fix every harm occurring on the internet.

But, it will make it easier for kids to chase a better version of themselves without being chased into predatory algorithms. 

It will complement the work Minister for Education Jason Clare is doing to address school bullying through our response to the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review.

We are also committed to a Digital Duty of Care.

A digital duty of care will create a proactive system and put the responsibility on services to prevent harm from occurring in the first place. 

eSafety is also implementing industry codes under the Online Safety Act that will uplift safety standards of online services such as search engines, to prevent children accessing high impact content like pornography, suicide or eating disorder material.

And we are committed to restricting online nudify tools used to create explicit deepfakes.

One child in every classroom in Australia has been the victim of deepfake abuse. 

While nudify victim reports to eSafety from people under 18 have doubled in the past 18 months. 

Deepfakes are destroying the self-esteem of Australian girls.

Because while the image might be fake, the abuse is real.

Emma Mason, who spoke with extraordinary power at the United Nations leaders’ summit, unfortunately had to battle this cowardly assault on her daughter.

Emma’s daughter, Tilly, had a fake naked photo shared by schoolkids on the bus. 

Between 3.10 and 6 pm, Emma estimated almost 3,000 kids had seen this fake naked photo, and, that night, Tilly attempted to take her own life. 

Emma is with us today. 

Tilly isn’t.

So, the question you’re all desperate to know the answer to - who is getting slapped with the first $50 million fine on 10 December?

The bureaucrats in the room will back me up here – but regulation rarely acts fast and certainly not that fast.

Information gathering and enforcement powers lay with the eSafety Commission.

But what you can expect is on 11 December, eSafety will send notices to the ten platforms we have named in our dynamic list.

These notices will seek evidence including how many underage accounts they had on 9 December before the law started and on 11 December after the law started. 

Those platforms will have time to reply, before the next round of information requests are sent out asking for updated figures every month for 6 months.

The Government recognises that age assurance may require several days or even weeks to complete fairly and accurately. 

However, if eSafety identifies systemic breaches of the law, the platforms will face fines of up to $49.5 million.

Regulation, and cultural change, takes time. 

Takes patience.

This law is world leading and countries around the world are taking our lead.

 Denmark, Greece, Romania, France, New Zealand, Malaysia, the European Commission have all signalled intent to introduce a minimum age for social media.

As European Union president Ursula von der Leyen said – “parents, not algorithms, should be raising our children”.

I’ve met with leaders from across the globe and political spectrum who are equal parts fascinated and motivated by what Australia is doing.

American social psychologist and author of the book, The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt said Australia’s law, our law, “is by far the most important single piece of legislation ever enacted on planet Earth to protect children in the internet age.”

I inherited this bold reform and am privileged to stand here because of the exceptional work of the Prime Minister and former Comms Minister Michelle Rowland.

December 10 would not happen but for Anthony Albanese’s dogged determination to hold platforms to a higher standard.

I work every day to be the Bill Ponsford to the PM’s Don Bradman. 

And like Bill, I wield a large stick… in the form of federal regulation.

Those who know me well were expecting a niche sport reference in somewhere.

I genuinely believe that a few years from now, eyebrows will raise not at the reform… but why it took so long for the reform to be implemented.

Because as parent Mia Bannister told me earlier this year – our kids are watching a highlight reel all day and night… a highlight reel where they are not the heroic main character.

A constant stream of unrealistic, impossible to meet, expectations.

A relentless poster of failure glued to their hand.

Mia lives in my electorate of Lilley, and has spent the past six months speaking to school kids about her son Ollie’s battle with offline and online bullying.

Discussing how Ollie, like Liv, lowered his screen and hated what he saw in the mirror.

Ollie turned to social media for advice on how to be fitter, how to look better and was led into algorithmic agony, constantly fed anorexic content on the platforms captured in this ban. 

At one point Ollie was weighing his dash of soy sauce.

Mia is with us here today. 

Ollie isn’t.

One week from today, this law is starting.

And over the coming months, we will defend this law in the High Court.

Because parents here in this room and right around Australia asked for Government to step up.

They know and we know, this will not be perfect.

But for Liv, Tilly, Ollie. For Mac and Wayne Holdsworth for Allem and Ali Halkic.

For the seven out of ten kids who witness online harm.

And for Generation Alpha - who deserve the best start in life.

We have to give this a crack. 

Thank you.