MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS ANIKA WELLS: We're calling on the Parliament to pass these laws to give the eSafety Commissioner more powers to hold big tech to account. Australian parents needed these laws 10 weeks ago. The Coalition and the Greens have been dawdling on this. We need their amendments if they want them, and we need Parliament to get back together, the same way that we passed [social media minimum age] laws with bipartisan support, and pass them this week.

JOURNALIST: Just on the algorithms, what would people see on their feeds if they chose to turn off their algorithms or opt out?

WELLS: Jack, as I said on ABC News Breakfast just now, the exposure draft isn’t out yet. We'll have that detail out for you this week.

JOURNALIST: Would you opt out of algorithms if you were given the choice?

WELLS: I definitely want Australians to have more choice over their feeds than what they currently have, and I want big tech to respect that choice. And if they don't respect that choice, I want big tech to suffer big fines.

JOURNALIST: And have you made a decision yet whether it should be opt-in or opt-out? And what do you make of that debate at the moment?

WELLS: We've been working on these laws for a year. I want to do what is technically possible, and what drives me is giving Australians more choice. Whether they want to keep the algorithm, whether they want to do things a different way, it should be their choice, not big tech’s choice. 

JOURNALIST: And do you expect some- that you could get some blowback, though, from social media companies that could withdraw their platforms from Australia?

WELLS: Big tech is not a protected species in Australia. They should be beholden to the same basic safety standards we expect of every other industry – cars, foods, toys. They haven't had to, to this moment, but with a Digital Duty of Care, the onus will be on big tech to identify risk, mitigate against risk and do safety-by-design. I think it's the least Australian parents should expect.

JOURNALIST: And what type of fines would companies get if they don't comply with this digital duty of care?

WELLS: So there'll be significant fines. Obviously, these are some of the richest companies in the world, but the same kind of fines you would expect from other breaches of consumer law in Australia.

JOURNALIST: And just finally, you got a lot of backlash last week over a social media video about Ooshies. Do you have any regrets about that?

WELLS: I have for a long time used policy as pop culture as an explainer for different housing, financial, budget policies that the Albanese Government is doing. You’ve got to meet people where they’re at. They’re online. If you don't like MAFS or you didn’t live through the great Ooshie shortage of 2026, that's all right. Not all social media content is for you.

JOURNALIST: Are you a big Ooshie fan?

WELLS: We lived through the great Ooshie shortage of 2026, and it was a big talking point at our school gate, watching the Woolies roller-shutter doors go up when they opened because they'd run out on Wednesday and they were restocked on Saturday. Everybody knew about that. Everyone was talking about that. Things in the zeitgeist are a way to connect with people, but not all content is for everybody.