Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. When I was the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, we undertook this inquiry with the support of my coalition colleagues and, indeed, even with the support of those members opposite. The report that was handed down in February 2020 was called Protecting the age of innocence. Do you know who gave the report that title? It was the member for Macarthur. The member for Macarthur is a great Australian, a longstanding paediatrician who cares deeply about the welfare of children—I do not doubt that for a second. But those members opposite will need to make a call today about whether they support this Minister for Communications and, indeed, the Prime Minister or whether they support doing what is right, because what is right is to introduce a trial that will provide age verification for online pornography.

Young people under the age of 18 can't go into a newsagent and buy pornography. The laws of this country say you need to be over 18. All we are saying—all we have said for many years—is that the online world should shape and reflect what happens in the real world. You can't get access legally to pornography if you are under 18—and for very good reason. And yet on the internet young people are accessing pornography, and we're not just talking about Playboy or Penthouse or that sort of soft porn; we are talking about hardcore, violent, extremist, degrading behaviour against women.

Those members opposite talk the big talk—and they did it yesterday—about protecting women. There is absolutely no doubt that there is a direct correlation between hardcore pornography and domestic violence. Those members opposite would have to acknowledge that. This is a watershed moment for these members in this chamber. Do you support what is right? Do you support women? Do you support standing against domestic violence? If you do, when this comes to a vote you will support the position of the opposition on this. There is nowhere to move. Look at all of the challenges that our young people are experiencing right now and think about all the parents, teachers and principals who have spoken to us in our time as MPs. One of the main things they talk to us about is access to pornography on these things. All they have to do is tick a box to say they are 18 or over.

That is entirely insufficient. There is absolutely no doubt that the Eros Foundation supported the views of the minister in not undertaking this trial. It is no wonder that the Eros Foundation supported self-regulation; that is like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.

Big porn do not care about Australians. They do not care about young Australians. Big porn are concerned about one thing and one thing only, and that is profit. Unfortunately, for reasons which escape me, this minister is giving them free rein. If anybody can explain and justify the decision of this government, I am all ears. If anybody can explain to me why the Prime Minister would sit back and allow this decision to go unchallenged, I am, once again, all ears.

One of the other challenges we talk about with young people is the falling education standards. We heard in the committee, time and time again, from parents telling us that their kids were sitting up late at night under the doona watching porn on their phones, then going to school the next day exhausted. Is it any wonder that our education standards are dropping in this country? This is a huge problem, and this communications minister needs to step up and do something about it.

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