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

by leave—I begin by thanking the member for Newcastle for stepping in as chair for the committee and the member for Jagajaga for the work that she did before her elevation. This was a comprehensive inquiry with 220 submissions, 10 public hearings, 58 responses to questions on notice and three reports. The coalition members of the committee welcome the recommendations made by the committee, including a statutory duty of care and a children's online privacy code.

Having said that, I feel that it would be remiss of me if I didn't point out that I think that if the report was left as is it would be seen as a missed opportunity. Coalition members felt compelled to provide not a dissenting report but additional comments, and there were some 16,000 words in that additional commentary, which we believe fills a gap in this report. Simply put, coalition members believe that government members of the committee have missed the opportunity to demonstrate the strong leadership required for the kind of comprehensive reform which social media platforms desperately need.

On 3 January 2018, Dolly Everett took her life as a result of very, very significant bullying. Most of us would remember that day, and I have to say it was a day in my life that I remember well. Shortly after Dolly's passing, I went down to Sydney, New South Wales, and had a meeting with the DIGI group, where all of the social media platforms and big tech are represented. I made the executives of the DIGI group a promise that I would be a thorn in their side for however long they continued to not look after the welfare of Australians and, in particular, the welfare of Australian children. I made them that promise, and today I feel somewhat vindicated that that promise has been, or is being, delivered on.

Big tech companies have proven utterly incapable of protecting their users from harm, and Australians demand strong leadership to hold them to account. I remember walking out of that meeting with the DIGI group thinking that I had just met with big tobacco from the 1960s and the1970s. I was assured that everything was all under control and that platforms were doing everything that they humanly possibly could to protect Australians. We all know that that is not true.

Coalition members were concerned that, despite the significant evidence provided by witnesses, the committee failed to give enough attention to the issues of child safety, foreign interference and mental health, particularly in relation to eating disorders and addiction. A parliamentary inquiry such as this one should freely offer recommendations to government to steer policy and find practical solutions to real-world policy problems with far-reaching consequences.

Coalition members want user-control features which address persuasive design issues. That includes resetting your algorithm, stopping autoplay and infinite scrolling and having the ability to better customise one's social media feeds. Coalition members would like to see greater transparency and reporting requirements in relation to actual or suspected foreign interference or transnational commercial activities. Coalition members would like to see a centre of digital education excellence established to bolster Australia's digital technology and media literacy. Coalition members want a proactive obligation on social media companies to report actual or suspected child sexual abuse and exploitation, regardless of whether end-to-end inscription is used.

Coalition members want a proactive obligation on search engines and similar platforms to report how they are combatting the indexation and dissemination of harmful material. Coalition members want big tech to be held accountable for harmful materials published by connected third-party platforms, including link-in-bio tools. Coalition members want the government to work with experts, youth representatives and lived-experience participants to develop a strategy to improve the online safety and wellbeing of boys, who are disproportionately affected by online harms, particularly in relation to sextortion. Coalition members want the government to invest in the research and development of technology to combat child sexual exploitation.

Coalition members want social media companies to provide regular transparency reports on data collection. Coalition members want regular reports on revenue received from the advertising of regulated and restricted industries like alcohol, gambling, pornography, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, weight-loss treatments, debt collection and more. Coalition members want the government to adequately resource the eSafety Commissioner and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation to meet increasing demand on their services. Coalition members want a new parliamentary committee—like other committees before this one—on online safety, artificial intelligence and technology, tasked with responding to and preparing Australia for the growing threats and opportunities in social media technology and AI.

It is imperative that a standing committee be established. This committee is handing down its report today, but it's likely to be out of date in a couple of months time, and having a standing committee which can keep abreast of the constant changes in this area will stand this country in good stead. The jurisdiction that this standing committee should have would also include dating apps, gaming platforms, live-streaming programs, the Metaverse and more.

The coalition members have put together an alternative report to highlight the serious issues which the existing report fails to address. We've nominated 13 additional recommendations to protect Australians online. We've demonstrated, once again, that the coalition is leading the charge on social media reform and online safety. I want to acknowledge the efforts and the receptiveness of the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister for communications, David Coleman, and acknowledge their great work in leading social media reform. At this point, I also want to thank my partner in crime, the member for Flinders, for her outstanding work on this committee and in relation to online safety.

The reality is that only the coalition can be trusted to keep kids safe online. Only the coalition has the courage to hold big tech to account. I commend the report and additional comments to the House.

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