Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, I present the committee's report entitled Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society: Interim report.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—The Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society was appointed to inquire into and report on the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society. The committee is required to present an interim report by today, 15 August. However, due to the former chair, the member for Jagajaga—and I want to acknowledge she's present in the chamber today—being appointed to the ministry on 29 July in her new role as Assistant Minister for Social Security, for Ageing and for Women, the committee was unable to complete a substantive interim report for the due date of today. So this short report is to satisfy the requirement placed on the committee by this parliament. I would like to put on record my appreciation and thanks for the significant work already undertaken by the former chair, all the committee members and the secretariat for this first part of the committee's inquiry.

The committee received 217 submissions. We held five broad-ranging and insightful public hearings in June and July of this year, and the hearings traversed many of the inquiry's terms of reference. The committee heard from stakeholders ranging from large news organisations to small independent digital publishers, who discussed the important role of Australian journalism, news and public interest media in countering mis- and disinformation on digital platforms. They also discussed the impact of Meta's decision to abandon deals under the News Media Bargaining Code, and the tools available to the government to support the sector.

The committee also heard from individuals and organisations about the impacts of social media as a whole. This included a wide range of topics. Witnesses focused a lot on online safety issues. These will all be the subject of the next stage of our inquiry for the committee to table our more substantive interim report. That, of course, will be followed by the committee's obligation to submit a final report, due in November of this year. That will consolidate all the evidence received throughout the inquiry and recommended actions that governments and others can take to ensure that Australia's online environment is safe, secure and protects and promotes Australia's freedoms, democracy and way of life.