Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications. How will the Albanese Labor government's social media reforms help support parents and protect children when it comes to online safety?

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  I thank the member for his question. The Albanese government has introduced world-leading legislation to establish a minimum age of 16 years for social media. We acknowledge that this is complex and novel reform. As the government has outlined, this bill is about supporting parents and protecting children, and it's about making sure children have a childhood and parents have peace of mind. It's also about the parliament working together to progress important reforms that will set a new community standard.

I can assure the House this legislation is centred on the key principle that supports parents to say no. This is a powerful reference point for society. It also centres on the principle of protecting young people, not isolating them. Social media in its current form is not a safe product for them. Access to social media does not have to be the defining feature of growing up. There is more to life than constant notifications, endless scrolling and pressure to conform to the false and unrealistic perfectionism that can be served up by influencers. Social media is having a detrimental impact on our young people and their mental health, and that is why we are acting.

It's important that we support young people and their digital inclusion. The legislation before the parliament and its associated rules will exclude messaging, gaming, educational and health support apps from the age limit. Examples of excluded services include but are not limited to Google Classroom, the Kids Helpline social platform, ReachOut's PeerChat, and YouTube.

In protecting children, the legislation features stronger-than-typical data and privacy protections. Platforms will be required to ring-fence and destroy data collected for the purpose of age assurance when the age assurance check is complete. Not destroying data would be a breach of the Privacy Act, with penalties of up to $50 million. And we have made clear the Digital ID framework is not in scope and would not be used for age assurance. The government is also providing additional resources to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to ensure it's equipped to oversee this legislation as it relates to privacy.

This legislation will deliver greater protections for young Australians during critical stages of their development. It places the onus on social media platforms, not parents and not young people, to take reasonable steps to ensure these protections are in place. I welcome the prompt review of this bill by the Senate committee. I look forward to its assessment, and we will consider further steps in response that the bill should take in the protection of Australian children.