Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

My thanks to Senator Ghosh for the question. I know those of us on this side, Senator Ghosh amongst them, have an ongoing interest in this area. We know it's important to the people of Western Australia, it's important to people across this country and it's important to people throughout our communities. I hope all of us in this place can agree that the safety and mental health of our children is paramount.

We all know that parents are looking for real solutions to their concerns about harmful online environments and addictive behaviour on social media. We all know that from our experience, and from the conversations that we have in our communities, with parents and grandparents and young people alike. That is why the Prime Minister has announced that the Albanese government will be creating a new minimum age for access to social media. We will bring legislation forward before the end of the year, and I look forward to those opposite supporting it.

Of course, this is not the only thing we are doing or that we have done. We have quadrupled funding for the eSafety Commissioner. We have fast-tracked the review of the Online Safety Act, which will report next month. We have funded digital literacy programs for every school with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation. We have supported the eSafety Commissioner to develop new mandatory industry codes to protect children from online pornography.