Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a parent and as a legislator, I see absolutely nothing wrong with government working in partnership with parents, with families and with the community to keep children safe. Actually, I think it's a fundamental responsibility of government to do everything we can and to pull every lever we can to keep children safe. We know at the moment, when it comes to their online engagement, that children are not safe online, whether that's in terms of the things they're exposed to or in terms of the way certain things are marketed to them, whether that goes to bullying online or to the prolificness of eating disorders and other mental health challenges. We know that our children are not safe online. There is no issue raised more with me by parents in my community than this one. Parents are desperate to keep their children safe, but they feel like this has become too big for them to manage in their homes, and they want the backing and support of the federal government. They want us to do something about this.

We have an opportunity and a chance as a government to say, 'Yes, we see these harms exist; yes, we know these things are hurting our children; yes, we see this is increasing bullying; yes, we see this is increasing eating disorders; and yes, we see that this is causing so much damage to our youngest minds, and we can do something about it.' I think that is a good thing for federal governments to do. In so many other areas of children's safety and supporting children, we expect government, whether it be our state governments or our federal governments, to work in partnership with parents and to work in partnership with families to keep children safe. We cannot be any clearer that, at the moment, they are not safe online. I think this is fundamentally the right thing to do. Parents tell me that they want us to do it—that they want us to reinforce the decisions they are taking in their own homes. They are doing everything they feel they can do to keep their children safe online.

Recent research tells us that the majority of young parents are concerned about the impact of social media on their child's mental health and wellbeing and that 85 per cent of parents have had conflicts with their children over their use of social media. While this is incredibly stressful and concerning for parents, the most severe impacts are on children. We know that one in five young women have had a sexual image of themselves shared without their permission. A recent Australian study has found that the average age of a child's first exposure to pornography is 13.2 for boys and 14.1 for girls.

When I was part of the select committee into social media, I heard about the harmful content that kids are being exposed to online, and eSafeKids told us this content was mainstream, with 62 per cent of young people aged 14 to 17 in Australia exposed to harmful content online. The eSafety Commissioner made clear to us that bullying is a significant concern for younger generations and that much of this happens online. According to the Butterfly Foundation, of the 95 per cent of young people who reported some level of concern about their body image, 62 per cent felt dissatisfied due to social media, and nearly half said body dissatisfaction prevented them from attending school.

We know that children are hurting. We know that this is not good for our kids. We know overwhelmingly—I know overwhelmingly—that parents want us to do something about it. Of course, the ultimate responsibility for our children's safety lies with parents. Every one of us who is a parent knows that. As a parent, it is all you think about all day and all night: How can I keep my children safe? Is there something I'm missing? Is there something I'm failing to do which means my kids are at risk and my kids are going to be exposed to harm? You start feeling that from the moment you're pregnant, and it never leaves you.

We know at the moment parents are worried. We know they feel there is something which is not within their power to control which presents an unacceptable risk of harm to their children. But it is in our control in this chamber. It is in our control to regulate this, to stand with families, to stand with parents and, ultimately, to stand with the young people who are most at risk of harm here. We do it in so many other areas of children's safety. State governments do it. Federal governments do it. This is a new frontier and a new thing for us to navigate, but it is the right thing to do. We have an opportunity to keep our children safer and to stand with parents in that effort, which can feel colossal at times. That's not taking away parental responsibility; that's reinforcing it.