Fatima Payman (WA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

It's not every day that I agree with Senator Hanson, but I must say that on this she's absolutely right. What are we doing to the generation that is so in tune and engaged with what's happening in politics? We come into this place, we take pride in ourselves through the Raise Our Voices program and we read speeches of young people in our electorates to make it seem like we care. But we've clearly seen that all the Labor and Liberal duopoly care about is a vote-buying exercise, a bandaid solution, to a more serious problem at hand. The intentions may be to protect our children, but the way we're going about it with the lack of scrutiny, the lack of consultation and the lack of proper research to allow us to really understand what is going into this bill are something that everyone—all the mums and dads out there—will scrutinise this government for.

We can see that this bill is a blunt attempt to cover up. Instead of addressing the root causes of a problem—instead of addressing the lack of mental health services out there for young people—it's a way to shut them down. Because they're not voting, why would their voices matter? They're not going to engage in our political system, so it's best to keep them in the dark! We're forgetting that this is the future generation that's going to be filling the space up—at least, we'd hope that they do, unless there's a way for the major parties duopoly to silence them as well. Where is the democracy, or is that just confetti we like to throw around when it suits us? It's outrageous that we don't get the time to scrutinise it. We don't get enough staff to read through these bills, and then we're expected to make decisions—or the government and the coalition make deals and just ram it through.

So much for transparency; so much for accountability! Then we wonder why we're not progressing. Isn't the Labor Party supposed to be a progressive party that actually gets things done and does the job? Or are you just here to say: 'At least we're not the coalition. They were in government for 10 years and didn't do anything'? Show us that you're doing something with accountability and allowing the crossbench to scrutinise what's before us, not just a short five-day-long inquiry into something that is going to have ramifications and impact the way our young people connect and the way they engage with technology. You can't blind them and keep them in a so-called safe place and not give them the tools necessary to engage with technological advancements.