Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Hansard source

A few days ago I saw a very cute reel on social media of two very young girls lip-syncing to a pop tune, having a great time. It was so funny, and I think I watched it about 10 times. Then googling linked me to other music by one of the artists. Within a few seconds I was exposed to sexually explicit lyrics and dancing that left absolutely nothing to the imagination, none of it suitable for children on any measure.

It's a good example of what can be a quick and short path from innocent to illicit to tragedy. It shows the need for every parent to keep a watchful, vigilant eye on not only what children are posting but, more importantly, what they are watching. Australia's five million children under 14 years—4.8 million in 2023—have unparalleled access to the online world today. One in three Australian children aged six to 13 own a mobile phone. Nine in 10 Australian teenagers own a smartphone. Children know TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and so many more, but very often their parents and carers do not. In supermarkets, on the sidelines at sports events and at bus stops, young children are glued to some sort of screen, just one click away from online grooming, pornography, violence, extortion, bullying, gambling—the list goes on.

Addressing online pornography and the exploitation of Australian children is a priority for Peter Dutton and the coalition. It was Peter Dutton who in 2023 first pushed for guardrails for young, impressionable minds on social media through age verification. He committed to implementing an age limit of 16 for social media in Australia within 100 days of the election of a future coalition government. It was the opposition leader's bipartisan work that saw new age-limit legislation passed in December last year. A Peter Dutton coalition has vowed to protect Australian children from emerging threats to their safety and wellbeing online and to equip parents with the awareness and the tools they need to keep children safe online, because the evidence shows that increased social media use may lead to poorer mental health, especially for girls—and risk.

Coalition colleague David Coleman highlighted last year that self-harm hospitalisations by girls aged 10 to14 have quadrupled during the past decade. For Wayne Holdsworth, a parent I met personally last year, the harms of social media are very real. Wayne lost his son Mac, a 17-year-old targeted by sextortion. He wished he had known about the risks of self-harm and that he knew then what he does now. We all need regular reminders that the internet is a tool but can also be devastating through no fault of the user. Set up by Peter Dutton, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation was inundated with more than 40,000 reports of child exploitation in the 2022-23 financial year. That number has more than doubled in five years. As predators and their deeds are increasingly exposed, the coalition promise to double the size of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, but we can and must do more.

An ongoing challenge remains sexual exploitation of children overseas by Australian men who use the internet to commit their crimes. The coalition will also make it illegal to post material glamorising violence, drug and property crimes to increase a person's notoriety. We must also do more work to stem the publicity sharing fight clubs, because it is young people who are doing it. Young people need protection. In this case, they need protection from each other. Sure, the internet is a tool that can lead to fun, but it can also lead to great harm. The coalition is serious about doing more to protect children and supporting parents and carers to do the same. Senator Payman is right. This is an issue for all users, and we can and must do more.