Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Minister Wong. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, recently told this parliament that they have over 130 employees in Australia. Their business here is, in their own words, as a reseller of advertising services. But none of these employees seem to work on safety for Australian users. Apparently, Meta thinks it's okay to globally outsource all that to Singapore and beyond, and we don't have laws telling them otherwise. Why is the Albanese government going to spend millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on trying to keep under-16s off social media before it legislates mandatory protections on social media companies?

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

I think this is a domain where government regulation and the right public policy settings do require consideration by this parliament, by parliaments, by the community and by the government. I don't think the introduction of legislation imposing age limits to protect children is in place of or should be excluded by the points you raise. We are obviously aware of Meta's decision to walk away from commercial deals in relation to Meta's decision and announcement that it will no longer pay Australian news organisations for news content. Obviously, we all want healthy, sustainable and diverse news media in Australia. That is important for our democracy and includes working out how we ensure that large digital platforms utilise reasonable news information and that these are under fair and equitable arrangements with the creators of content.

We have been very clear that we think that what Meta has done is a dereliction of its responsibilities to Australian users. The government of course has established the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society. This backdrop is one of the reasons for that decision. We do believe that Australians should continue to have access to public interest journalism, including on social media, and we hope that, taking into account the work the committee does—and I'm aware of your interest in this, Senator—we can work out what is the best way forward on this issue.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, first supplementary?

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

About 75 per cent of unwanted contact with minors and kids, also known as grooming, on Facebook's products comes from a feature called 'People you may know'. Last week, Facebook told the parliament that this feature is deliberately left on for under-18s in Australia. Has the Prime Minister directly raised this issue with Meta?

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

Senator, I wasn't aware of that evidence from last week until you just outlined it, and I think that is grotesque. I think all Australians would agree that we would want our children protected from all of the ways in which the online world can cause harm. Our regulatory system does require us, as parliamentarians, as legislators and as members of executive government, to do more. We know the online world does present new and emerging risks. What I would say to you is that we have quadrupled eSafety's base funding, bringing it to $42.5 million each year with funding ongoing and indexed, in recognition of the range of risks that online users face, and we have brought forward the independent review of the Online Safety Act. But none of that detracts from the ethical obligations and the responsibilities that these platforms have that they are not discharging for Australians. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, second supplementary?

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

More than 14 years ago, the Australian Law Reform Commission warned of the risks to young people on social media. Since then, big tech has successfully lobbied to lower default privacy settings for kids in Australia from 18 to 16. Does the government now intend to correct that error of judgement?

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

Again, Senator Lambie, what I would say to you is that, whether it is through the work of the committee, the work of the independent review of the Online Safety Act or the ongoing work of eSafety, these are matters which we do need to look at. We have a domain which has expanded rapidly in terms of reach and usage and penetration into particular markets in our communities, well beyond the scope of the regulatory framework that was in place. Governments are seeking to catch up, and it is disappointing that we didn't see very much on this in the last nine years prior to our election, but we are seized of this. We understand how important it is. It is a very difficult area, and governments around the world are grappling with it. We welcome your and the crossbench's interest in this area. (Time expired)