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

PRESIDENT (): A letter has been received from Senator Payman:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

"The exposure to online pornography of Australian children is damaging to their developing minds, and contributes to mental health problems, the destruction of relationships and violence against women".

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

Imagine the face of a 10-year-old child you know—your son, your daughter, your grandchild, your niece or a family friend. Picture their wide-eyed innocence, their curiosity and their fragile sense of self just beginning to take shape. Now imagine that child alone with a device, stumbling upon images that are so graphic, so violent, and so beyond their understanding that their innocence is shattered in an instant. No child should bear the weight of such exposure, yet this is the brutal reality for too many young Australians out there.

We stand here with a duty to protect, lead and legislate for the common good, but what good are we truly serving if we restrict teenagers from social media while leaving young children, as young as eight, exposed to hardcore pornography. What message does that send? Is it that a Facebook post is more dangerous than violent sexual content? It's not just inconsistent; it's inconceivable. This is not about censorship or government overreach. This is about protecting children who cannot protect themselves.

One of the most insidious aspects of pornography is its effect on brain chemistry. The release of dopamine rewards the body for viewing sexually explicit material. Like an addiction, prolonged exposure can lead to a need for more extreme content to achieve the same effect. It is linked to sexual dysfunction, infidelity and relationship breakdowns. Beyond personal consequences, it also affect young people's attitudes, particularly towards women. Research from the French high council for equality found that 90 per cent of pornography depicts verbal, physical or sexual violence against women, reinforcing disrespect and objectification.

I challenge anyone in this chamber to say without hesitation that it is acceptable for a primary school aged child to be exposed to violent, degrading sexual material. If you cannot say that—and I suspect none of you can—then we must act; we have the obligation to act.

The rise of internet enabled technology has made explicit content easily accessible on devices children use daily, often unsupervised. Research shows some children encounter pornography as young as seven, either accidentally or intentionally. This is profoundly dangerous. It disrupts their development, distorts self-concept, damages body image and creates unrealistic expectations of relationships. A study by Our Watch reveals that 79 per cent of young people believe that pornography contributes to the dehumanisation of women. It's alarming that one-third of young people use pornography as sex education despite knowing it's a poor substitute.

If we fail to act we're not just allowing harm to continue; we're enabling a culture that normalises exploitation and violence. So where is our sense of urgency? If the government can act swiftly to restrict children under 16 from social media, why aren't we addressing this crisis with the same determination? If our allies, like New Zealand and the UK, can take decisive action, why can't we? The age assurance trial is a step forward, but it's moving too slowly. While we wait for results, children are exposed to harmful content every day. We cannot afford further delay.

The solution will not be simple, and I don't claim to have the answers. But I do know this: indifference is not an option; inaction is not an option. Party lines and ideological differences do not matter when it comes to protecting our children. What matters is our shared responsibility and collective will to act. We can rise above political noise, put aside blame games and overcome the bureaucratic inertia. This is not a Left or Right issue; this is not about winning votes or headlines. This is about doing what's right, and deep down we all know that.

I'm not here to point fingers. I'm here to extend a hand. Let's work together across party lines to create solutions that protect and heal. If we cannot come together for our children, what hope do we have for anything else? The time for excuses is over. The time for action is now. Our children are watching. Let's show them we were worthy of their trust.

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

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am really pleased to speak on this matter today. I am very pleased that we are getting a chance to talk about something that really does affect particularly views about women in our country and about what our government is doing to tackle some of these issues. The Albanese government is committed to minimising the harm that comes from children accessing content online that is not appropriate for them. We are taking a multifaceted approach to this risk, with measures both delivered and underway to address underage access to adult content.

But I think the place to start is the damage that can occur. That's why it is so important that our government is acting. We know that the national plan to end violence against women and children highlight the risks of pornography in driving harmful behaviours against women and children. It states that pornography can depict physical and verbal aggression towards women, male dominance and female submission and nonconsensual behaviours. The relationship is complex, but research suggests that there are links between people's use of this material and their attitudes about relationships, sex and men and women's roles and identities. It is also associated with victim-blaming attitudes, such as the belief that, if a woman is affected by alcohol or drugs, she is at least partly responsible for what might happen to her. Viewing pornographic material that showcases violence can have a negative impact on a young person's development, as Senator Payman pointed out. With regard to their wellbeing and relationships, it can influence their attitude and beliefs about sex, intimacy and consent. This is a serious concern, and addressing the drivers of violence against women and children is of paramount importance to our government.

We also know that parents and families are concerned about these types of materials and the access that children have to them. While access to adult content for people over 18 years of age is legal, it is not legal to allow minors to access it. It's the responsibility of the government to support parents and children in the community to prevent access to age-restricted products.

That's why our government is working to deliver $6.5 million in the 2024-25 budget to conduct a trial of age assurance technologies to protect children from harmful online content, including on social media, and age-restricted content, such as pornography. Funding for the trial was announced on 1 May 2024 by the Prime Minister following a meeting of National Cabinet on gender based violence. The eSafety Commissioner is requiring industry to develop codes to protect Australian children from access or exposure to online pornography. If the materials that are provided by the industry are not good enough, the eSafety Commissioner is empowered to develop mandatory industry standards that the industry will be required to comply with or face hefty fines.

These two codes that the eSafety Commissioner is developing are aimed at protecting Australian children from access and exposure to online pornography and other class 2 material. More broadly, phase 2 codes should ensure that Australian end users have effective tools and options to limit their exposure to class 2 material if they choose not to engage with it.

The eSafety Commissioner has also published guidance for parents and families on navigating conversations around pornography with young people. The Albanese government shares the view of the senator for Western Australia: pornography can negatively impact a young person's mental health. That's exactly why we are taking this action. The eSafety Commissioner's reporting acknowledges that, while parents tend to underestimate the frequency of their children's exposure to online risks such as pornography, children see their parents as an important source of support to them. So I urge all senators and indeed all parents to avail themselves of the evidence based resources that the eSafety Commissioner has produced with leading experts in child development.

Finally, I want to mention some of the other work our government has delivered in this space. I'm very proud that on top of all of the reforms and the trial we are delivering, last year the Albanese government successfully passed legislation to ban the sharing of non-consensual deepfake, sexually explicit material. This behaviour is now a crime. Digitally created and altered sexually explicit material that is shared without consent is damaging and distressing, and we know that it overwhelmingly affects women. That is why we have no tolerance for this sort of behaviour and that is why it is now a crime.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Violent and degrading pornography is rife on the internet, and what's particularly concerning is the level of inadvertent exposure that children have to this type of content. Porn that depicts non-consensual sex or is violent or degrading towards women is everywhere, and sadly it's that type of toxic porn that is shaping young people's attitudes and behaviour towards sex, relationships and consent.

We know that in order to address violence against women we need to address problematic pornography. In particular we must ensure that children are not exposed to it. We know that many young men and young people generally are learning about sex from violent porn when they should instead be learning about respect, intimacy and physical connection in a safe way through respectful relationships education in schools and through safe and well-informed discussions with family or trusted adults.

Online spaces can be harmful to everyone, but there is a gendered aspect to them. Girls are three times more likely than boys to have experienced online sexual victimisation before the age of 24, according to research conducted by the Queensland University of Technology last year. We need the big tech giants to take action to ensure that this type of harmful sexual content is not fed into the feeds of young people online. We know that parents will often not have a line of sight on what kids are voluntarily accessing, and it's all the more so in relation to content, ads or pop-ups that force their way into children's online spaces. The tech giants make profits out of this, and they are damaging the wellbeing of our kids. We don't agree with Labor and the Liberals that simply banning kids from social media will fix things, because we think kids will get around that ban so easily and still won't develop the skills to navigate being online safely. There must be an obligation on the online platforms to stop inappropriate content from being pushed to children.

The other part of the solution of course is that education and primary prevention are the most effective ways of driving cultural change. We need to integrate education on the potential harms of exposure to online porn for young people, and the ways in which it can shape harmful sexual attitudes and behaviours, into consent and respectful relationship education. It's now mandatory to include consent education in the Australian curriculum, which is very welcome, but more funding is needed to properly train and support the teachers that deliver that material, to resource any third-party providers that teach it and to address the general underfunding of public schools for teaching this and any other material.

There have been some positive steps in this space. Last year I welcomed the deepfake sexual material bill, which criminalised the sharing of deepfakes and other artificially generated sexual material. That was a much-needed change. But that bill didn't take the extra step of criminalising the creation of the deepfake sexual material in the first place. I moved an amendment for that to occur but sadly didn't get any support for it. The next government should revisit that issue and fix it properly.

We know deepfakes and harmful pornographic materials minimise, degrade and objectify women, and they embed a culture of gendered violence. Changing our rape culture requires more education and prevention efforts to ensure young people can be safe online.

The Greens are committed to ending our rape culture. Education about harmful porn as a driver of sexual violence is an integral part of that effort. Educating all arms of the justice system to be trauma informed is another. Fully funding frontline family and sexual violence services is another crucial way to save women's lives, and the lives and futures of their kids. There was an additional $100 million for crisis housing announced over the weekend and the Greens welcome that, but, sadly, we are still at around three-quarters of the funding that the women's safety sector said they needed to meet demand back in 2018. The epidemic of violence against women has only worsened since then, so demand has increased more. But the federal government have chosen not to allocate the full funding that is needed for every woman or person who reaches out to try and escape violence. They say they are too poor to do so but they waste billions on nuclear submarines and taxpayer handouts to property investors and fossil fuel companies. They need to re-prioritise, stop pandering to the tech giants and the big corporations, and put the community and women and children's safety first. I commend Senator Payman for bringing this issue to the chamber.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a new grandfather with a lovely two-year-old grandchild, I have enormous interest in this motion, and I thank the senator for moving it. As I watch our grandson play and develop, I see his inquisitive mind naturally focused on learning what we adults do—watching. When he could walk at 12 months, long before he started talking, we could send him to another room and ask him to get something. He understood exactly what we said and came back with it. Children are the future of Australia, the future of humanity and our most valuable resource and asset. My comments apply to both girls and boys.

Maria Montessori, the most astute observer of human development and behaviour, said that the critical years for the formation of both character and intellect are birth to six. Parents and nearby communities determine whether a child becomes a valued contributor to and a resource for society or a drain and burden on society. It's very nature means that sex is a matter of great interest to every child. That is natural—healthy. The choice then becomes how to introduce sex to children, or children to sex—the beauty of respectful sex, the enjoyment of sex, the spirituality of sex. Anything that disturbs the child's balance, including online pornography, is damaging to children's developing minds and contributes to mental health problems, the destruction of relationships and violence against women, and violence against men. Add debasement of humans to that list, add debasement of society, add debasement of education. This applies to all humans, girls and boys, not just women but also men. When a girl debases a boy or a boy debases a girl, they debase themselves.

There will always be pornography. Some key points are limiting access to it. The robustness of the child or adult to withstand the damage of pornography and the building of strength in children, all these aspects of managing pornography are ultimately the parents responsibility. Strong morals are the precursor. Choice leads to accountability and that leads to trust. Give people a solid basis for making respectful decisions. Truth based on facts and data is vital for making respectful decisions. Parents cannot be with a child for life, so it is our responsibility as parents and grandparents to guide the child to discover these for themselves, to develop their role in society right across the country, and instil in children to value truth and respect for fellow humans, whether male or female. That is largely up to the parents to display. When children and adults value truth, accountability and respect, they take responsibility for their decisions and have respect for each other.

Maria Montessori developed the Montessori method based on love and orderliness. A lot of people think it is just love but it is also a sense of orderliness. Children need boundaries and they are absolutely essential for giving them security. Sadly, today's governments are undermining parents and that means a growing number of parents abandon responsibility for their children. Children sense that and miss it. It creates a hole, a yearning within. Again, Maria Montessori said, 'Wherever one sees a lack of responsibility, one finds a lack of choice.'

Governments are undermining parents in so many ways, removing the parent's choice in parenting, usurping the parent's role, undermining the parent's role, breaching morals, telling lies. Governments are killing truth: climate, lies, fear, the belief that the planet is going to end in five years, that the oceans are boiling, that the globe is boiling. This hurts learning, when children are in fear. It's an antihuman agenda. Beyond the climate scam and the COVID scam, humans are portrayed in an antihuman agenda as greedy, rapacious, uncaring, irresponsible and unkind. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Pygmalion effect comes into play. People, especially children, live up to the expectations that we and society have of them.

Then we've got gender distortion. Transgender itself is a nonsense. We cannot change gender or sex. Chromosomes are either XX, female, or XY, male. Why try when it's futile? We cannot reverse attempts to transition. We must hold all people in regard and respect and treat all people with love and support, not physical mutilation with chemicals, whether it's a mental health condition such as temporary gender dysphoria or the tiny percentage of adults who are hermaphrodite.

Look at Sheldon's book from the turn of the previous century. Beauty used to be in the sparkle of a person's eyes, the shine of the hair, the glow of the skin. Now we devalue physical attributes in many women, and young women hide behind make-up and live with the delusion that who they are is not good enough—terrible. It all starts with truth, and truth starts with parents displaying truth, valuing truth and instilling truth. (Time expired)

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Payman for bringing forward this matter of public importance on exposure to online pornography. This is indeed something we should be turning our attention to more often. We live in an age when most young people have high-speed internet in their pocket. I would assume that most people in this place are very grateful that they got through their teens without that—without being able, in their room, to access the internet on their phone.

A UK Children Commissioner's report on young people's pornography use found that the average age at which children first see pornography is 13. By age nine, 10 per cent of a sample of 1,000 young people had seen pornography; 27 per cent had seen it by the age of 11, and 50 per cent of children had seen it by the age of 13. Additionally, 79 per cent had encountered violent pornography before the age of 18. We're setting young people up for failure if this is their first interaction or viewing of what they think is sex. We have to do better as a society.

I've had many parents raise this with me. We know that children describe seeing online porn on platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok, according to the eSafety Commissioner. We have to do more as a parliament to look after young people in Australia.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the discussion has expired.