TV interview with Minister Butler, Sunrise - 3 July 2026

Media event date: 3 July 2026 Date published: 3 July 2026 Media type: General public NATALIE BARR, HOST: The Prime Minister has urged the Coalition to backflip on their decision to team up with the Greens and block supporting reforms to the social media age ban, which would strengthen the eSafety Commissioner's enforcement powers on tech giants. The Opposition is pushing the changes into an eight-week inquiry, arguing Senate scrutiny is vital.

But Labor says the reforms are pretty simple and any delay could give big tech time to shred documents. Let's bring in Health Minister Mark Butler and Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume. Morning to both of you.

Jane, are you giving social media companies too much time to just prepare their case against the changes? JANE HUME, DEPUTY OPPOSITION LEADER: Nat, this is such a Labor beat-up, because Anika Wells didn't do her homework. She left this to the last minute.

The legislation was introduced yesterday, at the end of the last sitting fortnight of this term. Now, we're not in Parliament for the next six weeks. Why not use that time to make sure that this legislation is right, that it's going to work this time, because it didn't work last time.

She says she wants more bigger penalties for the tech giants. Well, she hasn't even used the ones that she's got. This minister has been sloppy from go to woe and has put children at risk because the legislation wasn't right the first time.

Give the Parliament a chance to do its job, to scrutinise the legislation and to make sure that it's actually going to protect children online, because it isn't now because Labor haven’t done their job properly. And this minister is incompetent. Mark, everyone wants to protect our kids, right?

But if most kids are still on social media, many of them on their own accounts, no fines have been issued to this date. Was the original bill not the best it could have been? Should we spend more time?

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: There are five active investigations underway into the biggest platform providers. The eSafety Commissioner has said she needs more powers and higher penalties. I've got a range of ways I could describe what the Coalition has done, but go to the father, the grieving father, who came to Canberra this week and lobbied us to pass these new laws.

He's described what Angus Taylor has done as absolutely pathetic. This is a straightforward 500-word bill that they've kicked off to an eight-week inquiry. At that rate, they'll be analysing 10 words every day, and that includes the prepositions.

I mean, it would be funny if it were not so damn serious, and the only people now who’re going to be laughing, frankly, are the big tech companies and their lawyers who are going to use the time to continue to evade their obligations and prepare their cases against what is a really important set of active investigations. It was never going to pass yesterday. You didn't even ask us to pass it yesterday.

You introduced it yesterday. It could have. It was always going to be kicked off for at least six weeks.

Let the Parliament do its job to make really important legislation actually workable, because the last round, you staffed up. And that fellow, Wayne Holdsworth, I know him. I gave him his Citizen of the Year award.

He's a really good man. And what he wants to see is children protected online, and so do we. But you guys have failed.

Let us help you make a crappy law better. Yeah, Mark, look, no one wants to put the poor families of the kids in the middle of this. People want to get it right, don't they?

It feels like no fines have been issued yet. It doesn't feel like the legislation was done right the first time. Should we get it right?

There are investigations underway. The eSafety Commissioner has said to Parliament, I need some more powers, for example, to compel the companies to provide documents. We put that into the bill.

It's a very straightforward bill. And Parliament, in their wisdom, have decided to kick this off for eight more weeks for the companies to continue to evade their obligations. It's pretty much that simple, Nat.

Anika Wells has just got to do her homework. She's got to do her homework. Well, Jane, that does sound simple.

Yeah, it's four pages. Is that going to fix the problem? Because the problem is significant Well, can't you guys read four pages in a day?

It's not about reading it, Nat. You know that. There are plenty of tools out there that can help parents help their children stay safe online, and they're not available in Australia.

Well, why not? Why shouldn't the minister answer questions about why her legislation hasn't worked in the past and how it could be strengthened in the future? That's the Parliament's job.

Let us do our job. It was never going to pass yesterday. And if Labor want to cry that the Coalition is blocking it, that's absolute nonsense.

If Anika Wells had have done her homework, even if she had introduced it a fortnight ago when we were all still here up in Canberra, maybe we could have done something with it. But if you guys are going to be lazy, not do your job, if your minister's going to be sloppy, well, we will fix it. Okay, there are both sides of the story.

We'll leave it there. Thank you very much. We'll see you next week.

Thanks, Nat. The Hon Mark Butler MP About the department Accessibility We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to Elders both past and present. © Commonwealth of Australia