QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Ms WELLS (Lilley—Minister for Sport and Minister for Communications) (14:18): Thank you to the member for Curtin for her question. We on this side of the House agree that this is a really important topic, and we've been putting a lot of effort into this space, including in the future of news media, what online safety looks like, where this is going and how this dovetails into the work that we want to do with AI.
It's a really interesting space, and I appreciate your interest in it. We really care about this issue, and I think we are very clear eyed about the fact that AI is changing the landscape and it is changing it very quickly. And whilst we on this side of the House want to make the most of every opportunity that AI presents us—we want to be a country that is seen across the world as being forward leaning on AI and making the most of the opportunities—there are things that we need to do to make sure that our kids, in particular, and everybody who engages with it online has the literacy and resilience needed to be able to make the most of those opportunities whilst being safe at the same time.
What that looks like is the $132 million that we have put into News MAP to make sure that we have a strong and vibrant news media space in this country, particularly in regional areas. We have put money into the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, which works with children and schools to improve digital literacy and ability to recognise what you said in your question about what is and isn't real online.
And we've put money into Newshounds, which helps students and schools work on news media and come up through the ranks, perhaps to one day meet the high calibre of the press gallery that watch us now. It is an interesting space. I talk to the media students at places like East Doncaster, where I went with the member for Menzies recently.
I think we can all agree that kids are swamped with what is happening. A platform like YouTube uploads 600 hours of content every 60 seconds. That is a reality that has been the case for some time.
It is not something new that we have time to prepare for. That's why my predecessor announced that the news media literacy plan that you referred to is commencing this year a program of work that we're looking to do over the coming three years, and I look forward to continuing that work.