Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2026

Ms WELLS (Lilley—Minister for Sport and Minister for Communications) (15:13): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. It's been just over six months since Australia's world-leading law creating a minimum age for social media began. It is a law that passed this parliament with bipartisan support.

In that short period of time, more than five million underage accounts have been deactivated, restricted or removed. And we are seeing green shoots of cultural change start to emerge. According to a recent YouGov survey, 30 per cent of young Australians aged between 13 to 15 are spending more time playing sport.

Twenty-seven per cent report better sleep. Online bullying is down nine per cent. And exposure to inappropriate and violent content has fallen by 18 per cent.

Inspired by Australia's leadership, more than 20 countries have created or committed to creating their own legislation to delay access to social media: Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Brazil, Norway, the United Kingdom, Gabon, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Greece, Germany, Poland, Finland, the European Union, Belgium, Mexico, Austria, Italy, India, Kazakhstan, and Japan.

And big tech companies are beginning to compete on online safety, with Apple introducing new parental controls, in part inspired by Australia's action. Australia has created a global movement that we can all be proud of. Despite our immense progress, I am not satisfied that tech companies are doing everything they can to keep under-16s off their platforms.

The eSafety Commissioner is actively investigating noncompliance by five major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. The commissioner has found these companies adopting a number of dirty tricks to undermine Australia's law that are straight out of the big-tech playbook. It is clear, not just to the government, but parents, kids and teachers around the country that social media companies are deliberately failing to comply with our laws.

Today Australia is sending a message to these companies. We see what you're doing. We are not here to play games.

If you want to do business in Australia, you will comply with Australian laws. And if you don't, you will face the consequences. This bill responds to these challenges by strengthening the enforcement framework underpinning the social media minimum age requirements.

Measures Social media companies are among the richest and most influential companies in the world. We know they have the capability and the resources to comply with our laws. Today, we are giving eSafety more tools in their belt to take on these billion dollar social media companies and hold them to account.

The bill increases the maximum civil penalty for noncompliance with the law from 30,000 to 60,000 penalty units—bringing the maximum penalty up to $99 million. This aligns with recent amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and reflects the scale and resources of multinational platforms operating in Australia. The bill also strengthens the eSafety Commissioner's ability to obtain the information needed to assess compliance.

The amendments enable the commissioner to issue notices requiring the provision of information and documents from any person where the commissioner reasonably believes they hold material relevant to compliance with the minimum age framework. These changes will provide the commissioner with more detailed evidence on what platforms are doing—or not doing—to comply with the social media minimum age.

They will also allow the commissioner to verify what platforms are doing against what they say they are doing. We are also doubling the penalties for failure to comply with information-gathering notices from the eSafety Commissioner. Conclusion Today, we are also sending a message to Australian parents—parents like Tanya, who wrote to me overnight with the subject line 'social media ban—keep going'.

Tanya said: I am a parent of a 12-year-old that started high school this year. I am writing to express my thanks to the government for implementing the social media ban and to urge it to keep going. There have been many critics and those eager to point out any failings to date.

But not immediately achieving the desired success rate is not a reason to give up. My daughter reports many of her friends still access social media and this is a source of frustration for her. So I support further strengthening of laws to force tech companies to act to reduce the number of kids still achieving access.

Please keep up the good work. Lots of parents are counting on it. Tanya—the Albanese government is on your side, and we will keep fighting for you and your daughter.

And to the parents who have been with us all along the way—Mia, Emma and Wayne: your courage gives us strength. I call on all members of the parliament to join us in supporting the urgent passage of this bill so that eSafety holds social media platforms to account as soon as possible. Delaying or blocking passage means delaying or blocking accountability.

I thank the House. Debate adjourned.