STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (13:40): I'd also like to congratulate Senator Sterle and thank him for the work that he's done over many years for truckers across the country. Today, the Albanese government has released exposure draft legislation for a digital duty of care. I strongly support this concept, but, with everything in this place, we all know that the devil is in the detail, and it will be decided how effective it is based on what those details are and how courageous the government will be in standing up for people that they represent.

We have to grapple as a parliament and as a society with the fact that we have social media companies whose business model seems to be incompatible with thriving humans, thriving families and thriving society. They are profiting off our attention. They are profiting off our pain, and their products are designed to be addictive.

They are fuelling outrage. They are taking people down rabbit holes. We need big, bold action.

Last night with the member for Chisholm, Carina Garland, I launched the Parliamentary Friends of Books and Reading, and tragically in this increasingly digital world, a third of Australians haven't read a book in the last year. A quarter of Aussie kids now don't get a bedtime story. This is not the future we want.

We can and must do better as a parliament. I would say that taking these tech giants head on and laying down the rules for them is a step in actually making the changes that will look after the young people who come in here week in and week out to look at our parliament. I commend the government on the digital duty of care.

I really look forward to ensuring that it is in line with what Chanel Contos and others have been advocating for.