QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr CLARE (Blaxland—Minister for Education) (14:23): Can I thank my friend the magnificent member for Melbourne for her question. Opposition members interjecting— Mr CLARE: No, you didn't; he did. I said yesterday that our schools need a digital detox.

We've already banned mobile phones in schools, and that's working. I think this is the next logical step. The evidence is now pretty clear that, the more time kids spend online at school, the more their results decline.

The PISA data showed that students who used computers more than six hours a day scored 66 points lower than students who didn't use them at all. The data this week also shows that almost 40 per cent of Australian students are distracted by devices in class. Parents know this.

Teachers know this. And it's not just a problem in Australia; it's a problem worldwide. In New York, the mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has just put a ban on AI in primary schools.

I hear the chuckling over there. In Washington, DC, the Trump administration has just told schools that tech should be used for a purpose and not used all the time. So this crosses the political divide.

It's not about red or blue or left or right. This is about what works in our schools. And, as I said earlier this week, this is not an argument to get rid of tech out of schools altogether, but I am arguing we need to wind it back a bit, and this will be on the agenda when education ministers next meet in a couple of weeks.

We've also got to crack down on those algorithms that are hurting our kids—incessantly feeding filth to our kids. That's what the digital duty of care legislation introduced by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Communications this week as an exposure draft is all about. It's the sort of thing that you'd think everyone in Australia, everyone in this parliament, would support—that the Liberal Party have said they oppose.

And not just that—in the Senate today they've voted against legislation to strengthen the social media ban to protect our kids. Mr Speaker, let me read out this quote from a very eminent Australian: 'We'd be happy to work with the Prime Minister and the government to send a very clear message that both sides of parliament stand united against the scourge of social media and its influences on young minds.' That's Peter Dutton.

That's leadership. I don't know what this is, but I do know this: if Peter Dutton was in that chair right now, he'd be backing this. And I do know this: the Liberal Party is now more extreme than Peter Dutton.

Let that sink in.