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

Senator GREEN (Queensland—Assistant Minister for Tourism, Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs and Assistant Minister for Northern Australia) (10:46): I also don't want to detain the chamber any longer. I just did want to make sure that the government's position was on the record on these particular amendments. We oppose the amendments because they will make things worse and not better.

Forcing device manufacturers and platforms to open access in the way that this amendment requires would actually create a vulnerability on every device, and any bad actor could say they are a digital safety service and would have full access to system privileges and all device functionality. This could be used by companies to track and monetise deep data or by scammers to install spyware.

It would create a backdoor for criminal groups to take control of phones or tablets, or even enable child predators who want to spy on children. The social media minimum age legislation places an obligation squarely on social media platforms as these entities are primarily responsible for the harms caused on their services. However, the legislation does not prevent age-restricted platforms from working with other service providers such as app stores and device manufacturers to receive age signals that would assist them to assess whether the user is under 16.

The government has commenced consultation on the draft legislation for digital duty of care, and these new laws will put an onus on digital service providers to provide a safe online environment, setting minimum standards for features and tools that they use. This proposal requires online service providers to provide user empowerment tools, giving control back to users to determine the kind of content that is recommended for them.

The CHAIR: The question is that the amendment on sheet 4104 be agreed to.