QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Ms WELLS (Lilley—Minister for Sport and Minister for Communications) (14:40): I thank the member for Canberra for her question and for her advocacy for young people in Canberra, most recently through the National Youth Parliament. The Albanese government is leading the world in our efforts to keep Australian and young people safer online. We're listening to what more than 150,000 Australian parents have told us.
Our social media minimum-age law is delivering cultural change, and it has triggered a global reckoning. More than 20 countries are now following our lead, recognising that children need more time to build their digital skills and digital resilience. But we are not stopping there.
Australian parents want to know their kids are safe when they are playing online games like Roblox, when they are interacting with chatbots and when they are messaging their friends. They want to know that their kids will not fall victim to online extortion, be groomed by predators or be fed content that promotes disordered eating or self-harm. This government understands this, and it's why we have stood with parents, with headspace, with the Butterfly Foundation, with Project Rockit, with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, with Teach Us Consent and with principals and educators to announce the draft legislation for the digital duty of care.
The draft digital duty of care is the next logical step in our battle to keep our kids safe online. Yet the opposition have outright said 'no'. Parents, advocates, researchers and educators have informed the development of this draft digital duty of care.
But those opposite have responded 'no'. Even Paul Murray from News 24 gets this. Even Paul Murray can see that the Leader of the Opposition has made a strategic error here by saying 'no' to basic safety standards to keep kids safer online.
I can honestly say I have never agreed more with Paul Murray than on this point—I have never! Yet, despite even this, despite the invocation of Paul Murray, the opposition leader is saying 'no'. Australian parents expect their parliament to pull together to take on the richest tech companies in the world, just as we did to ban social media companies from our kids.
If the opposition leader actually wants to discuss these draft laws, my door is open. If the shadow communications minister has a constructive suggestion, I'm all ears. I have not had so much as a phone call from the opposition to talk about the digital duty of care, which was outright rejected by a special party room meeting and announced via press conference.
The opposition need to think very carefully about what side of history they want to be on here. Do they want to be remembered for putting politics ahead of parents and backing big tech over the safety of Australian kids?