QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Ms WELLS (Lilley—Minister for Sport and Minister for Communications) (14:56): I thank the member for Maribyrnong for her question and for her lifelong commitment to better understanding and to combating the psychological harm that Australian children face each and every day. Mr Speaker, may I add my congratulations to you. Almost two years ago today, parliament came together and voted to give Australian kids a break from the pervasive pool of social media.
We called out the harmful and addictive design features that were being used against them—targeted algorithms, doomscrolling, persistent notifications and toxic popularity metres that were stealing their attention for hours every day. I've heard from parents all over Australia who are so relieved that we have delayed access to social media until the age of 16, but they are understandably still worried about how they can protect their kids on other platforms like online games and like AI chatbots.
Parents are calling on the parliament to do more, and they're not alone. Experts and advocates are urging parliament to come together and take the next step in protecting young Australians from online harm by legislating a digital duty of care. A recent report by the National Mental Health Commission found it is not just content but platform design features that are linked to harm.
The commission called for greater responsibility on tech providers to create safer digital environments. Headspace welcomed the proposed digital duty of care because the weight of trying to avoid online harms should not just sit with the young person or their family. The digital duty of care recognises that the responsibility should sit with the platforms.
The Butterfly Foundation has backed the proposed digital duty of care because online content is an increasingly significant driver of harm for Australians experiencing eating disorders. Last week, the Alannah & Madeline Foundation wrote to every member of parliament, calling on us all to support the digital duty of care. The foundation did a survey of primary school students across Australia.
They were asked: what should the internet be like? Their answers included: 'safe', 'trustworthy', 'truthful', 'respect', 'learning', 'social interaction', 'integrity' and 'responsibility. I think if a few hundred primary school students can work it out, the adults in this place can too.
Online safety should not be a political issue. All sides of parliament need to work together to deliver a digital duty of care. There is no reason why we can't work together to get this done.