QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator FARRELL (South Australia—Minister for Trade and Tourism, Special Minister of State and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:52): I thank Senator Polley for her question and the great work that she does for the people of Tasmania. The Albanese government backs Australian parents and kids by giving them the tools and the laws to keep them safer online.

It was a major world-leading moment when, almost two years ago, parliament came together in a bipartisan way to pass laws to give Australian kids a break from the pervasive pull of social media. We have heard about the difference that that has made, but we will not stop there when it comes to applying standards to what people see online. The digital duty of care will set basic safety standards for digital services that we use every day, just like we have for food, cars and toys for kids.

It will make platforms protect Australian children from harmful content and provide features that will give parents the tools that they need to keep the family safe online. It's not just the government that is calling for more to be done to ensure people, particularly Australian children, are better protected online. The Prime Minister and the minister for communications stood together with experts and advocates calling for more to be done to protect people online.

They included the Butterfly Foundation, the Alannah & Madeline Foundation and Project Rockit. All of these respected organisations came together because they recognise that more can be done and should be done to protect people online, and the Albanese government is doing that through our digital duty of care. Online safety should not be a political issue when it comes to protecting people, particularly children.