Portfolio — 5 May 2026

Minister for Communications and Sport Anika Wells used a media release on 5 May to advance a broad online-safety agenda, with child protection across both social media and gaming platforms as the dominant theme. Wells stated that the government expects big-tech platforms to comply with the social-media minimum-age ban and that parents cannot be left to resolve the issue alone — a clear signal that enforcement pressure on platforms will intensify [TA-260505-infras-f7cec01c0aea].

The eSafety Commissioner has already issued transparency notices to major gaming platforms — Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and Steam — to assess their child-safety measures, bringing online gaming formally into the regulatory frame alongside social media. Wells flagged that the social-media ban could extend to gaming platforms exhibiting what she described as toxic design features, specifically naming infinite scroll and popularity meters as the design characteristics that would trigger inclusion [TA-260505-infras-f7cec01c0aea].

The most significant legislative signal in the release is the planned digital duty of care bill, to be introduced in the second half of 2026, which would extend the Online Safety Act to cover gaming platforms — a material expansion of the Act's current scope. Taken together, the transparency-notice action, the design-feature test for ban extension, and the forthcoming bill represent a staged regulatory escalation: assessment, then possible ban extension, then statutory duty of care.

Wells also confirmed two near-term parliamentary events on gambling reform. The government will table its response to the Senate inquiry on Tuesday, and gambling advertising legislation will follow shortly after [TA-260505-infras-f7cec01c0aea]. This puts gambling advertising legislation on an imminent legislative timetable and makes the Senate inquiry response a key document to track this week.

On broadcasting, Wells explained the two-year suspension of the Commercial Broadcasting Tax as deliberate support for free-to-air broadcasters during a period when the spectrum portfolio is being restructured for future needs — framing the tax concession as transitional rather than permanent. The release also referenced Minister for Housing Clare O'Neil and the government's housing reform suite from the budget, though this was a cross-portfolio citation rather than a substantive policy announcement from Wells's own portfolio.