Portfolio — 5 June 2026

Minister for Communications and Sport Anika Wells used House question time on 4 June to advance the government's digital duty-of-care framework — the next legislative instrument in what the portfolio presents as a sequential online safety agenda. The framework requires all digital platforms, including AI chatbots, to protect young Australians from online harm or face fines of up to $49.5 million from the eSafety Commissioner [TA-260604-house-97eb5e75391c:s149].

The government has already restricted AI nudify apps and nudify tools, and Wells told the House that at least one chatbot provider has left Australia since that restriction was imposed [TA-260604-house-97eb5e75391c:s149].

The framework's central mechanism is safety-by-design: AI chatbots would be required to embed protective systems from development, not as an afterthought. Wells explicitly distinguished this from the social media minimum age law, framing that instrument as targeting algorithmic and engagement harms on social platforms, while the digital duty of care addresses the specific interactive harms that arise from chatbot use [TA-260604-house-97eb5e75391c:s149].

The distinction is a deliberate sequencing argument — the government is positioning each instrument as purpose-built for its specific technology class rather than applying a single blunt mechanism.

The broader portfolio posture is that mandatory compliance with the digital duty of care is the price of market access in Australia. This framing — comply or exit — is reinforced by the reported departure of at least one chatbot provider following the nudify restrictions. Together, these developments follow the media literacy strategy and gambling advertising reforms the portfolio advanced on 3 June, suggesting a sustained legislative cadence across the Communications brief in the current sitting period.