This morning’s announcement by the Albanese Government to mandate a minimum age for social media use follows the Coalition’s advocacy and strong leadership on protecting Australians online, Member for Mallee and Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health Dr Anne Webster said.

“Three months ago, the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton committed a Coalition Government would raise the age of social media access to 16 given the serious harm that social media is doing to our children. Social media companies currently have no obligation to try to stop underage users from accessing their products, which is unacceptable,” Dr Webster said.

“The Coalition also committed in November 2023 to invest in age verification technology if we are elected, to address growing concerns of extreme, offensive and denigrating images online, particularly concerning women and girls.”

Dr Webster’s most recent speech in Parliament hit out at the tech giants’ lack of social responsibility in Australia, compounded by their appalling tax avoidance that deprives the Commonwealth Government of the means to address social harms they facilitate.

In June Mr Dutton committed that within 100 days of taking office his government would introduce legislation to limit social media use to 16 years of age and over, and also require social media companies to use age verification technology.

“While the Prime Minister has now said that the Government will legislate to set an age limit for children accessing social media, Mr Albanese won’t say what the age limit will be. This announcement has been made on the run in response to the Coalition’s leadership on this issue.

“I was on the Select Committee on Social Media and Online Safety and our March 2022 report recommended stronger default privacy and safety settings for children and requiring technology manufacturers to ensure devices have parental control functions.

“The Albanese Government has been weak and indecisive on this issue from the start.

“The Coalition has a strong track record of protecting children online, including establishing the world’s first eSafety Commissioner to protect children from bullying and harmful content. We later expanded our laws to support adults, creating the world’s first scheme to force social media companies to remove intimate images that have been shared without consent.

“The Coalition has long and demonstrated strong stand to protect Australian children from social media.”