Rishworth says social media age ban a ‘test’ for Dutton’s leadership, as conservative opposition grows
Amanda Rishworth was also asked about Labor’s under-16 social media age ban and whether the government was rushing this.
The social services minister denied this and said the government has bipartisan support – or so they thought:
Well, I thought there was bipartisan support … I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, Peter Dutton said he would facilitate this important piece of legislation and support the government. And now we see our senators defying him, I guess. So this is a test for Peter Dutton about his leadership.
Labor’s social media age ban is likely to pass, following a rapid three-day inquiry with just one day to make submissions, and the Coalition claiming credit for having suggested it first. However, conservative opposition to the bill has been growing in the lead up to the lower house vote:
Key events
Yesterday, the Northern Territory government has been told it must overhaul its response to family violence to stop women and children being killed.
As Nino Bucci reported, the NT coroner yesterday handed down inquest findings into the deaths of four Aboriginal women, making 35 recommendations:
The minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy was also on ABC News Breakfast earlier to discuss this, and said it was an “important moment” for the NT and Australia to “realise that this is a national scourge that we have across our country.”
She called on the NT government to “immediately” release funding to address the recommendations.
This is too critical. We know that, from a federal perspective, that there was a requirement to assist the family and domestic violence sector in the Northern Territory. And I urge the Northern Territory government to do that immediately.
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, was on ABC RN earlier to discuss the rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women – after the government handed down its response to the Senate inquiry yesterday.
McCarthy labelled the findings “horrific” – with Indigenous women making up 16% of Australia’s murder victims, while being just 2-3% of the adult population.
There is something in the system in Australia that seems to just go, ‘that’s okay’, you know, but it’s not okay. It’s not okay …
People who work in the family and domestic violence sector … break down because they feel that the system isn’t changing. And I do believe that the work of this Senate inquiry has certainly brought it to the forefront for the Australian parliament, to the point where the Australian prime minister brought all the premiers and chief ministers together to say enough … at the national level.
McCarthy said there would “always be an expectation for more to be done”, and that state and territory’s will be tasked to take things back to their cabinets to work on.
Sports minister on gambling ad reform: government ‘remains committed’ to all 31 recommendations
Labor’s plans for gambling ad reform has been delayed until next year – despite commitments made from the minister there would be a response by Christmas.
Josh Butler had more on the timeline of this in yesterday’s blog, here.
The aged care and sports minister, Anika Wells, was asked about this on ABC RN earlier, and said the government “remain[ed] committed” to working through the 31 recommendations of the inquiry.
Right now, we’re working through 31 recommendations with all of the different stakeholders in this space …
As a sport minister who always tries to be athlete-led, there are athletes who are being targeted by the rise of gambling and the proliferation of gambling advertising, not just in professional clothes now, but in the junior leagues we’ve seen those stories come out. So it is something that we’re working through … These are complex but important reforms, and I look forward to continuing to work on them.
Wells was asked about the role lobbyists are playing in trying to stop reform – but she said “I wouldn’t characterise it that way at all.”
I think, and if you look at the public remarks that codes have made along this journey, they agree that something needs to be done. It’s about finding something that’s workable, that everybody can live with, and that won’t impact the financial models … Peter V’landys absolutely is one of the players in this area, but there’s lots more, and we’ve got to work through the nuances and concerns of all of them, and that’s why we’re going to continue to do that.
Josh Butler
At least three Nationals publicly voice concerns over social media ban bill
On the under-16s social media ban, we’ve now got at least three Nationals – Keith Pitt, Matt Canavan and now Bridget McKenzie – and Liberal MP Garth Hamilton publicly voicing concerns over the rushed nature of the bill and potential privacy or access issues for all Australians.
The Coalition partyroom is meeting this morning, where the ban is expected to be a hot topic of conversation. But Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said at a brief press gallery doorstop that he was in favour of the ban broadly, and indicated most of the Coalition still backed it:
I think the process is troubling, and there are issues here, but ultimately, we think that this is a proportionate approach to what is a very serious issue in the community.
This is something that Peter [Dutton] has given very lengthy comments on the record about, and that is our position.
The report of the lightning-quick inquiry, which only held a short three-hour hearing, will be released this afternoon. We hear there may be more than a few amendments to the bill proposed. However even critics of the bill are expecting the Coalition will ultimately back the ban.
Watch this space.
Peter Hannam
Hot days to strain eastern Australia’s power grid for next few days
The slow-moving heatwave across southern and south-eastern Australia will nudge temperatures in Sydney’s west towards 40C today and tomorrow.
Sydney’s eastern suburbs will be spared the worst, though, with sea breezes keeping the mercury to temperatures in the low 30s for the next three days. Most of eastern New South Wales will endure low- to severe-intensity heatwave conditions today.
NSW’s power grid faces the most strain, although Queensland too will have periods when reserves will be relatively tight. (That is, better not have any unplanned outages at the ageing coal-fired power plants … or any generators for that matter.)
The Australian Energy Market Operator this morning cancelled the latest of its so-called lack of reserve level 3 alerts (this one for Wednesday), which imply blackouts unless the market responds. (The market usually responds.)
Still, wholesale power prices will near their maximum levels in NSW later today on present Aemo forecasts:
A couple of nervous days ahead for our power authorities. And if you’re feeling the heat, drink lots of water, find a cool place and look out for your neighbours to ensure they’re doing OK too.
Canavan says he is drafting amendments to under-16 social media bill
Despite his pushback to the under-16s social media ban bill, Matt Canavan told ABC RN he hadn’t made his mind up yet on whether he would support the legislation.
I’m going to obviously talk to my colleagues in the party room this morning. I am in the process of drafting a number of amendments to the bill, and I’ll have more to say about that in the committee’s report, which will be tabled today.
I’ll just keep watching and listening to the debate, but I certainly think the bill needs major changes, and regardless of the changes, I remain unimpressed with this condensed timeframe to analyse the bill.
Canavan said there was “widespread support” for legislation like this, and “I don’t think that support is going to somehow disappear over the summer break”.
We can I think just pause here, come back and do this properly.
Canavan concerned about digital ID for age assurance: ‘All we’ve got is the minister’s word’
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, has said a digital ID framework would not be used for age assurance – does this response alleviate Matt Canavan’s privacy concerns?
Canavan argued there was nothing to stop the future use of digital identity to maintain social media accounts:
So all we’ve got is the minister’s word, which, as I say, doesn’t mean anything. She might not be the minister within a year – who knows? So why not, if the minister is is being legitimate here … why not just change the act, change the bill to rule it out?
He again took aim at the rushed process, saying senators hadn’t “been able to get across some important submissions” and that it would have been good to have social media companies themselves front the inquiry:
We only had time yesterday to hear from their industry representative body but many colleagues of mine – including those who support the bill – are frustrated that the industry group could not answer their questions because their questions went to the particular behaviours of the likes of X or Meta …
The bill doesn’t even come into effect until 2026, next year. So why not take a breath, extend the inquiry [and] allow us to get across these 15,000 submissions.
Nationals senator says rushed social media ban ‘just not acceptable’
The Nationals senator Matt Canavan is speaking with ABC RN about the government’s under-16 social media ban. He’s been an outspoken critic against the bill, and told the program “it’s just not acceptable” how rushed it has been.
I completely understand the need [to address] significant harms done to young children from the overuse and abuse of social media, but given [that a bill of this kind is] unprecedented it’s just not acceptable to the public.
He said the hurried inquiry into the bill received 15,000 submissions and the committee would report today.
It’s very important to let people know this … won’t just affect the use of social media for people under 16, because once you have to try and verify someone’s age under 16 you’re going to have to verify everyone’s age to check their age. And so there’s huge privacy, free speech implications of this legislation.
O’Neil says government doing ‘everything we can’ to ease economic pressures
Asked about the latest economic outlook, Clare O’Neil said she wasn’t denying how tough it is for Australians, and said:
You’re seeing the same problems with the economies in the US and all over the world.
She pointed to tax cuts and energy bill relief:
I’m not saying any of these things completely take the pain away, but I want people to know that government is on your side. We’re doing everything we can to try to relieve those [real] pressures that you’re feeling.
Rent freeze and negative gearing changes ‘dead in the water’, O’Neil says
The housing minister, Clare O’Neil, just spoke with the Today show about Labor’s housing bills – and the Greens’ decision to back its Help to Buy bill after failing to win its concessions.
O’Neil said that the Greens’ calls for a rent freeze and negative gearing changes are “absolutely dead in the water, because they were never good ideas to begin with”.
We have sought to be really constructive in this parliament, but it turns out you’ve got to push pretty hard to get your housing initiatives through.
O’Neil said the bill was “not a silver bullet” but it was “never meant to be”, but warned people against “the snake oil salesmen in this housing debate who are pretending that there’s one thing we can do to fix the whole problem”.
The truth is, we’ve had a generations-in-the-making housing crisis in our country that’s been building for more than 30 years, and it requires our government to do lots of things differently.
We’re trying to build many more homes in our country, we’re trying to get a better deal for renters, and we’re trying to get more Australians into homeownership. It’s a big, complex program and it’s going to take some time. But I really want your viewers at home to know that we understand that Australians are in real housing distress at the moment, and our government is stepping up and taking action.
‘We can do better than that’: Zoe Daniel on Labor’s social media ban bill
Zoe Daniel argued that the problem with Labor’s social media is that “you’re basically letting the platforms off the hook”.
[We need to] get the platforms to take responsibility for what is in their environment – and actually, it would make an age ban redundant if we were to put in this kind of safety by design, and a duty of care and hold the platforms accountable for what’s happening in their spaces. You wouldn’t actually need an age ban.
Daniel said she had spoken with communications minister Michelle Rowland about the issue, and the government has flagged it would “go down the track of a duty of care eventually”.
The independent MP said she “understood” why the government was pursuing the age ban “because it is a lever to pull now and it makes parents feel better”, but argued it “actually makes zero difference to what is happening on the platforms”.
The onus and the responsibility remains on the parents and the kids, and I think that we can do better than that.