Subjects: Coalition’s commitment to age verification for social media; PM playing catch up on social media age limits
Doorstop interview at Parliament House
E&OE…
David Coleman: Well good morning. Well, Peter Dutton announced a firm policy on social media age verification months ago and the Prime Minister can’t even announce a firm policy today. The Prime Minister is saying he wants to do social media age verification, but he doesn’t know what the age should be. And it’s very hard to have social media age verification if you don’t know what age limit you’re actually going to apply and that’s consistent with the way the Government has mismanaged this issue right from the start. In November, the Coalition brought legislation to Parliament to introduce a trial of age verification technology. The Government blocked it in the parliament. Every other Member in the House of Representatives supported the Coalition’s legislation. The Government voted against it. Then in May, the Government changed its mind and said we will do an age verification trial. As at today in September, the age verification trial has not started, and the Government announced just this week that they’re going to start the process of hiring somebody to do the age verification trial more than four months after they announced it. So the Government is playing catch up on this. This is a half-baked, rushed announcement. The Prime Minister knows that this is a totemic issue in the Australian community. It is one of the defining issues of our era. Protecting children from social media is an issue of importance to every Australian family, and the Prime Minister knows he needs to be seen to be doing something. So in this rushed announcement today, he’s trying to create the appearance of action. Peter Dutton made a firm, strong commitment months ago, and the Prime Minister can’t even make a firm, strong commitment today.
Journalist: A defining issue that doesn’t have the Coalition’s support?
David Coleman: Well we very strongly support age verification for social media. I mean, we announced in June of this year that we would introduce an age limit of 16 for social media within 100 days of taking office. We would put legislation to the Parliament to do that within 100 days of taking office. We moved legislation in November last year to trial age verification technology. We’ve been speaking on this issue for months and months and months, and the Government has taken basically no action during that entire time. So Peter Dutton made that firm commitment months ago. We strongly support age verification for social media. It needs to happen. The impact on the mental health of Australian children on social media is appalling. When you look at that impact, that mental health impact, especially for girls, it is frightening. We’re seeing statistics on issues such as the hospitalisation of girls for self-harm, which has increased dramatically over the past decade. There’s no doubt that social media is playing a part in that. That’s why action needs to be taken and that’s why the Coalition has been calling for action for so long.
Journalist: Would you oppose any legislation that doesn’t have that age limit of 16? Is that your limit?
David Coleman: Look our position is clear. We announced that position months ago. We believe the age limit should be 16 and that’s why Peter Dutton announced that back in June.
Journalist: But if it’s lower, if it’s 14, if it’s 15, are you going to vote against the legislation?
David Coleman: Well look, we’ve made our position clear. We announced our position back in June and that the social media age limit should be 16. I received a letter just last week from 120 experts in mental health, in the prevention of eating disorders, and in other professions. 120 experts signed a letter saying that there should be age verification for social media and the age should be 16, and we agree with them. And that’s why we announced that policy.
Journalist: Sorry, so we know that’s your position, but will you be opposing any legislation that’s under that age?
David Coleman: Well again, we’ve announced our policy and that is that the age for social media should be 16.
Journalist: Are you at risk of making the ‘perfect’ the enemy of the good here?
David Coleman: Well look, we believe strongly that the age should be 16. We received a letter just last week from 120 experts calling for the age to be 16. And the reason that it’s important that the age 16, is we need to give kids the opportunity to mature before they’re exposed to this frankly awful environment of social media. The fact is that the brains of younger children and the maturity of younger children just isn’t there to cope with what gets thrown at you on social media and that’s why we see so many disturbing instances of statistics on mental health problems for kids, especially girls, as a consequence of social media.
Journalist: In terms of technology, do you have a favoured way of the verification? I think the Government is at the moment trialing some tech for the apps, some tech for the device. Do you have a favourite?
David Coleman: Well just to be clear, the Government is not trialing anything at the moment. They have not started the age verification trial. They announced it four months ago. They’ve done some meetings and some roundtable consultations. Not only have they not started the verification trial, they’re only this week starting the process of hiring somebody to do the age verification trial. So they’re still weeks away from the age verification trial actually starting. So when the Government says they are trialling age verification technology, that is not true. They have not started that by their own admission. In terms of the technology, I mean we’re seeing around the world, so much activity in this area. And I think one of the most important things to note is, the social media companies already use age verification technology in some limited circumstances. So for instance, Meta uses it. If somebody says they’re under 18 and then changes their age to over 18, even Meta in that circumstance uses age verification technology. And when they do they say it’s 96% effective. But social media companies don’t want this to become law because it’s going to disrupt their business model. But they can do it. They do it now in some limited circumstances and that’s why it’s so important that this is adopted.
Journalist: It would likely need the cooperation of social media companies though. How do you propose the Government, you know, with the Coalition’s support, get around that?
David Coleman: Well look, the Coalition’s position is clear. If social media companies want to operate in Australia, they have to follow the law of Australia. It’s not optional. You don’t get to decide if you want to follow the law of Australia, or not. And we made that very clear. We’ve made it very clear what our position will be in Government. And it’s not a matter of working with the social media companies to seek their cooperation. It’s a matter of telling them, this is the law of Australia and if you want to operate in Australia, you’ve got to follow that law. And that’s what the Coalition would do.
Journalist: So you’re saying if you were in power and they didn’t follow the law, social media would be banned in Australia? We wouldn’t have it at all?
David Coleman: Well we would have a law that says social media companies must follow the age verification rules, and if they don’t, there’ll be consequences. There’d be heavy penalties for not following those laws. And those penalties would be sufficient to get their attention and to ensure that they do follow the laws because sovereignty resides with the people, not the tech platforms. They don’t get to decide whether they follow the law or not and that’s why strength is so important in this area. It’s not about sort of seeking to negotiate an outcome with the tech platforms. It’s about saying to the tech platforms, this is the law of our country, we decide what the law of our country is, not you. And if you want to operate in Australia, you’ve got to follow that law. And that’s why Peter Dutton took such a strong stand. Peter Dutton didn’t sort of stand in the background and basically block an age verification trial like the Government did, or say he was going to look into something and basically not do that. Peter Dutton took a very clear position back in June that the Coalition will impose age verification rules on social media with an age of 16. What the Government has done is basically nothing. And today, when they announced they are going to do age verification for social media, they can’t even tell us what the age is.