CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Albanese recently announced its intention to introduce legislation this year “to enforce a minimum age for access to social media and other relevant digital platforms.”
“A Commonwealth-led approach to this important social issue will ensure Australian children are better protected from online harms and parents and carers are supported,” the Prime Minister’s office said through a statement.
The federal government said the legislation would be “informed by engagement with States and Territories through National Cabinet” and would “draw upon recent work by former Chief Justice, Robert French.”
The latter statement refers to an extensive report prepared by French earlier this year for the Premier of South Australia and issued this month, a 277-page documententitled “Report of the Independent Legal Examination into Banning Children’s Access to Social Media.”
French’s report includes several mentions of adult content, justifying the government’s so-called “age-assurance” proposals in terms of the country’s existing free speech protection.
Australia, a Commonwealth country with a legal system patterned after that of its former colonial power the United Kingdom, has no blanket U.S.-style First Amendment protections.
French’s report lumps “pornography” and “violent content” as similarly “unwanted inappropriate content” for teenagers.
It also vaguely defines “sexualization” of minors as “the imposition of adult models of sexual behavior and sexuality” onto minors at “developmentally inappropriate stages and in opposition to the healthy development of sexuality.”
The “use of sexualized images,” the report continues “may occur in popular media. A virtually limitless store of pornography on the internet means that children and adolescents have easier access to more varied, explicit and sometimes violent, unsafe and non-consensual sexual content. Exposure is highly likely to occur.”
The French Report also quotes an Australian Institute of Family Studies report claiming that “exposure to mainstream, online pornography could have a range of negative effects.”
The document also outlines how the Online Safety Act of 2021 includes two forms of “illegal and restricted online content” as “the specific types of online harm that the eSafety Commissioner regulates through its complaints and removal schemes.”
The OSA essentially established the eSafety Commissioner as Australia’s de facto online censor. Currently the post is held by the unelected American-Australian former tech executive Julie Inman Grant, who has acknowledged having conversations with U.S.-based, religiously-inspired lobby NCOSE — formerly Morality in Media — and even appeared on an NCOSE podcast at the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation summit in July 2021, shortly after the Australian Parliament passed the OSA.
The two categories for “illegal and restricted online content,” the French report notes are “class 1 material” (CSAM and pro-terrorism content) and “class 2 material,” including “material that may be unsuitable for children, such as pornography.”
Prime Minister Albanese justified the proposal claiming that “We know social media is causing social harm, and it is taking kids away from real friends and real experiences. Australian young people deserve better and I stand with them and with all Australian parents in protecting our kids. The safety and mental and physical health of our young people is paramount. We’re supporting parents and keeping kids safe by taking this action, because enough is enough.”
Main Image: Australia’s former Chief Justice, Robert French