Editorial: As PM dithers on social media limits, our kids keep dying

The federal government is not acting with the necessary urgency as yet another young Queenslander is bullied to death, writes the editor.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time on Tuesday. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

While Canberra has been abuzz about which MPs had their flights upgraded and how, another young Queensland girl has taken her own life after relentless online bullying made possible by the non-existence of government regulations on social media platforms.

A full month ago Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote to state premiers seeking their feedback on his very welcome commitment to impose a mandated minimum age limit on social media use – a commitment that came in response to The Courier-Mail’s Let Them Be Kids campaign.

In Adelaide on Sunday, he was lapping up the adulation of the party faithful at a rally, where he promised to support young people with more fee-free TAFE places and cuts to HECS debts.

That same day in Brisbane, 12-year-old Ella Catley-Crawford died in hospital – a week after she attempted to take her own life.

She did so after she became the victim of an online catfishing scheme orchestrated by other girls who shared her photos across social media, leading to bullying, isolation and a mental health battle.

“Social media bullying is real,” Ella’s uncle Simon Crawford said.

“To ask if I’m angry? I am. To ask if I’m sad? I am. To ask me if the system let her down?

“They did.”

The government’s priorities here seem wrong. They are not acting with the necessary urgency, because Ella is tragically far from the only Australian child to have fallen victim this year to the scourge of online bullying that social media platforms are simply not interested in stopping.

This is not to say an age limit will be an instant fix, or that it will remove all online bullying.

Bullying has always sadly been a part of life as a teenager. Teaching our kids the skills they need to cope is part of the puzzle here.

But an age limit will certainly help, because it means it becomes illegal for under-16s to use social media, in the same way it is illegal for them to drink alcohol or to drive a car.

They can still do it, but they know it is wrong – and that in itself becomes a tool parents and schools can use.

A mandated age limit is the turning point we need as a society, after a generation where kids have been able to engage in these dangerous spaces without limit.

And yet there seems no rush on this within government.

Mr Albanese been pretty quiet on it, and we learned yesterday at a Senate estimates hearing that a trial of the technologies that could be used to enforce a social media age limit is yet to start, more than six months after Labor announced funding for the critical step.

A tender for the trial has not even been finalised, meaning the trial itself will not be finished until mid-next year.

The government does say it will forge ahead with its commitment to legislate an age limit by Christmas, which means it must unveil its plan by end of this month.

It will then have a 12-month implementation period, and after that there will be requirements imposed on the platforms to enforce the age limit – but there will be no penalties for individuals. This all makes sense.

But the government needs to ensure these changes are at the very top of its critical to-do list.

This is about saving the lives of our children. Surely there is nothing more important for a government. Tragically, Ella’s preventable death is just the latest reminder of this truth. We mourn her loss.

COMMON SENSE ON VENUES AT LAST

Both Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and federal Minister for Infrastructure Catherine King gave masterclasses yesterday in victories for common sense.

The Lord Mayor made a smart decision to pointedly soften his opposition to a rebuild of the Gabba, as part of his pitch to the state government that all possible options for the stadium need to be considered by the incoming Games infrastructure review panel.

Mr Schrinner is essentially here arguing the same thing we did in this column yesterday – that the terms of reference for the review need to remain as open as possible so that the experts can decide what is best, rather than their decisions being constrained by a political dictate. This is the only way to get the outcome the Premier has promised – a Games venues plan that all Queenslanders can have confidence in, and be proud of.

Minister King, however, is also absolutely correct in saying that the Brisbane Arena project the federal government is funding under the agreement struck early last year must be allowed to continue to progress towards construction.

Unlike with the stadium, there is absolutely no disagreement over the need for the arena – a new 17,000-seat entertainment centre in the inner-city. As we noted here yesterday, it would be at the top of the list of the infrastructure capable of delivering generational legacy.

Minister King points out that, unlike with the stadium debacle, “significant progress” is already being made on the arena project.

It should remain unmolested.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here