NSW Premier Chris Minns has indicated he would seek to go it alone on age laws if other states don’t act

Premier Chris Minns has vowed NSW will take tough action on social media and ‘isn’t going to wait’ increase the minimum age for usage, if other states and the Commonwealth don’t act fast enough.

Premier Chris Minns has signalled NSW could go it alone in hiking up the minimum age of social media use to 16, if other states and the federal government don’t move as quickly to ban young users.

Mr Minns, flanked by Deputy Premier Prue Car and Youth Minister Rose Jackson, said he was positive NSW could take tough action on social media – which he called a “giant experiment that we’re conducting on young people”.

“There are jurisdictions around the world that are making change,” he said at Bossley Park High School, in Sydney’s west, on Monday morning.

Chris Minns, Premier of New South Wales

“You’ve seen that in Canada. You’ve seen that in different states in the United States. I think you are seeing for the first time major regulatory change (which) is finally on the table. “

“My suspicion is it would be better to move as a nation (and) have Australia implement a (social media) ban at 16.

“But the New South Wales Government isn’t going to wait for that and we’re more than happy to talk with the South Australian government and anyone else about getting the dangers on the table and making sure that policy makers as well as parents understand what the impact of a lack of regulation for widespread ubiquitous social media use means for young people.”

The tough talk comes ahead of a social media summit to be held by the NSW Government in October, where the impact of sites like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok on youth will be scrutinised.

Chris Minns, Premier of New South Wales, Prue Car, Minister for Education and Early Learning, Rose Jackson, Minister for Mental Health and Minister for Youth, arrive to meet with student leaders at Bossley Park High School. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

It comes after the launch of News Corporation Australia’s Let Them Be Kids campaign, pushing for an increase in the minumum age requirements for usage of social media platforms.

Parents are losing the fight against multi-billion dollar tech platforms who continue to knowingly expose children to harmful content that is affecting their mental and physical health.Suicide and self harm has skyrocketed children under 19 and eating disorders are up 200 per cent over the last 12 years.

Mr Minns said he understood the difficulty for parents of cutting down their kids’ screen time, using a personal anecdote.

“I took my three boys out … yesterday with my wife and my mum. Two boys started fighting with each other – the way we solved that was to get an iPad out and give it to one of the kids,” he said.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Newswire Photos - MAY 15: NSW Premier Chris Minns speaks during question time at New South Wales Parliament House in Sydney. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Deputy Premier Prue Car added the government were unlikely to cop a lack of action from giant companies like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.

“They have the most advanced sophisticated technology in the world. You can’t tell me that there isn’t a way that we can make age verification, more precise so we can protect our young people online,” she said.

Youth and mental health Minister Rose Jackson said even initial chats with school students had revealed the damage of social media.

“We just had a conversation with students here at Bossley Park High School and we asked them ‘who thinks social media has a negative impact on you and your friends lives?’ and every single hand in that room went up.

“They talked about the comparisons, the like culture, the body image issues, the unrealistic representations of what life should look like. That’s something that we want to engage with this summit is a critical opportunity for us to bring that conversation together,” she said.

Originally published as NSW Premier Chris Minns has indicated he would seek to go it alone on age laws if other states don’t act