Anthony Albanese under pressure to pass social media ban

Anthony Albanese will introduce legislation to ban teenagers aged under 16 years from accessing social media within a fortnight.

Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Anthony Albanese will introduce legislation to ban teenagers aged under 16 years from accessing social media within a fortnight, as the Coalition ramps up pressure on Labor to pass the reforms by the end of the year.

After state and territory leaders agreed to legislate the age limit at national cabinet meeting on Friday, the Prime Minister said the “world first” decision to combat harm caused by social media exposure would have the age-based cut-off come into effect a year after the bill passes parliament.

The Coalition has called on Mr Albanese to ensure the framework does not allow social media giants to exploit exemptions for certain platforms and pass the bill during the two remaining sitting weeks of the year amid an already packed legislative agenda.

Mr Albanese defended his track record of passing legislation through parliament, accusing the Coalition and Greens of blocking several key pillars of the government’s policy platform in the Senate, including the Help to Buy scheme, the Future Made in Australia bill and legislation enshrining an environment protection authority.

Declaring the reforms were “above politics” and forcing tech giants to take “reasonable steps” to prevent teenagers aged under 16 from setting up social media accounts, Mr Albanese said “governments have to respond” when technology changes the lives of everyday Australians.

“Social media is doing social harm to our young Australians and I am calling time on it,” he said. “The safety and mental health of our young people has to be a priority and my government will do all that we can to protect our young Australians, but also to provide support for parents and teachers who are dealing with these issues.

“I want Australian parents to know that we have your back.”

The national cabinet reached consensus on the policy after Tasmanian Deputy Premier Guy Barnett agreed to the 16 age limit instead of the preferred age of 14, rather than “stand in the way of national uniformity”.

With aged-care reforms and a bill making fee-free TAFE permanent still on the government’s docket for the two remaining sitting weeks, Mr Albanese said ministers would introduce more legislation before the end of the year. As the prospect of a federal election looms over next year’s parliamentary schedule which has a budget listed for March 25, he said there were sitting weeks scheduled in February

“We want the Senate to pass our legislation and we’ll be introducing a range of legislation as well in the last fortnight, as much of that we want passed,” he said.

“But some of that, of course, will be debated next year.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland ruled out exemptions for TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, after the Coalition raised concerns that the popular platforms would seek to exploit child-friendly versions of the sites.