** FINALLY AGE ID LAWS FOR THE INTERNET ** This was a really excellent interview earlier today by our Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman - Member for Banks. As many of you know, from the very first word I said in the Parliament, I have been talking about the difference between Tech for Good, Tech for Bad and Tech for Bloody Terrible. In my maiden speech I talked about the impact social media was having on on depression levels, particularly among girls; last year, I convened a national symposium on tech addiction; this year I brought meta-whistleblower Frances Haugen to Flinders; and in all my work in education policy both in Canberra and locally I have focused on the elements of technology that aid education and wellbeing for young people, while being clear on the bits which hinder it. In November of last year, David introduced a private member’s bill into Parliament: the Online Safety Amendment (Protecting Australian Children from Online Harm) Bill 2023, which would have forced pornography sites to ensure that people who are under 18 do not access their content. It followed the parliamentary inquiry led by my friend, Andrew Wallace - LNP Federal Member for Fisher. Of course, that Bill went no-where, as the Albanese Government refused to give it debate time in the House of Representatives. Age verification is needed across many domains of the internet. It is not enough to expect parents to become masters of parental control of their home wifi, mesh system and/or their children’s devices. Young people tend to ‘boost’ their age from their YouTube login to their Apple ID…. Getting that ‘corrected’ with the tech companies directly is impossible (trust me, I have tried). So age ID needs to happen at the source. Today, finally, the Albanese Government has agreed to conduct a pilot of age assurance technology to protect children from harmful content, like pornography and other online services that need age-restriction. About bloody time. | Zoe McKenzie MP