: The announcement last night is a huge step forward and we thank and welcome the Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, welcome.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G’day, good to be with you all.
WIPPA: Mate, fantastic encouragement overnight. This is terrific news. You were one of the first people to encourage everybody to go to the petition and sign at 36 months.com.au. We thank you for your support and your understanding of how serious and devastating this influence of social media has been on our kids.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, congrats to you for the campaign that you’ve been very much leading. This is about letting children have a childhood. There’s nothing social about some social media taking our young Australians away from real friends and real experiences. And it’s pretty simple. We want to get young Australians off their devices and onto the footy field or the netball court or the swimming pool or the tennis court and engaging with each other. And we know that social media is causing social harm. That’s why we’ve committed, through the Cabinet meeting we held yesterday, to ensure that we introduce legislation by the end of the year that will enable us to have this age verification trial that we put funding for in the Budget in May. Australians deserve better and we know that this is of such concern for Australian parents. They want to protect their kids and the safety and mental and physical health of our young people is on the line here.
RYAN ‘FITZY’ FITZGERALD, HOST: Can we talk about the age, Prime Minister? Because the initiative is 36 months and Wippa has been campaigning for this. The three years are so important. I know down in South Australia, the Premier down there, Peter Malinauskas, has brought in laws now that you have to be at the age of 14, I mean, it’s a start PM.
WIPPA: That’s too young.
FITZY: Yeah, it’s too young. Can we get it out to 16? Where are we with that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, one of the things that we wanted to do is to make sure that when I had the discussion at ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Cabinet last week with all the Premiers and Chief Ministers, that we don’t end up having eight different systems. So, the right age is between 14 and 16. I have a personal view. I err on the side of a higher limit –
WIPPA: 16.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s where I’m at. But I want to make sure that we don’t end up with different systems in different states. We want a national approach to an issue, which is a national issue. So, that’s one of the reasons why we’ve got out there and made this announcement, perhaps earlier than we would have. We were going to wait for the trial and then make an announcement. But we wanted to make it clear of where we were headed, that we will have legislation by the end of the year. And one of the things that the age verification trial will do is to look at, through real experience, and we’ve done a lot of work, like it’s at the final stage now of then going out and undertaking this trial. But some pre-work has been done to make sure that we get it right here. Look, it’s not simple, that’s the truth, and we all know that, because governments around the world are grappling with this challenge. But if you don’t try, you won’t succeed. And we want to make sure that we get it right.
WIPPA: Prime Minister, what I’ve loved here is the leadership that you have shown, because when you encouraged everybody to go and sign the petition, 116,000 people stood up and said, “this is what we want, this is what we need.” And 36 months represents common sense, and that’s what it is. So, what we’re so passionate about is obviously removing the minefield that is social media, but it is a mental health issue of what is going on with our teenagers. And I want to ask also, what changed your mind? What made you jump on board and have this conversation sooner than later about what we could possibly do?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven’t changed my mind. I’ve been determined to make sure this happened. That’s why we put money in the Budget for the age verification trial back in May, and we’ve been working each and every day for that. I tell you what, the world’s smallest petition would be, the petition that said, “let it rip, give our youngest Australians access to anything that they want online.” That would be the world’s smallest petition, because it would be a blank sheet of paper.
KATE RITCHIE, HOST: Yeah, absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: Every parent knows that this is an issue. I mean, my young fellow, who I think you’ve all met, is now 23. This was an issue when he was young, you know, when he was 12, 13, a teenager. It’s more of an issue now. When I stood on the sideline Newtown Swans games all those years ago, it was something that we were talking about with other parents and it’s got worse. There’s no question. And that’s why governments are looking at acting. But my Government is prepared to lead globally, if need be, on this issue, to have a crack at getting this right. Which is why we are undertaking the trial and why we’ve committed to letting people know that the legislation will be in the parliament in November, because we do want to let parents know as well that we’ve got your back. We understand. And let young people know as well. I think, from talking with some younger people about this, and as I go out and about, I’ve had discussions with them, “what do you think?” And for many of them, some of them say, “no, I should be allowed to do whatever I want.” But many of them as well, certainly recognise that this is a problem. They recognise that many of their friends have suffered from some mental health issues as a result of social media.
RITCHIE: Yeah. And it’s much more than mental health issues. I think that there are so many parents that would have woken up this morning to this news, as you said, finally listening to the parents and the people that are living at home with their kids. And it is, it’s much more than taking the kids away from footy fields and social activities. You know, young people are dying at the hands of misinformation. And that’s why I think that this is so valuable. So, I know that there’s a long way to go, but surely there is a sigh of relief and a lovely feeling of being listened to by many, many parents out there across the country this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s right. Well, the other thing is that the experts in the health sector tell us that young people’s brains effectively need more time to develop before they’re using some of these apps.
WIPPA: Yeah, completely.
PRIME MINISTER: And that’s why this is an issue which is a national issue. We want to have a national response to it and we want to continue to engage with parents. That’s why we’ll have the legislation released, well, introduced into parliament. Then I’m sure there’ll be a process in which people will participate. I should imagine this is the sort of thing that will usually be subject to a Senate inquiry and that will be another opportunity for people to have their say on what we are doing here because we need to act.
WIPPA: Well, Prime Minister, what’s great, there’s two things here. There’s the technology, and that’s part of your trial, which I believe is sort of slow to get going. So, I want to put the trial to a side and I want to focus on the parent side of things and the desperation. As we mentioned, kids are on the edge. So, the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton was in here. He said, if my government gets into power, I’ll put at the top of my list to change the age, put it at the top of my list for the first 100 days of power to change the age to 16 of kids joining social media. So, this morning, and I know it’s a long runway, but you’ve called it in November, legislation will change. I want you to match it. I want you to match 16 because that’s what the people are calling for. You ask them to sign the petition. They did, and they need you now.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well, we’re going to act. We’re doing the trial. We want to get it right. What we don’t want is, I’m the Government, Opposition Leaders, I’ve been in that position. They say things. We’re acting. So, we will have the legislation. We’ll do the age verification trial. That’s important to get right.
WIPPA: But you know what? That’s the technical side of it.
PRIME MINISTER: No, that’s the real side of it.
WIPPA: We need clear air, Prime Minister, for parents.
PRIME MINISTER: With respect, that’s the real side of it, is getting it right. And that is what we are determined to do.
WIPPA: Because the parents also need to be able to say to the kids and to the other parents at a grassroot level, it is now illegal. You can’t rob a bank. You can’t steal a car. You can’t be on social media under the age of 16, because it’s illegal. The Prime Minister has said so.
FITZY: You can get the technological side of things right. But if you still stay, if you stay at 14, Prime Minister, it’s not making a difference.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not saying we’re going to stay at 14. Be very clear. I’m not saying that at all. I’ve told you what my preferred position is, but we’re doing the age verification trial to get it right.
WIPPA: Well, this is a great step forward, Prime Minister, we thank you. And at the same time, you know, you mentioned it before. We can lead the world on this right now, Prime Minister, through your leadership.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. And that is something that we’re prepared to do. I mean, these social media companies think they’re above everyone. Well, they have a social responsibility and at the moment, they’re not exercising it. And we’re determined to make sure that they do. The French Report done by the former Justice, Chief Justice of the High Court to Peter Malinauskas in South Australia, points away forward as well. We’ll take that into account as we go forward. But as I said, we do want a national response to this, a national solution, and we’re determined to get one.
WIPPA: Fantastic. Let’s get it to 16. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much.
