The Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP, has co-signed the MoU alongside the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology the Rt Hon Michelle Donelan MP.
This is the first arrangement of its kind, ushering in a new era of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, allowing the UK and Australia to lead the international agenda and shape a global consensus on tackling online harms.
The MoU has a broad focus, encompassing a wide range of digital online safety and security issues, including illegal content, child safety, age assurance, technology facilitated gender-based violence, as well as mitigating the risks of both long-standing and novel causes of harm in a rapidly developing technological landscape, like those posed by generative AI.
It will build on the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 and Australia’s Online Safety Act 2021.
Whilst overseas, Minister Rowland will also meet with key counterparts in the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain – as well as European Union representatives – to discuss a range of matters encompassing online safety and digital platform regulation.
She will attend the 2024 Mobile World Congress, which will allow the government to engage on a range of telecommunications matters relevant to Australians.
