JAYNIE SEAL, HOST: Back to one of our top stories, and the Shadow Communications Minister has criticised the government’s Digital Duty of Care bill. She claims the government is trying to mislead the public on what the legislation means.
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SARAH HENDERSON, SHADOW COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER: This is a complicated bill, but we are also very concerned that the Minister has unfettered powers in relation to user empowerment tools, so any sort of design of any online service. The Minister is simply not telling the truth about what is in the bill.
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SEAL: Well, for more, joining us live is Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health, Emma McBride. Minister, thank you very much for joining us. It is a complicated bill by the sounds of it, and a lot of mixed emotions and also questions. But in terms of your portfolio, we know that there has been a lot of bad incidents happening on our digital platforms, including unfortunately people losing their lives. So unfettered powers is what the Opposition are saying. How complicated this bill, and give us your reaction on what you’re hearing from people regarding mental health?
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Jaynie, I spoke to a young woman yesterday who spoke to me about her own experience of suicidal ideation. I was with a group of young people from Mitchell Shire in regional Victoria yesterday who spoke about the impact of social media and the harm that it’s causing to young people. This is, at its heart, about safety by design. It’s introducing minimum safety standards that we have for tools, that we have for cars, that we have for toys. This isn’t about what you can post, it’s about how the platforms operate. And from my perspective and with my responsibilities, I’ve encouraged all members across the Parliament to support this legislation urgently, so that we can protect young people especially as soon as possible.
SEAL: I mean, speaking to other people, whether they’re under 16 or over, they’re saying it’s not going to work. We know that many people can find loopholes. So what do you say to that?
MCBRIDE: Since we introduced our minimum age restrictions for social media, we’ve seen more than 5 million accounts deactivated. This is about big tech being responsible for social harm. This is social media companies being made to be responsible for social harm. So I would encourage across the Parliament for MPs and senators to act in good faith, because this is about our young people. This is about protecting them online. It’s ultimately about children’s safety.
SEAL: Again, yes, many people might agree with what you're saying. But the cat's out of the bag – whether it's online, AI, it is going to increase in terms of what we can and can't access. So the guardrails do need to be implemented, but, I mean, the Opposition, many are saying that this is just not going to work.
MCBRIDE: What I would encourage members across the Parliament to do is to think about young children, to think about the parents like Mat and Kelly that I've met with, and the tragic consequences for their daughter Charlotte. To think about the harm that's being fed in front of young people who have eating disorders or disordered eating, and this content is being put in front of them. This is about algorithms targeting distress and monetising people's harm. This is something that is in the interest of all Australians, but particularly the most vulnerable, including our children.
SEAL: Well, on the subject of children, we are seeing a lot of pressure, Minister, building on all leaders of all political persuasions addressing family violence, children’s rights. We're seeing just this weekend some really devastating stories and we won't talk about them specifically, but if we look at it from a general point of view, we have spoken to a few politicians today and got their thoughts on what we need to do, whether it's a whole government approach, not just states, whether we need to readdress the whole situation on children's rights. We spoke to Rikkie-Lee from One Nation earlier, and here's a little bit what Rikkie-Lee had to say.
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RIKKIE-LEE TYRRELL, ONE NATION: It's really heartbreaking that we haven't progressed as a society, our governments haven't progressed in making this issue better. We haven't addressed these issues that are impacting households as the cost of living increases, drug use increases, alcoholism increases, and we will see domestic violence increase as well.
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SEAL: It's a tough topic, but we do have to discuss it, don't we? Everybody, regardless if you're in politics or not. But do we need a major overhaul here to protect our children?
MCBRIDE: Jaynie, firstly, my condolences to anyone who knew the young person who has died. I understand that this is a matter before the police and the Department of Community and Justice, so I won't say any more. But to your broader question, yes, we should and we must. With my responsibilities, the mental health and suicide prevention, we know that childhood trauma, domestic and family violence and intimate partner violence drive suicidal distress and lead to the tragic consequences where we’re losing 9 Australians each day to suicide, and more than 150 attempting to take their own life. I would encourage across communities and across the Parliament, I know these are really difficult conversations to have, but we need to have them in an open way where we can really face the challenges and make sure that we're working on solutions that are evidence-based, that are implementable and that will ultimately reduce the risk of harm and suicide.
SEAL: And I certainly hear your compassion and your empathy on this, and no doubt most people, if not all people, are going to be feeling the same way. But, again, how can we let any child suffer? It's easy to say here and all of that, but I don't know. It's one of those things where speaking to other people who are looking after children and pulling them out of homes that are not healthy for them, it's a very, very touchy subject. But it's one that really needs to be put front and centre. And I don't know, there's other countries, I believe, that are doing better than we are. Is that something that your government is looking at? How can we improve from other countries that are doing better than us?
MCBRIDE: This is something that is a global scourge. It's something that's impacting women and children right around the world. And it's something that we look to the evidence and make sure that if there are projects or programs that are working in other parts of the world that we can introduce in Australia, that we'll look at them. Minister Plibersek has boosted funding, particularly for frontline workers. We've got Ged Kearney working with our Special Envoy for Men's Health, listening to community by community to understand the unique challenges they face, to make sure that we can address this in a place-based community way, but nationally and consistently. So we are always open to work with others, and I think everybody needs to come together to fight this scourge.
SEAL: Yeah, absolutely. It has to be front and centre, as we're doing now. And thank you very much, Assistant Minister for Regional and Rural Health, Emma McBride. We'll talk to you again soon.
MCBRIDE: Good to be with you.