Premier Anthony Albanese has asked state premiers and territory chief ministers to share their preferred age limit as the federal government reaffirms its plan to set a strict age limit for accessing social media.
States and territories have differed on the minimum age for social media, with leaders pointing to ideal limits between 14 and 16 years old.
Albanese has asked premiers and senior ministers to provide evidence on their preferred cut-off, whether there should be exemptions and how the limits could affect states that have implemented a phone ban.
Leaders will also be asked about their views on grandfathering provisions for checking accounts, as well as the role of parental consent in setting age limits.
States and territories will need to explain how they plan to implement comprehensive measures to support young people, including the impacts of withdrawal, creating alternative forms of social connection and community, as well as supporting vulnerable groups such as rural or remote adolescents, LGBTQI+ communities and indigenous. groups.
Anthony Albanese has called on state and territory leaders to designate an age for a proposed social media ban.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that the government will introduce the ban by the end of 2024.
He said he wanted to see kids take off their phones and “have real experiences with real people.”
“We know that social media is causing social harm. We need to do everything we can to keep our children safe and help them grow up happy, healthy and confident,” she said.
“Legislating a minimum age for access to social networks is about protecting young people, not about punishing or isolating them.
“Protecting children from harm is a shared responsibility between all governments, as well as industry, civil society and communities.”
Ahead of Labour’s proposed ban, opposition leader Peter Dutton made an election promise to restrict social media use to teenagers under 16 within the first 100 days of the Coalition coming to government. .
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has backed an age limit of at least 16, however Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas have favored a stricter limit of 14 years.
Albanese (pictured with Fowler candidate Dai Le on Saturday) has promised to introduce the laws before the end of the year.
Other jurisdictions have supported national measures to lead the ban, without choosing an age limit.
On Friday, the New South Wales government released a statewide survey of 21,000 people, 87 per cent of whom supported age limits on social media use.
In the survey, 16 years old was the most frequently suggested age.
It found that teens ages 16 to 17 used on average more than three hours of social media a day, and that 70 percent of kids ages 10 to 12 were already using platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
The survey comes ahead of the state’s joint two-day Social Media Summit with the South Australian government, scheduled for October 10-11.
