PM Anthony Albanese And Wippa Get Heated Over Kids Social Media Legal Age

Overnight Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced his Government will be introducing a legislation into Parliament to enforce a minimum age for social media and other digital platforms. Following on from the movement ‘36 Months’ that Wippa created and started, the Prime Minister joined us live on air to discuss his reasoning and things got a little bit heated during their debate... 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Fitting in Whip with Kate Richie podcast
last night.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
That was an exciting update from our Prime minister. The
statement was made we will legislate for a minimum age
on social media to keep our children safe. Here's part
of the story so far. Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
I signed the petition this morning. We need to have
just a sensible, moderate approach. Nobody's saying ban the Internet
or any of that sort of nonsense.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
The Prime Minister and our joins us on this topic.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
It is having a devastating impact on the mental health
of too many of our young Australians. I would put
it at the top of my list for the first
one hundred days in government. It's a really positive example
of what the media can do that creates that positive space.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
The announcement last night is a huge step forward and
we thank and welcome the Prime Minister. Mister Albanezy welcome
o Gey, good with you money. 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 thirty six months dot com. Thank you for your

(01:01):
support and your understanding of how serious and devastating this
influence of social media has been on our kids.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Well, congrats to you for the campaign that you've been
very much leading. But 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

(01:31):
off their devices and onto the footy field or the
netball court, or the swimming foold 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

(01:53):
introduced 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

(02:15):
the safety and mental and physical health of our young
people is on the line.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Here can we talk about the age Prime Minister, because
the initiative is thirty six months and we has been
campaigning for this for the three years are so important.
I know down in South Australia, the Premier down there,
Peter Malanaskis, has brought in laws now that you have
to be at the age of fourteen. I mean, I
mean that's a start PM, but we would love to

(02:43):
get it. Yeah, it's too young. Can we get it
out to sixteen or where are where are we with that?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well? One of the things that we wanted to do
is to make sure that when I had the discussion
at National Cabinet last week with all the premiers and
Chief Ministers, that we don't end up having a different systems.
So the right age is between fourteen and sixteen. I
have a personal view. I on the side of a

(03:11):
higher next day. 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

(03:32):
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

(03:55):
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.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I mean, what I've loved here is the leadership that
you have shown because when you encourage everybody to go
and sign the petition, one hundred and sixteen thousand people
stood up and said, this is what we want, this
is what we need, and thirty six months represents common
sense and that's what it is. So what we're so
passionate about is obviously removing the mind field that is

(04:38):
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.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
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 troll back in May, and
we've been working each and every day for that. I'll
tell you what the world's smallest petition would be, the
petition that said, let it rip give our youngest Australians

(05:14):
access to anything that they want online. That would be
the world's smallest petition because it would be a blank
sheet of paper. Every parent knows that this is an issue.
I mean, my young fellow, who I think you've all met,
is now twenty three. This is an issue when he

(05:35):
was young, you know, when he was twelve thirteen, a teenager.
It's more of an issue now. When I stood on
the sideline of Newtown Swan's 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 that's why

(06:00):
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

(06:26):
know as well that we've got you 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 discussed this with them.
What do you think? And for many of them, some
of them say no, I should be allowed to do

(06:47):
whatever I want. But many of them as well certainly
recognize that this is a problem. They recognize that many
of their friends have suffered from some mental health issues
as a result of social media.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
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

(07:25):
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.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
That's right. Well, the other thing is is that the
experts in the health sector tell us that young people's
brains been more time to develop before they're using some
of these apps. And that's why this is an issue
which is a national issue. We want to have national
response to it and we want to continue to engage

(08:05):
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,

(08:30):
because well.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Prime Minister, what we need to act. 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 Dutt
was in here. He said, if my government gets into power,

(08:52):
put at the top of my list to change the age.
Put at the top of my list for the first
one hundred days of power to change the age to
sixteen of kids joining social media. So this morning, and
I know it's a long runway, but you've called it November,
legislation will change. I want you to match it. I
want you to match sixteen because that's what the people

(09:13):
are calling for. You ask them to sign the petition.
They did and they need you.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Now, 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.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
It is. But you know what, that's the technical side
of it.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
Now we want that's the real side of it.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
We need clear every amester that's.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
The real side of it. Yes, is getting it right,
and that is what we are determined.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
To do 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 a legal you
can you can't rob a bank, you can't steal a car,
you can't be on social media under the age of
sixteen because it's illegal. The Prime Minister has said, so.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
You can get the technological side of things right, but
if you still stay, if you stay at fourteen, Prime Minister,
it's not making a distant.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Saying we're going to stay at fourteen. Yeah, 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.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Well, this is a great step forward, Prime Minister. 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.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Leadership, absolutely, and that is something that we're prepared to do.
I mean there's 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

(11:03):
Chief Justice of the High Court to Peter Mallanawskas in
South Australia is points a way 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.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
One fantastic Let's get it to sixteen. Thank you, Prime Minister, Thank.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
You very much.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
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Speaker 1 (11:30):
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