November 18, 2025 • 12 mins
With Christmas shopping underway, new research reveals a hidden danger in affordable toys sold online.
We speak with CHOICE's Director of Campaigns, Rosie Thomas, about the investigation and why world-first Australian safety standards—introduced in 2022—do not apply to online marketplaces selling other businesses' products.
And in headlines today, Roblox will install age verification checks in three countries including Australia; The Victorian Liberals have left themselves just over 12 months to regroup after ditching Brad Battin as leader in favour of first-term MP Jess Wilson; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is applauding the UN approval of the Trump administration's blueprint to secure and govern Gaza; The LA County Sheriff's Department is investigating a new sexual battery allegation against Sean "Diddy" Combs
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CREDITS
Hosts: Taylah Strano & Claire Murphy
Guest: Rosie Thomas, CHOICE Director of Campaigns
Audio Producer: Lu Hill
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to Amma mea podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is MMA MIA's twice daily
news podcast, The Quickie. As we head into the busiest
shopping season of the year, many of us are turning
to online marketplaces for bargain toys, but not everything in
that cart is as safe as it seems. New research
reveals a hidden danger inside some of the most affordable
(00:35):
kids toys. Before we get there, here's Claire Murphy with
the latest from the Quicki news room for Wednesday, November nineteen.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Thanks Taylor. Parents of kids under sixteen are frustrated that
the details around what exactly will happen when the social
media band kicks in on December ten remain unclear. The
government initiative will require platforms to deactivate existing accounts held
by any underage users, with any news signups required to
undergo an age verification check. The age verification process may
(01:03):
include facial analysis, behavioral data, and other ID checks, with
a review process in place for any accounts that are
incorrectly flagged as being under sixteen. Some platforms say they
will archive these accounts until the user turn sixteen, when
they can be reactivated. However, the advice is for any
users to download any data they want to keep before
December ten, just in case it's lost in that time.
(01:25):
The platforms impacted by the ban include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok,
YouTube and Reddit. While gaming platform Roadblocks has been excluded.
They have announced that they will also introduce an age
verification system in three countries, including Australia. The new system
requires anyone who wants to privately message another player to
verify their age. Roadblocks has recently announced they plan to
(01:48):
user company called Persona to estimate a player's age by
making them take a selfie video, which is deleted after
the age check is completed. Roadblocks currently doesn't allow anyone
under thirteen to chat privately with other players without parental permission,
and their chats aren't encrypted so they can be moderated
and monitored. The Victorian Liberals have left themselves just over
(02:08):
twelve months to regroup after ditching Brad Batten as leader
yesterday in favor of first term MP Jess Wilson. Miss
Wilson has promised a campaign on the cost of living,
budget debt, crime, health and home ownership to end Labour's
three term government next November The thirty five year old
became the first woman to leave the Victorian Liberals in
the party's history, and is viewed as a bigger challenger
(02:29):
to Labour led by Premier Justin to Allen. Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was applauding the United Nations approval of
the Trump Administration's blueprint to secure and govern Gaza, while
Hamas has rejected the plan, calling it a foreign instrument
of control. The resolution that passed the UN Security Council
on Monday authorizes an international Stabilization force to provide security
(02:52):
in war devastated Gaza, approves a transitional authority called the
Board of Peace, to be overseen by President Donald Trump,
and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state,
although it doesn't clearly outline a time frame for that process.
Netnyahu's office wrote on social media yesterday, we believe that
President Trump's plan will lead to peace and prosperity because
(03:14):
it insists upon full demilitarization, disarmament, and the deradicalization of Gaza.
Hammas said on Monday, though, that the force's mandate including disarmament,
strips it of its neutrality and turns it into a
party of the conflict in favor of the occupation. Saying
the resolution did not meet the level of the Palestinian
people's political and humanitarian demands and rights, Hammas demanded that
(03:35):
any international force be under UN supervision, deploy only at
Gaza's borders, to monitor the ceasefire, and operate exclusively with
Palestinian institutions. The Palestinian authority welcomed the resolution and said
it was ready to immediately implement it. On the ground,
it said it would cooperate with the US, the UN,
and other Arab and European states. The La County Sheriff's
(03:57):
Department is investigating a new sexual battery allegation against hip
hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs. Combs, who are serving a
four year prison sentence on prostitute related convictions, has been
accused by a male music producer and publicist who says
he was asked to come to a photoshoot in twenty twenty,
where he claims Combs exposed himself while performing a sex
act and told the accuser to assist. Combs then allegedly
(04:20):
tossed a dirty shirt at the man. The accuser, whose
name is redacted in the police report said he didn't
tell anyone for several years because he felt embarrassed. The
La Sheriff's Department said it received the official copy of
the report from the Florida Department on Friday and will
be investigating the allegations. The report also details an incident
from March twenty twenty one in which the accuser claims
(04:42):
two men covered his head before Combs came into the
room and called him a snitch.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Thanks Claire. Next the loophole allowing unsafe toys to be
sold online. Look, I don't mean to alarm you, but
Christmas is just thirty seven days away. If you've got
young folks in your life, and, like many of us,
(05:08):
are trying to do prezzy shopping without having to take
out alone, you might be looking online for affordable options
to pop under the tree this year. But, as with
everything online, purchasing toys from web based marketplaces doesn't come
without risks. Consumer advocacy group Choice has just released the
findings from their latest investigation into button battery based products
(05:32):
from various online retailers. The TLDR well many stores are
offering up products with less than safe features when it
comes to securing the batteries. Now, this raises concerns. As
of twenty twenty three children in Australia have died from
ingesting those little round batteries, while the Australian Competition and
(05:52):
Consumer Commission estimates around one child every month is seriously injured.
World First laws came into effect in Australia back in
twenty twenty two, introducing safety standards around these types of products.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
But the kicker is.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
That don't actually apply to online marketplaces selling other businesses products.
So what are you supposed to do when trawling for
those Christmas presents this year? To explain more, were joined
by Choices Director of Campaigns Rosie Thomas. Rosie, tell me
about this Choice investigation. What were you looking for and
where did you go looking?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So we purchased twenty four toys containing button batteries from
popular online marketplaces and we found that seventeen of them
failed to comply with the mandatory button battery safety standard. Now,
these toys were on shan Ali Express, eBay and Amazon
(06:49):
and we found that they had serious safety failures. So
that's things like battery compartments that could be opened without
a tool, missing warning labels. And the screws for some
of those battery compartments weren't captive, so that means that
you could easily lose the screw when you're replacing the
battery and the toy.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
This is concerning obviously we're fast approaching Christmas and people
start doing their Christmas shopping. There'll be toys under the
tree to open on Christmas Day. So what are some
of the risks here if people are purchasing these products
and maybe a screw comes loose or you're able to
flick it open and get one of those batteries out.
What are we actually talking about here?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, it's a really good question and an easy thing
to lose sight of. And so button batteries can be
catastrophically harmful to small children when they are ingested, and
they are things that small children will often put in
their mouth because they're shiny and round. Now, tragically in
Australia three children have died from swallowing a button battery
(07:51):
and it's following those deaths and after years of advocacy
of many people, including Choice, that we finally introduced button
battery safety standards in Australia. Now there were world leading
standards designed to protect children from the dangers of button batteries.
But what we're finding is several years after those standards
(08:13):
were introduced, we can still find toys that don't comply
with the standard on the online marketplaces very easily.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah. So why is that Because the safety standards don't
necessarily apply to those online retailers, right, Yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
There's a bit of a gap in the law. What
that means is that it's the responsibility of the third
party sellers using these marketplaces to ensure the products comply.
On something like shan and Ali Express, even eBay or Amazon,
they're often small offshore operators that don't really care too
much about their reputations or compliance, and so that makes
(08:51):
it really hard for the AH Triple C or other
authorities to take any real enforcement action or do a
lot about them now a choice, we think that the
online marketplaces, they are all making money selling these products,
and so they should take responsibility for the safety of
what's on there, and so we're advocating for stronger safety
(09:12):
laws that would require all businesses, including the online marketplaces,
to do more to make sure the products are safe.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Nobody likes to be told that they're doing the wrong thing,
or they're maybe not being compliant. Once you ran these
tests identified the ones that were maybe at risk, what happened?
Did you reach out to the companies?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We did.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
We always do when we find unsafe products and hope
that companies will do the right thing. In this instance,
we got a range of responses, which was really interesting
in and of itself. Shan didn't respond to Choice at all,
so we don't know whether they've received it. They haven't
acknowledged it in any way. Ali Express responded, but they
(09:53):
rejected our findings as unsubstantiated, and then eBay and Amazon
responded reasonably promptly and confirmed that they've removed these products
from sale.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So that's the online space, But this kind of issues
still does exist in other types of retailers as well.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yes, that's absolutely right. Just last week we saw the
Wiggles m a yellow headband was recalled for button battery issues.
And over the years, I know the h PLC has
taken I think City Beach, one of the surf retailers
through the courts as well for failures around button battery safety.
So you're absolutely right, it's not just an online marketplace issue,
(10:33):
but the difference is when it comes to the bricks
and mortar stores and the local stores, the ah PLEC
does have the tools and the powers to do something
about it, and that's why we hear about things like
recalls for those other products. Whereas the online marketplaces, there
does seem to be a gap in the law, and
that's why we're advocating for stronger laws to close that gap.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So where does this leave shoppers or I guess parents
who are looking to buy those Christmas presents. Obviously, the
allure of places like things online marketplace and retailers is
that they are more affordable and you can get more
bang for your buck. It can go further, you can
put more under the tree, but you also maybe run
the risk of some of these other issues that you've identified.
(11:15):
So what advice do you have for them?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
We very much understand that it's an expensive time of
year and parents might be tempted by the cheaper options
on these online marketplaces. Our advice is that when it
comes to toys, baby products, or really anything where safety
really matters, we recommend avoiding the cheap online sellers because
(11:38):
time and time again that is where we find the
products that fail to meet the safety standards.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with
us today. The Quikie is produced by me Tail Strano,
Lario Brophy, and Claire Murphy, with audio production by Lou Hill.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Muma. Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and wars
ortters that this podcast is recorded on
You're listening to Amma mea podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is MMA MIA's twice daily
news podcast, The Quickie. As we head into the busiest
shopping season of the year, many of us are turning
to online marketplaces for bargain toys, but not everything in
that cart is as safe as it seems. New research
reveals a hidden danger inside some of the most affordable
(00:35):
kids toys. Before we get there, here's Claire Murphy with
the latest from the Quicki news room for Wednesday, November nineteen.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Thanks Taylor. Parents of kids under sixteen are frustrated that
the details around what exactly will happen when the social
media band kicks in on December ten remain unclear. The
government initiative will require platforms to deactivate existing accounts held
by any underage users, with any news signups required to
undergo an age verification check. The age verification process may
(01:03):
include facial analysis, behavioral data, and other ID checks, with
a review process in place for any accounts that are
incorrectly flagged as being under sixteen. Some platforms say they
will archive these accounts until the user turn sixteen, when
they can be reactivated. However, the advice is for any
users to download any data they want to keep before
December ten, just in case it's lost in that time.
(01:25):
The platforms impacted by the ban include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok,
YouTube and Reddit. While gaming platform Roadblocks has been excluded.
They have announced that they will also introduce an age
verification system in three countries, including Australia. The new system
requires anyone who wants to privately message another player to
verify their age. Roadblocks has recently announced they plan to
(01:48):
user company called Persona to estimate a player's age by
making them take a selfie video, which is deleted after
the age check is completed. Roadblocks currently doesn't allow anyone
under thirteen to chat privately with other players without parental permission,
and their chats aren't encrypted so they can be moderated
and monitored. The Victorian Liberals have left themselves just over
(02:08):
twelve months to regroup after ditching Brad Batten as leader
yesterday in favor of first term MP Jess Wilson. Miss
Wilson has promised a campaign on the cost of living,
budget debt, crime, health and home ownership to end Labour's
three term government next November The thirty five year old
became the first woman to leave the Victorian Liberals in
the party's history, and is viewed as a bigger challenger
(02:29):
to Labour led by Premier Justin to Allen. Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was applauding the United Nations approval of
the Trump Administration's blueprint to secure and govern Gaza, while
Hamas has rejected the plan, calling it a foreign instrument
of control. The resolution that passed the UN Security Council
on Monday authorizes an international Stabilization force to provide security
(02:52):
in war devastated Gaza, approves a transitional authority called the
Board of Peace, to be overseen by President Donald Trump,
and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state,
although it doesn't clearly outline a time frame for that process.
Netnyahu's office wrote on social media yesterday, we believe that
President Trump's plan will lead to peace and prosperity because
(03:14):
it insists upon full demilitarization, disarmament, and the deradicalization of Gaza.
Hammas said on Monday, though, that the force's mandate including disarmament,
strips it of its neutrality and turns it into a
party of the conflict in favor of the occupation. Saying
the resolution did not meet the level of the Palestinian
people's political and humanitarian demands and rights, Hammas demanded that
(03:35):
any international force be under UN supervision, deploy only at
Gaza's borders, to monitor the ceasefire, and operate exclusively with
Palestinian institutions. The Palestinian authority welcomed the resolution and said
it was ready to immediately implement it. On the ground,
it said it would cooperate with the US, the UN,
and other Arab and European states. The La County Sheriff's
(03:57):
Department is investigating a new sexual battery allegation against hip
hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs. Combs, who are serving a
four year prison sentence on prostitute related convictions, has been
accused by a male music producer and publicist who says
he was asked to come to a photoshoot in twenty twenty,
where he claims Combs exposed himself while performing a sex
act and told the accuser to assist. Combs then allegedly
(04:20):
tossed a dirty shirt at the man. The accuser, whose
name is redacted in the police report said he didn't
tell anyone for several years because he felt embarrassed. The
La Sheriff's Department said it received the official copy of
the report from the Florida Department on Friday and will
be investigating the allegations. The report also details an incident
from March twenty twenty one in which the accuser claims
(04:42):
two men covered his head before Combs came into the
room and called him a snitch.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Thanks Claire. Next the loophole allowing unsafe toys to be
sold online. Look, I don't mean to alarm you, but
Christmas is just thirty seven days away. If you've got
young folks in your life, and, like many of us,
(05:08):
are trying to do prezzy shopping without having to take
out alone, you might be looking online for affordable options
to pop under the tree this year. But, as with
everything online, purchasing toys from web based marketplaces doesn't come
without risks. Consumer advocacy group Choice has just released the
findings from their latest investigation into button battery based products
(05:32):
from various online retailers. The TLDR well many stores are
offering up products with less than safe features when it
comes to securing the batteries. Now, this raises concerns. As
of twenty twenty three children in Australia have died from
ingesting those little round batteries, while the Australian Competition and
(05:52):
Consumer Commission estimates around one child every month is seriously injured.
World First laws came into effect in Australia back in
twenty twenty two, introducing safety standards around these types of products.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
But the kicker is.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
That don't actually apply to online marketplaces selling other businesses products.
So what are you supposed to do when trawling for
those Christmas presents this year? To explain more, were joined
by Choices Director of Campaigns Rosie Thomas. Rosie, tell me
about this Choice investigation. What were you looking for and
where did you go looking?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So we purchased twenty four toys containing button batteries from
popular online marketplaces and we found that seventeen of them
failed to comply with the mandatory button battery safety standard. Now,
these toys were on shan Ali Express, eBay and Amazon
(06:49):
and we found that they had serious safety failures. So
that's things like battery compartments that could be opened without
a tool, missing warning labels. And the screws for some
of those battery compartments weren't captive, so that means that
you could easily lose the screw when you're replacing the
battery and the toy.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
This is concerning obviously we're fast approaching Christmas and people
start doing their Christmas shopping. There'll be toys under the
tree to open on Christmas Day. So what are some
of the risks here if people are purchasing these products
and maybe a screw comes loose or you're able to
flick it open and get one of those batteries out.
What are we actually talking about here?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, it's a really good question and an easy thing
to lose sight of. And so button batteries can be
catastrophically harmful to small children when they are ingested, and
they are things that small children will often put in
their mouth because they're shiny and round. Now, tragically in
Australia three children have died from swallowing a button battery
(07:51):
and it's following those deaths and after years of advocacy
of many people, including Choice, that we finally introduced button
battery safety standards in Australia. Now there were world leading
standards designed to protect children from the dangers of button batteries.
But what we're finding is several years after those standards
(08:13):
were introduced, we can still find toys that don't comply
with the standard on the online marketplaces very easily.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah. So why is that Because the safety standards don't
necessarily apply to those online retailers, right, Yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
There's a bit of a gap in the law. What
that means is that it's the responsibility of the third
party sellers using these marketplaces to ensure the products comply.
On something like shan and Ali Express, even eBay or Amazon,
they're often small offshore operators that don't really care too
much about their reputations or compliance, and so that makes
(08:51):
it really hard for the AH Triple C or other
authorities to take any real enforcement action or do a
lot about them now a choice, we think that the
online marketplaces, they are all making money selling these products,
and so they should take responsibility for the safety of
what's on there, and so we're advocating for stronger safety
(09:12):
laws that would require all businesses, including the online marketplaces,
to do more to make sure the products are safe.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Nobody likes to be told that they're doing the wrong thing,
or they're maybe not being compliant. Once you ran these
tests identified the ones that were maybe at risk, what happened?
Did you reach out to the companies?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We did.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
We always do when we find unsafe products and hope
that companies will do the right thing. In this instance,
we got a range of responses, which was really interesting
in and of itself. Shan didn't respond to Choice at all,
so we don't know whether they've received it. They haven't
acknowledged it in any way. Ali Express responded, but they
(09:53):
rejected our findings as unsubstantiated, and then eBay and Amazon
responded reasonably promptly and confirmed that they've removed these products
from sale.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So that's the online space, But this kind of issues
still does exist in other types of retailers as well.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yes, that's absolutely right. Just last week we saw the
Wiggles m a yellow headband was recalled for button battery issues.
And over the years, I know the h PLC has
taken I think City Beach, one of the surf retailers
through the courts as well for failures around button battery safety.
So you're absolutely right, it's not just an online marketplace issue,
(10:33):
but the difference is when it comes to the bricks
and mortar stores and the local stores, the ah PLEC
does have the tools and the powers to do something
about it, and that's why we hear about things like
recalls for those other products. Whereas the online marketplaces, there
does seem to be a gap in the law, and
that's why we're advocating for stronger laws to close that gap.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So where does this leave shoppers or I guess parents
who are looking to buy those Christmas presents. Obviously, the
allure of places like things online marketplace and retailers is
that they are more affordable and you can get more
bang for your buck. It can go further, you can
put more under the tree, but you also maybe run
the risk of some of these other issues that you've identified.
(11:15):
So what advice do you have for them?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
We very much understand that it's an expensive time of
year and parents might be tempted by the cheaper options
on these online marketplaces. Our advice is that when it
comes to toys, baby products, or really anything where safety
really matters, we recommend avoiding the cheap online sellers because
(11:38):
time and time again that is where we find the
products that fail to meet the safety standards.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with
us today. The Quikie is produced by me Tail Strano,
Lario Brophy, and Claire Murphy, with audio production by Lou Hill.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Muma. Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and wars
ortters that this podcast is recorded on
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