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Peter Dutton has promised parents their under-age children would be barred from online porn, sports betting and alcohol delivery services under an age-verification plan to guard against dangers on the web.
The opposition leader will on Friday seize on Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s reluctance to immediately commit to minimum age rules by committing a future Coalition government to a $6.7 million trial of the technology.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the Coalition wants to help parents protect their kids from damaging online content.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Rowland rejected the advice of eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant earlier this year to create a pilot age-verification program. In an August letter to Inman Grant, reported in this masthead on Thursday, Rowland said it could “unnecessarily distract industry from developing and delivering new and strengthened codes [of conduct]” .
The government says it may enact a pilot age-verification program after a years-long industry codes process.
Dutton will attempt to pressure Rowland on the issue when he unveils the election commitment alongside advocacy groups Bravehearts, the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and Collective Shout.
“There are growing concerns of how extreme, offensive and denigrating online images can normalise unacceptable behaviour, particularly in relation to women and girls,” Dutton said in a written statement.
“Families spend an increasing amount of time online. We want to help parents protect their kids from the damaging impacts this sort of content has on our kids.”
Instead of committing to an age-verification trial, the government opted to let the adult entertainment industry maintain standards defined in new codes that Rowland claims would boost children’s safety, but which some children’s advocates say would be lengthy and ineffectual.
The commission in March recommended a trial of age-assurance technologies covering online pornography, online wagering and online alcohol sales.
“This reflects international experience, similar state initiatives such as Service NSW’s digital age-verification pilot and aligns with technical advice,” it said in a report at the time.
Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman referred to a letter signed by dozens of experts and advocates, reported in this masthead in September, which accused the government of putting vested interests ahead of child safety by not committing to age-verification rules.
“Labor’s decision to oppose an age-verification trial was criticised by more than 45 top child and women’s safety leaders who wrote to the prime minister and minister,” he said.
Coleman will introduce a private member’s bill into parliament on Monday seeking to amend the Online Safety Act to carry out a trial.
The announcement represents the second policy area in which the opposition has tried to outflank Rowland after the opposition promised a sports-betting clampdown earlier this year.
Rowland’s office was contacted for comment.
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