Interview - ABC Perth with Nadia Mitsopoulos
NADIA MITSOPOULOS, HOST: I do want to go to Anne Aly, who's the Federal youth Minister. She's the Member for Cowan. She's been listening to Tama Leaver this morning. And Anne Aly, I just wonder if you've been getting any feedback at all from the youth that you represent as the Minister.
DR ANNE ALY, MINISTER FOR YOUTH: Thanks, Nadia, and good morning to you and your listeners. And it's great to hear from Tama. I worked with him when I was at Curtin University, so it's great to hear his insights into this. Yes, indeed. We have been getting feedback on this from our youth steering committee, who've been actively involved in the consultations on the age verification. And what young people tell us is that they value social media for the connectivity and the good things that it brings them, just as Tama was saying. But they, they also are highly attuned to the disadvantages and the negative impacts of social media on mental health and on social and physical wellbeing. And they are as concerned about those negative impacts as we hear parents are concerned.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS: Do you concede, though, this could be difficult to implement? I mean, you know, verifying a child's age and also asking people potentially to put their child's ID online to prove that they are the age they say they are?
DR ANNE ALY: Indeed, the government concedes that it is difficult. That's why we are relying on the age verification trial. We're continuing to do research into this so that we can get it right. And we know it's not going to be perfect. But the question about whether or not social media has negative impacts on young people's mental health and on their social and physical wellbeing is non contentious. The question is, what is the government going to do about it? That's why we undertook the age verification trial and that's why we're going to be introducing this legislation based on the findings of that trial and other research.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS: But have you already made up your mind? I mean, regardless, the Prime Minister already saying, and then we'll introduce legislation. But you haven't even waited to see what the age verification trial comes up with.
DR ANNE ALY: Well, we haven't introduced the legislation yet. When the legislation is introduced, it will be based on the findings of that trial as well as research.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS: But if the trial says will be hard to implement, would you then reconsider?
DR ANNE ALY: Well, I don't think we need to shy away. We necessarily shy away from things that are hard to implement. Nadia, I think the government needs to take action on this. I think parents expect it. This is about the protection of young people. It is about ensuring that young people have a safe space. We've got a range of other programmes as well. I noticed that Tama spoke about digital literacy among young people and those programmes have been ongoing. And as an example, we've got a partnership with the Alannah and Madeline foundation that makes digital literacy programmes available for free for every school. That's a $6 million investment in this year's budget. So, we are doing all of those things. We've got information sheets for parents. We've quadrupled the esafety commissioner to ensure that the regulator has the resources to keep Australia safe online. And I think when I talk to parents as well as to young people, this is top of mind. This is top of mind for parents. As I said, it's non contentious that there are disadvantages for young people going online on social media and the impacts that that has on their mental health. The government needs to do something about it and that's exactly what we're doing.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS: What about education? Does there meet? You know, that's the other thing. There needs to be more education, not only for kids, but their parents as well.
DR ANNE ALY: Absolutely. And that's why we've got those measures that I mentioned before, the digital literacy programmes, the information sheets for parents, the quadrupling of the eSafety Commission, the guides for parents on how to do this. And I can say that a lot of parents don't know how to talk to their children about online safety. So, those resources are available for parents. And I would suggest to all your listeners out there who have concerns in this access, those guides, talk to your children, find out what they're doing. You know, if you, if you allow your, you wouldn't allow your eight year old or your ten year old to go out at night to a friend's house without knowing where they're going. You need to know where they are online as well.
NADIA MITSOPOULOS: I'll leave it there. Appreciate your time.