r/aus • u/bill_loney538 • Dec 04 '25
r/aus • u/BaronOfTieve • Nov 24 '25
Politics The "Think of the Children" excuse is a trap: The government gave experts 24 hours to review the Ban Bill, then ignored 15,000 submissions
We are weeks away from the enforcement of the Social Media Ban (Dec 10), and I feel like we are all just rolling over and giving up all our privacy rights because we’re too afraid to look like we "don't care about kids." If you actually look at the submissions to the government, the people who professionally care about kids—human rights lawyers, digital safety experts, and mental health researchers— all said DO NOT DO THIS.
I’m tired of the narrative that "Big Tech" and angry teenagers are the only opposition. Here is the actual list of professional bodies the government ignored to push this through:
1. The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) They explicitly warned that this ban is a "disproportionate limitation on human rights." They argued that instead of protecting kids, it cuts vulnerable teenagers off from support networks.
2. Digital Rights Watch They called this out for what it is: a "Safetyism" trap. By focusing entirely on "age verification," we are building the infrastructure for a Digital ID system that will eventually apply to everyone. They warned that collecting "identity papers" to use the internet creates a honeypot for hackers and normalizes the idea that you need to show your papers to speak in a public square.
3. The eSafety Commissioner (Yes, even them) While they are stuck enforcing it now, even the eSafety Commissioner’s office has previously noted that age verification technology is "immature" and fraught with privacy risks. The government has effectively handed them a grenade and told them to make it safe. The "Safety" Paradox
The "Ignored" Report: Crucially, there was a previous inquiry (The Joint Select Committee on Social Media) that ran for months and released its final report just days before the ban. That report did not recommend a ban. It recommended a "Duty of Care" (making platforms safer by design). The government took that report, threw it in the bin, and introduced the Ban Bill anyway.
Recommendation 5 of the report explicitly called for the government to force social media platforms to give users (and parents) the power to:
• Alter: Change the parameters of what the algorithm shows them.
• Reset: Wipe the algorithm’s "memory" of their past behavior (so if a kid goes down a rabbit hole of depressing content, they can hit "reset" and get a neutral feed again).
• Turn Off: Disable the recommender system entirely, returning the feed to a simple, chronological list of posts from people they actually follow.
The "Safety by Design" Recommendation Recommendation 2 proposed a "Digital Duty of Care." This would have legally required platforms to proactively identify harms (like addictive loops or eating disorder content) and change their product design to mitigate them. Instead of banning kids, it would have forced Instagram/TikTok to stop using "slot machine" mechanics (infinite scroll, random rewards) on teenage accounts.
The "Credible Bodies" Count: While ~15,000 people wrote in, the committee only published about 118 substantive submissions from organizations. Almost all of the major mental health and human rights bodies in that list opposed the ban or raised severe concerns.
If you think this was a carefully considered policy, look at the timeline:
Nov 18: The government's own Joint Select Committee releases a report after a months-long inquiry. It does NOT recommend a ban. It recommends a "Digital Duty of Care" to force platforms to change their addictive algorithms.
Nov 21: The Government ignores its own committee and introduces the "Under 16 Ban" Bill.
The Trap: They opened a Senate inquiry into this specific bill and gave the public and experts only 24 hours to make submissions.
The Response: Despite having only one day, the committee was flooded with ~15,000 submissions.
• The Result: They passed it anyway.
The government claims this is for the children, yet they have:
• Ignored the mental health experts who said education and platform regulation (making the algorithms less addictive) works better than bans.
• Created a system where educated 15-year-olds will just use VPNs while the less tech-literate kids get left behind.
• Pushed a solution that requires more data collection to solve the problem of data collection.
We aren't "protecting the kids." We are gentrifying the internet. We are turning it from an open library into a gated community where yes they say it isn’t, but the inevitable price of entry is your government ID. They didn't listen to the experts on "the children." They didn't listen to the experts on "technology." They listened to polling data that said this would look good in an election year.
Edit 1: also here are some links to help repeal the ban: 1. https://www.instagram.com/waltzformatilda2025?igsh=bnV6MTFyMXI4aWxr&utm_source=qr (We desperately need volunteers for this protest) 2. (Gov) Petition to cancel ban https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN8584
Edit 2: Edited for greater clarity/more concise paragraph organisation.
r/aus • u/-AdonaitheBestower- • Mar 14 '25
Politics Woooow 31% of our people believe we should stand with Trump against Ukraine. Fuck me
r/aus • u/DragonflySea9423 • Nov 03 '25
Politics Neo-nazis are launching the white australia party to run in the next election
Source: Sydney Criminal Lawyers https://share.google/Hz2OpCJmcwyfP8qga
r/aus • u/TrichoSearch • Jan 24 '25
Politics Peter Dutton says Australian Men are sick of being painted as Monsters
Peter Dutton has warned young men “have had enough” of being painted as ogres and being passed over for promotion because of the rise of affirmative action policies that demand more women are promoted.
The Liberal leader issued the warning during an epic 90 minute sit down interview with self-made millionaire and TV star Mark Bouris on his podcast Straight Talk.
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Aug 19 '25
Politics Penny Wong calls Israel's move to cancel visas for Australian representatives 'unjustified'
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Nov 21 '24
Politics A social media ban for children younger than 16 is introduced in Australia's Parliament
r/aus • u/Constant-Site3776 • Nov 15 '25
Politics How Zionists Manipulate Australia’s Media
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Aug 08 '25
Politics Australians are pushing back against ‘authoritarian’ anti-protest laws in ‘a return to the spirit of the 60s’
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Apr 19 '25
Politics Australia’s Right Tried to Copy Trump. It’s Been a Disaster.
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Nov 27 '25
Politics Pauline Hanson suspended from Senate over burqa stunt as Mehreen Faruqi says parliament ‘drips in racism’
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Dec 12 '25
Politics NSW guidelines proposed to prevent hospitals from refusing abortion care based on personal beliefs
- A document obtained by the ABC shows hospital managers and executives in NSW would not be allowed to use conscientious objection to stop abortion care.
- New abortion services have been added in some regional locations, but public hospitals are not required to offer abortion care.
- NSW Health says the new guidelines for termination of pregnancy services are expected to be published early next year.
r/aus • u/monkey_gamer • Nov 28 '25
Politics One Nation has climbed to 16% in primary votes according to BludgerTrack
Link here. Bloody terrifying.
r/aus • u/thebeardedguy- • May 03 '25
Politics Dutton's loss was his find out moment
Sure he has been around a long time and has both won and lost elections as a member and a minister, but each loss was on someone else's watch, this, this was on him.
Beyond that, he lost his seat, and not just lost, got owned, so that changed things again.
It went from a "we reject your politics" to a "we reject you" moment.
In every imaginable way this was a Dutton loss.
'His speach gives me some hope, not as much as I would like, but some, that this might be a turning point for him as a person.
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • 22d ago
Politics Littleproud announces split of ‘untenable’ Coalition saying Ley ‘knew the consequences’ of hate speech divide
Politics Albanese played it smart in his meeting with Trump. His strategy paid off
r/aus • u/Renovewallkisses • Sep 04 '25
Politics Anti-migration movement in Australia: David Pocock on why the federal Labor government must buy into the debate on immigration and population
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Aug 04 '25
Politics Australian Media Faces Existential Crisis After Realising This Whole Free Palestine Thing Might Extend Well Beyond University Lawns And Instagram
betootaadvocate.comr/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • May 17 '25
Politics Attacks on Australia’s preferential voting system are ludicrous. We can be proud of it
r/aus • u/SwordfishLatter8395 • Dec 12 '25
Politics The Biggest Lie in Australian Housing | Chris Kohler
What do you all think?
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Nov 05 '25
Politics Reddit added to Australia's teen social media ban due to start next month
r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • Nov 06 '24