Live: Labor scraps controversial ministerial discretion in digital duty of care bill

Key Event

Anika Wells says she's dropped ministerial powers in Labor's digital duty of care bill to remove "stumbling blocks" that would prevent its passage through parliament.

Labor's removed controversial ministerial powers in the digital duty of care legislation which will be introduced to parliament today.

The online safety protections will require big tech companies to mitigate and protect under-18s from seeing harmful content on their platforms.

It will also allow people to opt out of the social media algorithm servers used by social media companies.

Speaking to Channel Nine, Wells says she has been speaking with the Greens and expects the bill to pass parliament before the end of the year.

"It has been a clear stumbling block for other political parties. They wanted parliament to have that scrutiny so what will happen now is I will bring in an amendment to the Online Safety Act when I feel that we need to declare a serious harm and the parliament will consider it," Wells says.

Labor MP Jodie Belyea has called on her own government to extend the application time for the national redress scheme by six months.

Currently, the scheme will stop taking applications on June 30, 2027 despite thousands more claims are anticipated to be lodged before then.

The scheme provides support and compensation for people who experienced institutional child sexual abuse.

The member for the south-west Melbourne seat of Dunkley chairs the scheme's joint standing committee.

She told ABC Radio National Breakfast she wants the scheme to continue beyond its legislated closure date of June 2028 until all applications are completed.

"The committee tabled the report in parliament yesterday, I'll be meeting with the minister Tanya Plibersek to talk about next steps," Belyea says.

The Australian Defence Force has confirmed it is investigating after a recording device was found in the cabin of a Navy ship.

The device was discovered on October 11, on HMAS Leeuwin while it was docked in Cairns. The ABC understands it was found in a female-only cabin.

Communications Minister Anika Wells has told ABC News Breakfast the digital duty of care addresses the harms of tech-facilitated gender abuse.

"This is horrible, and I really feel for all the people who are on that ship who are learning this and the people who may have been victims of this act," Wells says.

"I would say you deserve to be safe in your workplace and the rise of tech facilitated abuse, particularly upon women like you're saying is horrific."

Communications Minister Anika Wells says she has met with Meta's global head of safety yesterday to urge the company not to livestream an execution in the US.

Last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan would be available for the public to watch.

But US media reports President Donald Trump is debating whether to call off the live stream of the execution.

Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Wells says the eSafety commission has written big tech companies it expects it not to livestream the execution.

"I met with Meta, the vice-president and global head of safety of Meta yesterday and made that point directly. We will work together with companies like Meta to do everything we can to make sure Australians don't have to see this," Wells says.

Anika Wells says the government's digital duty of care bill will place the onus of responsibility on big tech companies.

Labor will be introducing its digital duty of care bill to parliament today. It will require big tech companies to mitigate and protect under 18 users from harmful content on their platforms.

The government's legislation will also give social media users the ability to opt out of the social media algorithm.

But Labor has dropped controversial ministerial powers in the legislation which would have given the minister the power to designate harms.

Asked on ABC News Breakfast if she's worried health information could be caught up in the law, the communications minister says the bill isn't targeting that.

"What I'm worried about is the serious harm that Australian children are suffering on online services, because at the moment we have tech companies live testing their products on Australians, without ever having to go through a basic safety standard," Wells says.

"It's basic safety standards that every other industry is already subject to it."

Anika Wells says the government's digital duty of care bill will place the onus of responsibility on big tech companies.

Labor will be introducing its digital duty of care bill to parliament today. It will require big tech companies to mitigate and protect under 18 users from harmful content on their platforms.

The government's legislation will also give social media users the ability to opt out of the social media algorithm.

Asked on ABC News Breakfast if she's worried health information could be caught up in the law, the communications minister says the bill isn't targeting that.

"What I'm worried about is the serious harm that Australian children are suffering on online services, because at the moment we have tech companies live testing their products on Australians, without ever having to go through a basic safety standard," Wells says.

"It's basic safety standards that every other industry is already subject to it."

Communications Minister Anika Wells will make the case for Labor's proposed new digital safety laws, which would allow Australians to turn off their algorithms on social media.

The "My Feed, My Way" proposal giving people aged over 16 control over what they see in their social media feed is part of the broader digital duty of care Labor is introducing to parliament.

In a speech to the National Press Club later today, Wells will urge the Coalition and crossbench to back the bill arguing the issue came down to a "simple question".

"Do you really think that big tech is on the side of worried parents and vulnerable kids … or are they on the side of their shareholders?" she will say.

Wells will argue Australia must shift the "burden" from the "shoulders of victims to the companies that are creating the environments where harms occur".

Under the new laws, tech platforms would be required to take steps to protect Australians under 18 from content and features that are harmful.

This will include content about eating disorders, glorifying crime or dangerous stunts, pornography or hostile ideas about women and gender equality, as well as abuse and bullying.

For adults the duty is confined to "serious harms" that are already criminal offences like sexual violence.

Key Event

Labor has scrapped controversial ministerial powers in proposed new online safety laws and beefed up protections for news content.

The digital duty of care, which would require technology companies to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harms on their platforms, is due to be introduced to parliament today.

Communications Minister Anika Wells has confirmed two key changes to the draft released last month, which she will outline in a speech to the National Press Club later today.

"In response to concerns we heard during the exposure draft consultation and to make this abundantly clear, we have removed the ministerial rule-making power to define new harms in the final bill," she will say.

New harms can instead be added by parliament through legislative amendment.

Wells has also clarified protections for journalists and news media so there is now a "carve-out" for professional news material.

Hello and welcome to our federal politics live blog! It's great to have you join us for the final sitting day of the sitting week.

I'm Josh Boscaini live from Parliament House in Canberra, here and ready to bring you all of today's federal politics news.

You know that digital duty of care bill you've been hearing about for the past few weeks? Well that will finally be introduced to parliament today.

However the government has scrapped controversial ministerial powers in the bill in a bid to help it get over the line in the upper house.

And if you missed it, there was a bit of shenanigans in the Senate yesterday afternoon. The upper house voted to discharge a bill to wind down private health insurance rebates for over-65s.

Labor has vowed to reintroduce the bill today, so we'll be keeping an eye out for that.

Let's get this show on the road!