Federal politics live: Government says it will not be 'bullied' to exempt YouTube from social media ban
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West Australian
5 hours ago
- West Australian
Reform roundtable countdown: Business leader calls for flexible thinking as government finalises agenda
A top business leader has called for unions to be more flexible and avoid positions that are simplistic and not constructive at next month's economic roundtable. The call from Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry head Andrew McKellar echoes Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who has said he wants everyone to approach the roundtable with an open mind, although he doesn't mind people being blunt and upfront with their views. It comes amid a slew of pre-roundtable discussions hosted by ministers to feed ideas into the main event being held on August 19-21. Dr Chalmers is preparing to issue a final round of invitations aimed at getting experts in specific areas, such as tax reform, in for one of the three days of talks. He's already invited 22 representatives of unions, business groups, the tech and banking sectors, and senior officials from Government bodies as the 'core' attendees at the summit. Mr McKellar said he was willing to take the Government's intentions for reform at face value. But he cautioned that contributions like that of the Australian Council of Trade Unions — which last week blamed poor managers for sluggish productivity — were simplistic and not constructive. 'The risk is that there will be a tendency to approach the agenda from … fixed starting points. I think we've got to try and break that down,' he told The West. 'Obviously, we were concerned with the sort of characterisation that the ACTU put forward last week, which I think was, was not in the spirit that we would expect. 'We do expect something more constructive than simply, you know, a critique that productivity ills are due to the failures of management.' The nation's peak union body released research last week showing that about two in five Australian workers reported feeling burnt out at work, and only about half thought there were enough staff in their workplace to get the job done. ACTU secretary Sally McManus said, 'Too many employers' had equated lifting productivity with pushing people to work harder for longer, leading to burnout. Mr McKellar acknowledged that, naturally, everyone would bring different priorities, but was optimistic there would be sufficient expertise to help people find common ground. 'When you see all the commentary that is now coming in and the ideas that are out there in the broader dialogue that's occurring in the lead up to the roundtable, then I think that's helping to sift what some of those priorities should be,' he said. Ministers are in the midst of running a series of consultations in their portfolios to also feed ideas into the reform roundtable. Industry Minister Tim Ayres will talk to people in the innovation and tech space on Friday and hold a second discussion on minerals processing and smelting next week. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil will host five roundtables next week, convening industry, innovators, unions, local government and State and Territory building, planning and housing ministers. Energy Minister Chris Bowen intends to get the key players in his sector in a room together next week as well, while Health Minister Mark Butler will ask for ideas on how to lift productivity in health and social care — some of the toughest areas to lift on traditional economic measures — on August 13. Resources Minister Madeleine King has held two sets of talks already with the sector and has more planned with unions and key stakeholders across Northern Australia. An infrastructure discussion earlier in July focused on supply chains and freight movement, while ongoing consultation on environmental laws and approvals processes will feed into the productivity discussion. Small Business Minister Anne Aly heard from business owners in a gathering at Parliament House last week. 'The top theme that regularly came up through the roundtable was the perennial issue of red tape,' she told The West. 'I look forward to continuing to work closely with the sector, and with my State and territory counterparts, to ensure small business is central in our thinking as we develop programs and policies that affect them.' The Productivity Commission will release the interim versions reports on the 'five pillars' for reform over the next fortnight, starting on Thursday, which it says will give the nation a blueprint for a switch to a 'growth mindset'. Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock, Productivity Commissioner Danielle Wood and Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson will lead discussions on each of the three days, focusing on economic resilience, productivity, and budget sustainability, respectively.
Sky News AU
11 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Communications Minister once hailed YouTube as a place for kids — now she appears ready to ban it
Communications Minister Anika Wells once fawned over YouTube as a way to entertain her young children — now she appears ready to ban it as a legal furore erupts in the tech world. Minister wells is considering banning children under 16 from YouTube, but just a few years ago she praised the video sharing platform as a means for a young parent to navigate the "parliament hustle". "How do I handle the parliament hustle? Sturdy baby gates and The Wiggles on YouTube," she wrote in December, 2022, at a time she was sports minister. Minister Wells appeared to confirm for the first time publicly that she would formally adopt a push from eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant to prohibit children from creating accounts on YouTube. 'The eSafety Commissioner made it clear in her advice to the Minister that the law relates to children under the age of 16 having their own social media accounts,' Minister Wells told 'eSafety's recommendation does not prevent children from watching videos like The Wiggles on YouTube Kids or on their parent's account.' Under this scenario, kids would still be able to access YouTube logged out, which means they would not be protected by Google's sophisticated parental controls. YouTube has argued this move would make the internet less safe, a clear contradiction with the original intent of the Act. A formal decision is expected as early as Thursday this week but the government has been criticised for confusion around the rollout of these new laws. And it isn't just parents confused by Labor's flip-flopping on the social media ban. The rushed implementation of the laws and the lack of industry clarity has infuriated multiple platforms involved in negotiations, leading to tense and highly complex legal discussions behind closed doors. TikTok is understood to have made a legal threat on constitutional grounds over the ban. TikTok denies this but in a submission to the government, the Chinese owned platform alleged the laws would be fundamentally unworkable and anti-competitive in nature, if YouTube was exempt. Labor appears to have listened to these warnings and could announce a major change to the child ban policy as early as next week. After learning Labor was preparing to U-turn on a pledge to exempt YouTube, Google also called in the lawyers. The video sharing platform argued the child ban breaches the implied constitutional protections Australians have to engage in political speech. In March, TikTok wrote a scathing submission to the government which focused almost entirely on lobbying for YouTube to also be banned. TikTok's submission alleged the laws were "unsupportable" and "anti-competitive" in nature, and accused Labor of reverse engineering legislation. "Excluding any major platform by name from the minimum age obligation on educative grounds is unsupportable without evidence," the submission said. "What is clear is that the Government has begun its analysis from the starting position that YouTube must be exempt and then attempted, half-heartedly, to reverse-engineer defensible supporting evidence. "Handing one major social media platform a sweetheart deal of this nature - while subjecting every other platform in Australia to stringent compliance obligations - would be illogical, anti-competitive, and short-sighted." TikTok also warned that an exemption for YouTube raised anti-competition legal issues which, it argued, had already been highlighted by the ACCC. 'That Google or any rational economic actor in its position would seek to lobby Government for favourable treatment is comprehensible. That the Government would accede to it, against the warnings of its own competition watchdog, is not,' the submission said. In a forward to the submission TikTok warned the government the laws "would not work" if YouTube was exempt. "For the reasons set out in this submission, we have grave concerns that the Rules, if implemented in their current form, would not work," TikTok said. "We are particularly concerned that carving out any major platform by name - in this case, YouTube - from the minimum age obligation would result in a law that is illogical, anti-competitive, and short-sighted." eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant was accused earlier this month of misleading Australians after her push to have children banned from the platform was not supported in her own research. It was revealed that even Ms Inman Grant's office used YouTube to educate children as part of her own publishing strategy, specifically targeting the demographic. In late 2022, while Ms Inman Grant was in charge of the body, a series of videos called 'eSafety Mighty Heroes' including characters such as Dusty the frilled neck lizard, River the sugar glider, Billie the bilby, and Wanda the echidna was released on the same day - content clearly published with the intent to educate children.
ABC News
12 hours ago
- ABC News
Tasmanian Liberals accused of breaching caretaker conventions over Marinus Link and TT-line borrowing limit
As votes continue to be counted and both major parties continue discussions with crossbenchers to form government following Tasmania's snap election, the government is being accused of breaching caretaker conventions. Tasmania's Labor opposition has claimed the government's handling of two policy decisions — an increase in the borrowing limit for ferry operator TT-Line and the yet-to-be-made decision on whether to proceed with the Marinus Link undersea power cable — have contravened caretaker conventions. The government said it would follow all relevant caretaker conventions and that it had briefed Labor on the TT-Line decision, and would consult with Labor on the Marinus decision "in due course". When the House of Assembly is dissolved for a general election, the government is placed in what is called a caretaker period. Caretaker conventions outline how the government should operate during the period. According to the guidelines, the conventions are "neither legally binding nor hard and fast rules" and they should be applied to individual cases with "sound judgement and common sense". Professor emerita Anne Twomey, a constitutional law expert at the University of Sydney, said the conventions were developed "as a matter of fairness". "The idea is that during that [caretaker] period, after parliament has been dissolved, where governments are no longer actively responsible to parliament because there's no parliament in existence, then they should be a lot more careful about what they do. "You don't want to bind a new government, which may have completely different policies, by entering into a whole lot of commitments immediately beforehand to make life difficult for them," Professor Twomey said. Professor Twomey said it "comes down to the people". "It's really a political matter as to how effective they are. So, it comes down to the people, particularly when they vote, in terms of deciding whether the government has behaved appropriately," she said. Under the guidelines, governments are encouraged to avoid making major policy decisions that are likely to commit an incoming government. However, this is not always possible, Professor Twomey said. "There is an additional principle that says, if you have to make a major decision in that period, then you should consult the other side as well and try to reach an agreed position," she said. The government does not require endorsement from the opposition during consultation. "Ultimately, it's the government that makes decisions. "But it's better to try and get some kind of agreement between both sides in order to progress matters that are significant and would have an impact on an incoming government," Professor Twomey said. Labor is calling on the government to release the business case for the Marinus Link undersea power cable project, saying that withholding it is a breach of caretaker conventions. Marinus would be a second electricity interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria. A decision by the Tasmanian, Victorian and federal governments on whether to proceed with the project is due by the end of July. A whole-of-state business case was provided to the government by Treasury in May. The government promised to release the case 30 days before its final investment decision, however said the release has been delayed due to the early election. Labor MLC Sarah Lovell said the premier needed to release the business case "as soon as possible". "These are major financial decisions that will be made by the government. "These are long-term decisions and under caretaker conventions one of the prerequisites is that decisions that are being made that will impact on future governments need [to have] all that information released to both the opposition and the government, and we're not seeing that from the premier," Ms Lovell said. On Saturday, Liberal MP Felix Ellis said Labor had not been briefed yet "because no final decision has been made" on Marinus Link. "We'll continue to work through the process. This is an important investment for our state, and we'll be updating the public as well as the opposition in due course," Mr Ellis said. State Energy Minister Nick Duigan also said on Saturday that "all relevant information will be publicly released" only once a decision on the project is finalised. Professor Twomey said the government did not have to be "undecided" before it consulted. "It's fair enough for a government to take a view as to what it wants to do before engaging in consultation," she said. "But if you're saying a decision means that's our final decision and we're not going to pay one iota of attention to anything you say, that would be rather pre-empting the consultation and making it pointless." At the weekend, the government agreed to support a temporary $410 million increase to Bass Strait ferry operator TT-Line's borrowing capacity. Treasurer Guy Barnett said the government received advice from Treasury on July 25 "recommending TT-Line's guaranteed borrowing limit be increased". "[Opposition treasury spokesperson] Josh Willie was briefed on July 26, and the decision was announced the same day," Mr Barnett said. Mr Willie said he received a call just over an hour before the decision was announced. "Jeremy Rockliff's idea of 'consultation' is a last-minute phone call. That's not consultation — that's a courtesy call after the decision had already been made. "When a major policy decision is being made during the caretaker period — especially one that would bind a future government — Labor must be consulted before the decision is made," Mr Willie said. Professor Twomey said caretaker conventions did not outline specific requirements for adequate consultation, rather that was "a matter for the relevant parties to decide". "Telling someone something an hour before you publicise it does seem to be perfunctory in terms of genuine consultation," she said. "As a general principle, that would be something that you would think would not be adequate consultation. "But, again, these are not binding rules. They're just conventions and it's a matter for the political parties to decide how they want to interpret them."
