Get Involved - Parliament

Social Media

Published on: August 2024

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-144178

Social Media

Mr MARK SPEAKMAN (Cronulla) (17:02:27):

I move:

That this House:

(1)Recognises the correlation and strong evidence of causal connection between declining mental health in young people and their growing use of social media.

(2)Notes that over 114,000 people have signed the 36 Months petition to raise the legal age of social media access to 16.

(3)Supports raising the legal age of access to social media from 13 to 16.

(4)Calls on the New South Wales Government and Federal Government to work together to implement this much-needed change by July 2025.

Social media has changed how humans interact with each other on an unprecedented scale. In just over a decade, smartphones have become a fixture in daily life, a portal to what seems like constant connectivity and engagement. In many respects, that has brought people closer together. But the growth of social media is a double‑edged sword. In some cases, it has outright replaced many of the face-to-face interactions we used to take for granted and, in others, it has turned personal experiences into commodities whose value is determined by others' likes and reactions. At its worst, we hear horrific stories of cyberbullying, harassment and posts promoting self-harm, among other things, that young people have experienced.

New York TimesThe Anxious Generation

By all accounts, young people are most affected by the downsides. Over the winter recess I read what I believe should be compulsory reading for all members in this place. A number one bestseller, Jonathan Haidt's describes how a great rewiring of childhood and adolescence has resulted in a sudden and very large upturn in mental illness seen across the western world. As one introduction to the book puts it:

Haidt shows how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood … got rewired. As teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, time online soared, including time spent comparing oneself to a vast pool of others. Time engaging face to face with friends and family plummeted, and so did mental health.

For example, from 2010 to 2020 the rate at which Australians aged 12 to 24 were kept in hospitals overnight for mental health reasons increased by 81 per cent for girls and 51 per cent for boys. Recent United States data shows that 57 per cent of teenage girls now say that they experience persistent sadness or hopelessness, up from 36 per cent in 2011. Haidt argues convincingly that the loss of play-based childhood and its replacement with a phone‑based childhood unsuitable for human development is the source of increased mental distress among teenagers.

He identifies four fundamental ways in which a phone-based childhood disrupts development: social deprivation, with time with friends in face-to-face settings plummeting; sleep deprivation, in both quantity and quality; attention fragmentation, with constant notifications meaning adolescents rarely have five or 10 minutes to think without interruption; and addiction, with the dopamine release pleasurable but not satisfying and making the addict want more of what triggered the release. A 2020 study found that the strength of correlation between social media use and wellbeing for all age groups and genders is broadly stronger than the correlation between childhood lead exposure and adult IQ. Parents of younger children I have spoken with describe the endless streams of likes, buzzes and quasi‑validation as a siren song that overtakes other pursuits, including schoolwork, athletics and socialising.

This is not a moral issue; this is a health issue. The response to these trends cannot simply be that parents should be better supported to protect their children. Social media has become a norm for younger people, so restricting individuals' access would likely cause isolation from friends and peers. It means we need a cohort‑wide response. Across the world we are seeing different policy responses to protect our young children. In 2023 the European Union, for example, introduced the Digital Services Act, which forbids platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat from targeting children with personalised advertisements. Eton College in England has recently required that students only use basic Nokia bricks, without access to the metaverse. Those efforts are valuable, but they only really scratch the surface of the problem of the rewiring of childhood.

That is why I strongly support the 36 Months campaign. I commend Michael Wipfli and Rob Galluzzo, the founders of the campaign, for starting this important conversation in Australia. Over 114,000 people have signed the petition, calling for raising the minimum age for signing up to social media contracts from 13 to 16. I also acknowledge, with deep sadness, the advocacy of Mr Robb Evans, who is in the gallery and who lost his daughter Liv to suicide at just 15 years old after she battled anorexia. The campaign comes from the commonsense and evidence‑based position that younger users are better off with three more years to mature and develop their offline identities beforehand so they are better equipped to handle the challenge of social media when they eventually do sign up. Our kids deserve the best start in life. By supporting this campaign, we can help create a healthier, happier future for the next generation.

Mr GREG WARREN (Campbelltown) (17:08:31):

I am delighted to make a contribution to this public interest debate. I thank the Leader of the Opposition, and member for Cronulla for moving the motion in the House. It is a matter of public interest because it is in all our interests to look after our kids. Ultimately, that is what is set to be achieved by addressing this matter. It is of a serious nature. I do not just say that as a parent; I say that as someone who gets around the community, and who has friends with children who have had issues and continue to have issues, particularly around the outlandish behaviours we sometimes see on social media.

We are all adults here, but let us be real: It affects our kids in a very different way and we must protect them. The Government supports the motion in principle and gives it all regard. We have not determined the minimum age as yet; that is under review. I am advised that that is part of the work of the Government and a determination is imminent. For the benefit of those in the Speaker's gallery, who I welcome to the New South Wales Parliament, I say that members work together in this place because that is how best outcomes are achieved. This is one of those serious issues on which we must work together. A number of steps will be put in place to address it. One of them is a social media summit that will be co-hosted by New South Wales and South Australia. The summit will inform the design and delivery of a range of policies, programs and resources to address the challenges posed by social media.

The key areas of focus include the impacts of social media on children and young people, online safety and social media's role in disinformation and misinformation, addressing online hate and extremism, and how social media is changing the way government delivers services. I return to what I said initially: We must put in place measures and provisions to protect our children because social media poses a danger to their health. The member for Cronulla rightly stated that it is a health issue. I would suggest that this it one of the most serious social challenges that parents face in society. I often see the commentary on social media and I have heard terrible stories through my electorate office, as I am sure many colleagues have, irrespective of which side of the political aisle they are on.

All members are well connected with their communities. We are listening to them and we have heard a lot about this problem, but it is getting worse. Thugs are out there using social media platforms to do wrong. Members use social media because we must tell people what we do. The reality is that if we do not tell them what we do, they will think we are doing nothing. But we follow each other's social media pages and, by and large, everyone is very respectful. There is politics, of course—one would expect that—but nothing along personality lines or personal views or anything like that. That is appropriate because we must set the standard. Adults must set the standard. We must put protective measures in place, but members of this great Parliament—the oldest Parliament in the country—must set the example and ensure that whatever we do is consistent with what we would expect our children and young people to do.

Children follow our example. Politicians behaving badly—I am not suggesting anyone in this Chamber behaves badly because, as I said, we are well behaved and pretty respectful—indicates that such behaviour is okay. But we know it is not okay. The summit will be a very good step. It is the first summit of its kind. I commend the Premier for consulting with his counterpart in South Australia and putting the steps in place to hold the summit. Ultimately, it is designed to provide opportunities to address social media harms within educational settings. The Government has already taken the very important step of banning mobile phones at school, but there is much more to do. We have not determined the ages that will apply. But I believe the main priority is that, while a lot of matters should be discussed, nothing should be discussed more than the provisions that we must introduce to protect our kids.

Ms KELLIE SLOANE (Vaucluse) (17:13:42):

I acknowledge the parents in the gallery—the mums, dads and carers—who are here today because they are fighting a battle that seems so big, foreign, insurmountable and new to so many of us. It is a battle for the health, safety and, importantly, happiness of our kids. In particular, I acknowledge Robb Evans in the Speaker's gallery and thank him for bravely sharing his story. Liv would have been 17 on Monday. Our hearts break for Robb. I thank him for using Liv's story to advance a very important cause. I thank also the school principals who are here today and the social media influencers who are harnessing apps for good. I acknowledge organisations like UNICEF, which is represented in the gallery, as well as, very importantly, the many young people who have participated in this important conversation. I thank the team from 36 Months, who have impressively harnessed the collective power of parents across the country by garnering more than 114,000 petition signatures. The simple call to action reads:

In order to safeguard their digital future, we think 13yr olds should take another 36 months to get to know themselves before the world does.

Rob and Michael are the founders of 36 Months. Those two guys are committed to their kids' futures, but they are also campaigning for the sake of all kids and for a generation of young people whose childhoods have been upended. When I met with Rob and Michael, I did not want to just sign their petition; I wanted to give them a voice where our laws are made. Hopefully members have a broader influence and come together to commit to solutions. We must act because this is one of the most important issues of our time. We are witnessing a de‑programming of childhoods, where critical play-based development has been eroded, to a large extent, by phone‑based activities.

The Lancet

An alarming increase in anxiety and depression in young people correlates with the uptick in the use of social media apps on mobile phones. According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data, from 2008 to 2022 rates of self-harm nearly doubled for girls aged 15 to 19 and tripled for girls aged 14 and under. The headspace National Youth Mental Health Survey found that more than half of young people, or 57 per cent, believe their mental health is getting worse, and 42 per cent cited social media as the main cause for that decline. Data released today in found that mental ill-health in young people in Australia has risen by 50 per cent in the past 15 years, and one of the reasons for that is technology. As a mum of three teenagers, the subject is very close to my heart. I must admit, when my kids were little, I said, "I won't be one of those parents who lets their kids on social media. That won't be me." But, of course, fast-forward a few years and I am eating my words. But I know I am not alone.

A recent NSW Health report showed that 93 per cent of parents are trying to get their kids off those apps. We must help them. How can we allow our kids to use their mobile phones for the tools that are very important for social connection and learning, and balance that with keeping them safe and protecting them from social media apps that are incredibly harmful? Some of those media apps prey on vulnerability. They take a 13‑year‑old girl who is going through a critical stage of development, figuring herself out, and make her measure her sense of self‑worth through likes, shares and flame emojis. There are apps to make her skin look better, her teeth straighter and her body thinner. Those apps subject her to the scrutiny and judgement of strangers, then collect her data and feed that into an algorithm that takes her down a wormhole of despair.

We have all heard these dreadful stories, and it is bad for boys too. Boys are exposed to pornography before they hit puberty. There are so many issues. I am running out of time and I could talk for hours, but we must support this measure. We must provide parents with a circuit breaker. The New South Wales Government needs to lean on its Federal counterparts to bring about important change. We must stop the talkfests. We need action. Parents deserve it and we owe it to them.

Ms MARYANNE STUART (Heathcote) (17:18:45):

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for introducing the motion. As a parent and proud great-aunty in a family of four generations, I know only too well that we must protect our young people. That is why all of us are in this place. Yesterday we were talking about vaping with the same concern. I must bring to the attention of the House and the gallery that the Leader of the Opposition bringing this motion to the House is nothing short of hypocrisy from the Opposition and needs to be called out in the first instance.

Opposition members interjected

[.]

Members opposite ask why. I remind them that the Liberals and The Nationals opposed our ban on mobile phones in public schools. Former Minister Mitchell received a petition signed by 25,000 people calling for that ban yet the government of the day refused to implement it. Politics aside, this issue is too important not to move on. The Minns Labor Government has been clear about our concerns, and we agree in principle with the motion. We share parents' concerns about the impact of social media on young people. Substantial evidence shows that social media harms young people's mental health and safety. Our job is to step up to help protect young people. Almost one in 10 young people feels pressured to be online and answer messages when in class; more than one in six feels nervous or anxious when they do not have their digital devices near them. That is why the Minns Labor Government is already acting to protect our young people. In term 4 last year we banned mobile phones in all public schools in New South Wales.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Clayton Barr):

Order! The Clerk will stop the clock. If the member for Badgerys Creek does not cease interjecting, she will be directed to leave the Chamber.

Mrs Tanya Davies:

I will try my best.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Clayton Barr):

I will not tolerate interjections during this debate.

Ms MARYANNE STUART:

The mobile phone ban introduced by the Minns Labor Government is working. We have already had a significant decrease in phone-related incidents, a decrease in suspensions and in bullying, an increase in attendance, and an increase in the focus and engagement of students. Teachers are reporting increased teaching and learning time. Physical activity in playgrounds and on ovals has dramatically increased. Members would have seen in the media that the New South Wales Government is hosting a social media summit with the South Australian Government.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Clayton Barr):

Order! I direct the member for Badgerys Creek to remove herself from the Chamber under Standing Order 249A for the remainder of the debate.

Pursuant to standing order the member for Badgerys Creek left the Chamber at 17:21.

[]

Ms MARYANNE STUART:

That summit will explore formulating a public health response, whose importance has been mentioned, to minimise the harms caused by social media. We are establishing a $2.5 million fund for screen-related addiction to investigate the impacts of excessive screen time, video games and mobile phone use on young people and their learning. A new syllabus explicitly addresses online safety and cyberbullying. We need a consultative and measured approach based on evidence. Currently several reviews considering the increase of the age from 13 to 16 are underway. Former High Court Chief Justice Robert French is conducting a legal review on imposing a social media ban. The Federal Government is undertaking a trial on age verification technology.

Our Government's two-day social media summit will address the increasing harm of online platforms to children and young people. Scheduled for October 2024, the summit will bring together senior officials, policymakers and academics, as well as representatives from other jurisdictions, leading social media platforms and digital technologies. They will look at the impacts of social media on children and young people, online safety, the role of social media in disinformation and misinformation, online hate and extremism, and how social media is changing how governments deliver services. They will explore themes including formulating a public health response to social media harm minimisation; opportunities to address social media harms within educational settings; and understanding the role of social media in identity, belonging and worldviews.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Clayton Barr):

Order! I direct the member for Oxley to remove himself from the Chamber until the end of this debate.

Pursuant to standing order the member for Oxley left the Chamber at 17:23.

[]

Ms MARYANNE STUART:

They will unpack links between extremism, misogyny and social media. The Premier said:

I hear from parents all the time – they are worried about their kids seeing something they can't unsee, online bullying, online predators, and the general increase in anxiety about what other friends say, do and show on their on social media.

We support the motion, but we make clear that there are ongoing reviews into the legality of raising the age for social media use. I thank the House.

Mr GURMESH SINGH (Coffs Harbour) (17:24:14):

I thank Rob and Michael from 36 Months and all of his supporters in the gallery today for bringing this petition to the House and to the Parliament. I especially thank Robb Evans for telling his deeply moving story. It goes to why we are speaking about this in this place. Social media has come a long way. In the mid‑2000s I was working in marketing and advertising in Sydney, around the time when the social media age was born. Initially it was a way to connect with friends and family, but it was limited to adults. Early on, people needed a university email address to sign up to Facebook, which automatically limited it to adults.

Stolen Focus

Corporate Australia quickly woke up to social media and, of course, to the opportunities. At the beginning it was not well understood, with many attempts to create viral marketing campaigns. Back in those early days that was knocked on the head because the owners were afraid of losing control. Over the past 15 years social media has spun completely out of control. The algorithms are designed by software engineers to engage users and to keep eyeballs on the screen. I focus today on what social media is doing to our young people's attention spans. Older people have also become social media addicts. I set a screen time limit every day for my own usage, so even someone in their very early 40s has to do that. We know that developing minds do not quite have the discipline of older minds. Over the winter break I read by Johann Hari. It delves into the issues that social media algorithms are creating for our attention spans and especially for the next generation. He writes:

The … reason we need to think about this subject is that this fracturing of attention isn't just causing problems for us as individuals — it's causing crises in our whole society. As a species, we are facing a slew of unprecedented tripwires and trapdoors like the climate crisis — and, unlike previous generations, we are mostly not rising to solve our biggest challenges. Why? Part of the reason, I think, is that when attention breaks down, problem-solving breaks down. Solving big problems requires the sustained focus of many people over many years. Democracy requires the ability of a population to pay attention long enough to identify real problems, distinguish them from fantasies, come up with solutions, and hold their leaders accountable if they fail to deliver them. If we lose that, we lose our ability to have a fully functioning society. I don't think it's a coincidence that this crisis in paying attention has taken place at the same time as the worst crisis of democracy since the 1930s. People who can't focus will be more drawn to simplistic authoritarian solutions and less likely to see clearly when they fail. A world full of attention-deprived citizens alternating between Twitter and Snapchat will be a world of cascading crises where we can't get a handle on any of them.

Our society's future will hinge on the ability for the next generation to think its way out of problems. But the feedback we are already getting from teachers is that attention spans are decreasing. The online world is addictive in general but social media even more so, because the software engineers in these organisations are A/B testing which set of conditions make users scroll for longer. They are designing the experience to be as addictive as possible. As someone who is very proud of a reel with nearly 200,000 views, I know that the hook for young people to do increasingly dangerous, illegal or damaging things to become the next viral sensation is increasing.

Another consideration is the digital footprint left behind. The teenage mind cannot comprehend future careers, and even adults are not immune. Seemingly innocent posts could be career-ending years or decades later. As a dad of someone on the cusp of this age, it is a real concern. As lawmakers, we limit the age for drinking, smoking and driving because they risk people's physical health. As lawmakers we must act now to protect the mental and psychosocial health of our young people. We need to raise the minimum age of social media to over 16. I commend 36 Months for bringing this petition to Parliament.

Mr TIM CRAKANTHORP (Newcastle) (17:29:15):

I contribute to this debate not only as the member for Newcastle but also as the father of four kids. Social media has caused an enormous amount of stress in my home, from phones being used at the dinner table, to my kids staying up far too late on a school night, to having to confiscate phones so that homework gets done. It is very clear that this is an issue not only for me and my kids but also for parents and teachers across the country. New South Wales teachers have been very vocal on the impact of phones and social media in schools for many years now. The Minns Government listened to them and in term four last year we banned mobile phones in all public schools in New South Wales.

But members opposite did not listen to the teachers. They raised the debate when they were in government and 25,000 people called on them to introduce the ban, and they refused. Comments were made that it is a sugar hit policy that does nothing. I can tell members that it has done something. Comments were made that the ban was fraught with danger. Danger of what? Maybe it was the danger of improving the education of our public school students and working conditions of our teachers.

In the Hunter one of our schools has seen a 70 per cent drop in phone-related suspensions. Our students are not only more engaged in the classroom but also physically in the classroom more. The 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment found that one in 10 students feel pressured to respond to messages and notifications while in class and more than one in six felt anxious if they did not have their phones on them. I have experienced that too when texting my kids and I get an unexpected message. I tell them they should be concentrating on their study, not texting me.

Since the mobile phone ban was introduced a teacher has told me that some of their students have confessed, uncool as it is, that they are grateful for the ban, purely because it has reduced the amount of stress they feel because they no longer have to reply to every message they receive. My wife is a public school teacher and she said the ban has made an enormous difference, particularly to sport and outdoor activities. My kids were shocked to realise they too supported the change once they realised they could focus a little bit more on their teachers and schoolwork. I will not complain about the flip-flops around this issue if we can get cross-party support for social media reform moving forward.

We often forget what life was like before social media, and with that we forget that it is still quite a new issue. For example, Facebook was established only 20 years ago. It is one year older than my eldest son, almost to the day. There is no denying social media has benefits. It helps me keep in touch with that same son, who is currently in Nepal. I miss him enormously, but at least I can contact him easily and get to see all his amazing adventures on Instagram. Social media helps MPs to keep their constituents informed of reforms, programs, grants and everything that we do here. We are very proud to have amongst us the social media king in the member for Heffron and his amazing number of likes. However, it is time that we strengthen our legislation and regulation surrounding social media, but it is crucial that we do it correctly.

Schools have provided a lot of positive feedback on the reforms that we have made to date. That is why this Government will host a two-day social media summit in October alongside the South Australian Government. This summit is dedicated to crafting and implementing policies and programs that shield young people from the harmful effects of social media. There will also be a focus on the dissemination of information and combating hate and extremism online. I have witnessed firsthand what happens when young people are radicalised by online hate groups. It has become an issue that I will forever fight against. Public consultation is currently open on this matter. I encourage everyone to have their say and complete the survey. I look forward to meeting with 36 Months advocates shortly after this debate. I thank the member for Vaucluse for arranging that event and I look forward to hearing directly from experts and fellow parents.

Ms JENNY LEONG (Newtown) (17:34:15):

I speak on behalf of The Greens on the motion. I put on record what we believe is a glaring omission in a lot of the debates that occur on this subject. One of the key things that we are missing in this debate—no offence to my colleagues in the Chamber—and indeed what we are missing in a lot of discussions, is the voice of young people. We often find ourselves in situations where we give our credentials on our devices. The New South Wales police chose to troll my Facebook page while I was a member of Parliament and pregnant with my daughter, so I have experienced the level of vitriol, vile behaviour and horrific trolling. I understand—probably more than most members—the harm and damage that can occur from that abusive, bullying and toxic behaviour that takes place in discussions on social media. My daughter is now of an age where she is starting to enjoy the use of digital devices, as we all are, because we all sit in the Chamber during question time and stare at our digital devices.

It would be nice to say that these things did not exist anymore. We would not need to have endless debates about whether people should get off social media, or about placing restrictions on when people should use their device. But the reality is social media is here to stay. We must also respect and understand the way we respond to this and we must recognise that social media gives young people an incredible way to connect and get information about things that is really good for their mental health and support. It is for those reasons that we need to include young people when driving this response. I can say right now, and I am sure we all can, that the things our parents tried to shut down to protect us from the dangers of the world are now the things that we as an older generation would say we want to protect young people from. Because of what has happened to me as a result of toxic, vile attacks on social media, I choose not to put my daughter anywhere near it. I want to steer her away from social media and I appreciate we should have that choice.

At the same time, I know that telling any young person not to do something is the best way to get them to do it. We have heard from young people who have said that they already get around age bans and they will get around the next ban. We might feel good if we say we are going to ban them from a certain age, but we know the best thing we can do to ensure that young people will do it, is to say we are going to ban them. Instead, we need to have a conversation where young people are at the centre and recognise that correlation is not causation. For many young people—and I use regional queer young people as an example—social media is the only way for them to connect with people like them, and that is really helpful for their mental health. Social media may be the only way for people to connect when they are experiencing racism, discrimination or isolation in their community.

ABC Radio Sydney

I share the concerns that are raised, but we need to realise that we cannot just say that we will ban social media without recognising that we need to listen to young people, because they are the ones who are best placed to understand the harms of social media. We need to listen to them about what sensible regulation looks like. School students have told that current online age limits are ineffective and any new restrictions will easily be evaded. They say there needs to be more investment in social media literacy, which could be taught in schools.

We also know that when we report toxic behaviour on the internet to those who own the social media platforms—as I am sure many members in this place have experienced—those people do nothing about it. I can tell members that if I opened up my social media X feed now and started reading the comments that I complain about, I would be told it was unparliamentary language and I would be kicked out of the Chamber. There are bigger problems here. Young people need to be at the heart of what we are doing to solve this problem. We need to ensure that they are included when we have this debate.

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (17:39:45):

By leave: I thank the House for allowing me the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I thank the Leader of the Opposition, who has been on the journey of raising children for much longer than I have, particularly through the teenage years. He has survived and thrived. I am very fortunate to have two beautiful young children, my eldest now in kindergarten, who are learning through early education a sense of empathy, self-awareness, autonomy and understanding of their bodies and their own rights—things never taught to us as children.

I am incredibly proud of the systems that are in place to try to shape young minds in autonomy, decision‑making and respect for other people. But they are only the beginning of foundations. I do not know about other parents in this place, but I am scared of what is to come. I am scared about navigating that as a parent and, as the member for Newtown said, not being able to keep our children safe from everything that we see in the world. As the member for Newcastle and the member for Newtown said, we in this place, in particular, face the horror and trauma of bullying, attacks and threats on social media. I have had death threats on social media—even when I was seven or eight months pregnant with my daughter. Those things can move into public life through social media. We have faced part of that and it is very raw for all of us in this place, particularly those of us who are parents and fear what comes next.

I share the views of the more than 100,000 people who have signed the petition and the many hundreds of thousands—probably millions—of parents who have not yet signed but feel the same. I thank Rob and Michael for their initiative in supporting the petition and debate. For me, so much of this is us figuring out what young people need and what we can do to support them. Although we have some wonderful young members, particularly on this side of the House—and, of course, the member for Dubbo is useful for his age—we need to constantly ask young people what they need. One initiative I have held every year since I was first elected—and even modified during the pandemic—is a youth mental health forum. I hold it every year with high school students from across my community.

Every year the narrative changes, but the themes are consistent. In recent years in particular it has been about connection. How do we connect with our peers? How do we connect with our parents? How do we connect with younger people in our schools? How do we connect and identify the challenges that we face and the things that are different about us but create a sense of connection and sameness with people that may not be in our social sphere? How do we connect to support services? How do we connect to opportunities for our future, to find hope? That connection is so fundamentally embodied through social media.

Both the member for Newcastle and the member for Newtown made a really powerful point about how crucial social media can be for young people and for old people like us as well. We cannot fracture that access. We cannot fracture that connection. But, frankly, the social media environment is not safe for anyone, let alone young people. Until we can implement some level of safety and security for young people who do not have the capacity at their age to fully engage, understand and discern the social media challenges they are facing, we need reforms to ensure that we are doing what we can to protect them. We know the harms and the challenges of social media use. The member for Vaucluse and the member for Cronulla have spoken significantly about those.

I am the mother of a girl and a boy, and I have very different, but profound, concerns for each of them. I am particularly concerned about pornography and access to it. I am concerned about young girls' perceptions of consent, of their sexual identity and of their value, and of what they should accept in sex. I am concerned about young men's perception of themselves and of their masculinity, of sexual consent and activity, as well as the way in which pornography is used by gangs and individuals who manipulate and threaten young men and boys, in particular, which has led to so much loss of life or risk of loss of life. They are profound challenges. We cannot solve them today. We cannot solve them even with the millions of parents in this State and country who want to see a difference. But we need to take steps. If we do not make changes, we are ensuring that future generations in this State and country do not have the safety and security that they need to live and to thrive, to be the best they can be with the best opportunities and hope for a brighter future.

Mr JORDAN LANE (Ryde) (17:44:55):

By leave: I thank the House for the opportunity to speak in debate on this motion. I did not prepare any scripted remarks—I was not sure I would have the opportunity to speak—but, as one of only two members in this place aged 30 or under, I wanted to contribute to a debate that is ostensibly about young people and future generations. I confess that the 13‑ to 16-year-old age category that we are talking about is foreign even to me, and yet I am closer in age to that cohort. One of the great under-representations in this State—indeed in parliaments across the country—is that of younger voices. We do not see young people in positions of elected office anywhere near enough, which is a great travesty, because many of the decisions that are made are for the long term, and most of the time those who make the decisions are not around to inherit the future they have created; it is the generations that come after them.

I feel a sense of obligation to speak up. In doing that, I recognise that I am not the font of all wisdom on this matter, but I am the closest to being a digital native in this place to date. Before I was elected to this place I was the youngest mayor in Ryde's history, which was an extraordinary honour and an opportunity to put forward many youth issues in my local community. It was an extraordinary experience to feel the responsibility and weight of that role, amplified by age and an expectation that I would participate in debates in a much more youth-friendly way, in a way that opened doors for people who would not normally participate in democracy, in councils, in decision-making for their communities.

Social media presents a huge opportunity to open doors and give more people the opportunity to participate, but it comes with enormous risks. I can think of a number of examples from my own school cohort where people who were on very well-defined journeys found themselves drifting off course because of things like cyberbullying, social pressure and the belief that their reality was not what it should be. Those are not challenges that many previous generations have encountered—in fact, I would argue that no previous generation has experienced or encountered those challenges. They are unique to the current generation and, in a way, all of us are shifting into uncharted territory.

I am enormously pleased that we are having this discussion. I thank the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Vaucluse for bringing this petition debate to the House. From my experience, half the battle is getting young people's issues on the table in front of people who, through no fault of their own, do not have lived experience and cannot understand. Let us not allow this public interest debate to be the end of the discussion. There is much more work to do. I note the forthcoming summit, which is another opportunity, but it should not be the end of the debate. We need real policy reform and cultural change that empowers younger people and their parents to navigate these uncharted waters and that creates a better future rather than perpetuating an unknown and uncertain one. I thank the House for the opportunity to contribute to debate. I look forward to getting to know and work with some of the stakeholders in this space. As somebody who has a bit of lived experience, I am very supportive of this petition. I think it is the right place to start, noting that most young people are smarter than all of us and will probably figure out ways around many of the rules that we introduce. In saying all that, let us keep an open mind on the policy response. Let us make sure we bring young people into the discussion and that their voices are heard. Ultimately, it is policy for them and they should be part of it. It is important that we empower parents and all of those young people to be part of the journey. I thank the House.

Ms CHARISHMA KALIYANDA (Liverpool) (17:49:41):

By leave: I am pleased to make a brief contribution to this public interest debate. Like the member for Ryde, I did not intend to make a contribution when I sat down in the Chamber to listen to the debate. However, the contributions of previous speakers have really made an impact on me. This issue has resonated with many, not only in this place but across our community. For members who are not aware, for six or seven years I worked in youth mental health with young people across south‑west Sydney to identify when their mental health was not doing so well, services they could access and the factors contributing to their lack of wellbeing. This issue resonates deeply with me not only in my professional background but also the types of issues people within my community speak to me about on a daily basis.

As a fellow member of the millennial cohort within this House, I know that members of the younger generation coming through, namely Gen Z, are unaware of being able to navigate their lives without the use of social media. That said, they are also much more skilled than some of us in being able to make some of the important choices that determine how social media impacts them. They are able to utilise social media for some of the good things, which the members for the electorates of North Shore and Newtown spoke about: building connection and finding people like them with similar experiences. I am continually reminded of the young people that I worked with in my professional life, who made a deliberate choice of the social media platform that most suited their needs and stayed off other types of social media platforms. They chose how often they were going to access social media per day. They chose whom they would allow into their networks.

Those are just some of the tools that exist. But as other members have said, nobody is born having the tools in place to navigate not only the pitfalls of social media but life in general. Those are skills we develop, whether it is through observing others, life experience or the shared knowledge, understanding and mentorship that others might provide. When it comes to those younger teenagers, whom members have spoken about during this public interest debate, those skills are not very well developed. It is incumbent on us to put in place frameworks, structures and measures to assist teenagers—as well as the parents, teachers and others who form part of their support network—to be able to do that in a more effective manner.

I am well aware that not only governments but institutions across the board are not very good at dealing with complex intersectional issues and their responses. This is one of those issues that cuts across many areas of government and different parts of institutions. Perhaps that is one reason why it has been so challenging to develop a framework and respond in a more comprehensive manner. I note that the social media summit is a huge opportunity to cut across those different areas of government and institutions and have the voices of young people centralised. Those young people will drive the response in relation to our social media usage in a way that supports people's wellbeing and mental health, rather than in a way that harms them. Unfortunately, that is what we are hearing and seeing more often than not at the moment. I thank the Leader of the Opposition, and the member for Cronulla, for bringing this public interest debate to the House. All members of this House seek to work constructively in this space, on top of the many measures taken over the past 12 months that other members have identified. I thank the House for its indulgence.

Mr TIM JAMES:

I seek leave to make a contribution.

Leave not granted.

Mr MARK SPEAKMAN (Cronulla) (17:55:22):

In reply: I thank the members for the electorates of Campbelltown, Vaucluse, Heathcote, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Newtown, North Shore, Ryde and Liverpool for their contributions—and the member for Willoughby for the contribution he wished to make. A clear message has come from the debate today that something is going wrong at the moment and action needs to be taken. Over 114,000 people—over 80 per cent of them parents—have said the response needs to be to raise the legal access age for social media from 13‑ to 16‑years‑old, a period of 36 months. Those are 36 months for young people to develop their own identities, 36 months to focus on their hobbies and 36 months to make connections face to face before they join the metaverse.

I am delighted to be a signatory to the 36 Months campaign. By supporting this campaign we can create a healthier, happier future for the next generation. This debate is not intended to demonise social media but to speak frankly about the realities we face. Across the world, States and countries are coming to the collective realisation that younger people are particularly at risk when it comes to social media. They are more at risk when it comes to mental health, body image and even social responses. Above all else, they are particularly vulnerable to cyber bullying and inappropriate conduct. Raising the access age is one commonsense solution to those concerns. It is a solution that is a down payment on opportunities for our community's future.

Particularly, I thank the parents who have spoken to the motion today, sharing their own experience. Many of them have seen firsthand the benefits and the impacts of social media, both positive and negative, on their children. Almost universally, we heard their concerns about the status quo. I thank Robb Evans for his advocacy in tireless and tragic circumstances. I thank "Wippa" and Rob Galluzzo, who have led this campaign and collected over 114,000 signatures—so far—for this petition. They have started a conversation that ought to lead to change. The ball is now in Canberra's court, in the first instance. But I sincerely hope the New South Wales Government holds the Federal Government to account on this essential issue. The Opposition looks forward to participating in the joint New South Wales-South Australia summit that is on the table. Finally, to quote Plato, above all else, "Education is teaching our children to desire the right things." I commend the motion to the House.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr Clayton Barr):

I clarify that during this debate I had two members removed from the Chamber for incredibly minor breaches of the rules. They are excellent members of Parliament, but I sought to set a certain tone for the debate today and I thank all members for observing it.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed to.