Social media ban
1299. Hon Philip Scott to the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General:
I refer to the Attorney General's media statement of 9 December titled "WA joins national effort to defend social media age ban".
(1) How much money is the Western Australian government contributing to the so-called national effort to defend the Commonwealth's social media age ban?
(2) What community consultation was undertaken by the WA government before deciding to defend the Commonwealth's social media age ban?
(3) The media statement states that the social media age ban empowers parents. Can the Attorney General explain how forcing kids to prove their identity to an overseas social media company empowers parents?
Hon Dan Caddy replied:
I thank the member for some notice of the question. The Attorney General has provided the following answer.
(1) The Attorney General of Western Australia filed a notice of intervention in the High Court of Australia proceedings S163/2025 on 9 December 2025. The Solicitor-General of Western Australia and the State Solicitor's Office will act for the state in the matter. It is not possible to estimate what the cost of the intervention will be at this time.
(2) Community consultation is not undertaken when deciding whether the state should intervene in a constitutional matter. Consistent with this practice, no consultation occurred in deciding whether to intervene in this matter.
(3) The Commonwealth reforms are a landmark shift that moves responsibility onto the platforms and not young people or their parents to ensure that the digital environment is safer, more accountable and more supportive for families. These laws give parents the support and tools to help shield children under 16 years of age from risks such as cyberbullying, mental health stresses, exposure to inappropriate material and addictive platform design.
