Australia should be "very seriously" looking at banning depictions of strangulation or suffocation in pornography, says a senior Labor minister who has indicated her support.
Advocates' calls for the ban have intensified following the death of a 16-year-old Sydney girl, understood to be treated as a suspected sexual choking act.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek highlighted the prevalence of the act during sexual encounters among young people after a 2024 study found that 57 per cent of 18 to 35 year olds have experienced strangulation in the bedroom.
Last year, the UK made it a criminal offence to possess or publish pornography showing strangulation or suffocation.
Ms Plibersek said Australia should "very seriously" consider following the UK's decision to outlaw depictions of choking in pornography.
"There is something wrong with a situation where 60 per cent of young people say they've experienced strangulation," she told Insiders on Sunday morning.
"This is not sex education. It's not real life," she added.
Pointing to risks of long-term brain damage or aneurysms in the case of a non-fatal strangulation, Ms Plibersek said there was "no safe way to strangle someone".
NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane added to the calls on Sunday, writing to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to ask him to urgently introduce the ban.
"When pornography depicts an act capable of causing brain injury, unconsciousness or death, it should not be treated as just another form of adult entertainment," she wrote.
Ms Sloane said young people were being exposed to sexual violence online without understanding the danger of the behaviour.
"We cannot wait until another family is living through a tragedy before we take seriously what our children are being taught by pornography."
It is an issue found in other online content, with a 2024 study demonstrating that on average young boys are served extremely misogynistic content within 23 minutes of downloading social platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube shorts.
Ms Plibersek acknowledged the role that social media algorithms played in perpetuating harmful narratives online, following a push by advocates for the government to introduce laws that make algorithms opt-in only.
Among them is Teach Us Consent founder Chanel Contos, who urged the government to take the issue more seriously.
"I think it's quite obvious the harm that algorithms are doing to everyone, but particularly young people, and women are largely on the receiving end of that," Ms Contos told the ABC.
"And I think that something that has 71 per cent of Australians supporting it should be taken as a serious policy proposition."
Ms Plibersek said there were ongoing discussions about how that would look in practice, but remained open to an opt-in model as the government continued to consult on its upcoming digital duty of care bill.
The issue was also front and centre earlier in the week, when national cabinet acknowledged rates of intimate-partner homicide and sexual violence remained "unacceptably high", agreeing on priorities for the next five-year plan to tackle the issues.
Smart glasses moratorium considered
The federal government is also closely considering a moratorium on the import of smart glasses, which can be used to discreetly film people without their consent.
The devices look like ordinary glasses and yet allow the wearer to record images, video and audio, mostly surreptitiously, with the press of a button.
The Greens, with the support of some crossbenchers, have called on the government to halt the import of such glasses as well as as other wearable recording devices for at least 12 months, until tougher privacy protections are passed into law.
Ms Plibersek revealed the attorney-general was due to deliver an update on the government's position shortly, as she labelled any use of the glasses "really troubling".
"If they're going to be used, there should be safeguards around how they can be used," she said.
"I mean, it's already possible, I believe, to buy glasses where you can disable the filming light, so it's not apparent that they're filming as they're being used. That is really, really troubling".
