Live: Ryan prepared to fight as Frydenberg hints at comeback
Quick Look
- The Australian government is preparing to remove controversial ministerial powers from its Digital Duty of Care bill following pressure from the Greens, who demand stronger protections including compensation for algorithmic harms.
- The Coalition opposes the bill, citing censorship concerns, while other legislation on gas reservations and trust taxation is also set for introduction.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The Digital Duty of Care bill is part of Australia's effort to regulate online platforms and reduce harms from social media, search engines, and AI chatbots. An exposure draft released last month outlined harm categories but allowed the minister to add more via regulation, a provision the Coalition has opposed as enabling political censorship.
Labor is poised to walk back controversial ministerial powers in new digital safety laws amid demands from the Greens for stronger protections, including the right to seek compensation for algorithmic harms.
The Coalition remains opposed to the federal government's Digital Duty of Care proposal, which is one of three major pieces of legislation due to be introduced to parliament his week, alongside a gas reservation and changes to the taxation of trusts.
The digital laws have a potential pathway through the Senate with the support of the Greens, who have set three "tests" for the bill on private compensation, the scale of fines and addressing the addictive nature of the technology.
The duty would require social media, search engines, AI chatbots and other online platforms to take reasonable steps to reduce foreseeable "harms" for underage Australians and "serious harm" for adults.
Categories of harm were outlined in an exposure draft bill released last month, but there was also a provision for the minister to add further harms through regulation.
The Coalition has been vehemently opposed to the powers, suggesting they would lead to political censorship online.
It is understood the government is now prepared to scrap the ministerial discretion component of the bill before it is introduced later this week.
Read more at the link below.
Hello friends. Welcome to our politics live blog. I'm Courtney Gould from the ABC's Parliament House team, here to guide you through the day.
Politicians are already walking the halls as another sitting week is upon us. The government is preparing to scrap controversial powers included in its Digital Duty of Care bill, which is expected to be introduced later this week.
Meanwhile, the government remains under pressure by the business community over the Reserve Bank's decision to ban card surcharges.
Elsewhere, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has hinted at a return to politics. So how has the woman who ousted him, Monique Ryan, reacted to that? I'll have that for you shortly.
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What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The Digital Duty of Care bill will be introduced to parliament later this week without ministerial discretion to add harms via regulation
Very likely · Within days
The Greens will support the bill in the Senate if their three tests on compensation, fines, and addictive technology are satisfied
Likely · Within weeks
Open Questions
- What specific harms will be eligible for compensation under the revised bill?
- How will the Greens' three tests on fines, compensation, and addictive technology be met?
- What is the exact timeline for the bill's introduction and potential Senate passage?
