The Hon Michelle Rowland MP

Minister for Communications

PO Box 6022

House of Representatives

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

Re Pilot program for age verification in Australia

Dear Minister,

We the undersigned are writing to request a re-think of the Federal Government’s decision not to proceed with an age verification system to help protect children from exposure to pornography, as recently announced by yourself on behalf of the Government.

Early porn exposure harms developing sexual templates, contributes to damaging stereotypes, the development of sexist ideas, the normalisation of violence against women and a rise in child-on-child sexual abuse. These harms were placed on the record by academics, educators, child safeguarding NGOs, and experts in child development and welfare in submissions to the Inquiry into Age Verification for Online Wagering and Online Pornography conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. 

On Thursday August 31st the Australian Government responded to the eSafety Roadmap for Age Verification. In its response the Government called age verification technology "immature". 

Collective Shout stands with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation calling for more protections for children from online pornography. 

eSafety has come under fire from advocates and survivors after it published its Roadmap for Age Verification on Thursday which reveals it met with Pornhub's parent company MindGeek to discuss age verification.

"Age verification technology works"

Anti-sexploitation org, CEASE UK, has spoken out on the Australian Government's decision to dismiss age verification to prevent children accessing hardcore pornography. 

Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds, has spoken out on the government's decision to dismiss age verification for porn sites. 

"If child wellbeing was a national priority, we would act on e-Safety’s plan to trial ways to protect young kids from online porn. This would help to reduce child sex abuse, youth crime, domestic and family violence. We seem to rely on kids getting education at school or having parents able to protect them. Too many kids have neither, & would greatly benefit from safeguards against online porn that are still to be developed. We need to start now."

Last Thursday Collective Shout condemned the Federal Government for refusing to adopt an age verification system as one obstacle to help protect children from exposure to pornography. 

Read the Media Release here.

See also: 

Submission to Inquiry into Age Verification for Online Wagering and Online Pornography

Media Release 

Porn profits before child protection: Government dismisses age verification 

Collective Shout has condemned the Federal Government for refusing to adopt an age verification system as one obstacle to help protect children from exposure to pornography. 

The Federal Government today published the eSafety Commisioner’s Roadmap for Age Verification along with its response.  

This is a sad day for child safeguarding stakeholders who lobbied for years for an age verification system, contributing to Federal inquiries and stakeholder roundtables.  

The Government has caved to the vested interests of the porn industry. 

The Government has passed the buck to the development of industry codes which are still years away from being finalised. It is highly unlikely a pilot, as recommended by the eSafety Commissioner, will ever get off the ground. 

It’s time to stop calling this process a “Roadmap”. There is no “Roadmap”. There are only delays and obstacles to doing anything that would bring the predatory porn industry into line. 

Even while acknowledging porn as a driver of violence against women, as reflected in its National Plan to Address Violence Against Women and Children (2022-2023), the Government has allowed itself to be swayed by industry resistance to an age-verification system. 

If France, Germany, UK, Louisiana and Utah can roll out age verification systems, why can’t we? 

Vested interests should not be put before the wellbeing of children. 

The Government’s initiatives regarding respectful relationships and consent education cannot compete with the world’s largest department of education – the global pornography industry. 

Every day without Government action, more and more children are being exposed to rape, torture, sadism and extreme degradation of women, deforming their developing sexual templates. We are seeing the results in our schools every day, with a rise in sexual harassment, rape threats and demands for nudes. Primary school girls are routinely sent dick pics.  

Adolescent boys aged 15-19 are the largest cohort of sexual offenders in this country,  

In its response to the eSafety report, the Government concludes: “The first duty of any Government is to protect its citizens from harm.” In dismissing the adoption of proof-of-age protections for children, it has failed in this duty.  

Thursday August 31, 2023 

Contact: Melinda Tankard Reist 

Movement Director 

[email protected]  

eSafety delivered its report on a roadmap for age verification to protect children from online wagering and pornography to the Federal Government in March.

But stakeholders do not know what eSafety has recommended or what action the Government will take, as there has been no response.

Draft Codes leave major loopholes for child sexual exploitation