The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs will inquire into and report on age verification for online wagering and online pornography.

The inquiry will have particular regard to:

1.    its potential as a mechanism for protecting minors online;
2.    requirements of Commonwealth, state and territory government laws, policies and practices (including technical and privacy requirements) that relate to, and enable improved age verification requirements;
3.     the potential benefits of further online age verification requirements, including to protect children from potential harm, and business and non-government organisations from reputation, operational and legal risks;
4.     the potential risks and unintended consequences in further restricting age verification requirements, including, but not limited to:

a)  pushing adult consumers into unregulated/illegal environments or to other legal forms of these activities;
b)  privacy breaches;
c)  providing false assurance to parents and carers;  and
d)  freedom of expression;

5.     best practice age verification requirements internationally, including standards, verification and implementation timeframes, and particularly the likely effectiveness of the proposed age verification for access to online pornography in the United Kingdom's Digital Economy Act 2017;
6.     barriers to achieving stronger age verification requirements, including but not limited to:

a)  capabilities of existing technology of business and verification providers;
b)  access, adequacy and security of third-party and government databases;  and
c)  accurate and standardised capture of customer information;

7.     education and warning messages associated with age verification;
8.     the economic impact of placing further restrictions on age verification on business, including small business, and the potential financial and administrative burden of such changes;
9.     the impact of placing further restrictions on age verification on other eSafety resourcing, education and messaging;  and
10.  Australia's international obligations.