Consultation on Online Safety
December 2019 to February 2020
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A 10 week public consultation period was held from 11 December 2019 to 19 February 2020. The announcement was supported by a Keynote address by the Minister at the National Press Club, a national media release and detailed information posted on the Department’s website.
•86 submissions were received, 46 of these were made public.
Industry Forums
•The Minister hosted two industry forums to discuss the proposals:
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ISPs and device manufacturers – 31 January 2020 in Melbourne.
Invitees were: Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, TPG, Huawei, Samsung, Apple, Boost Mobile, MEDION Mobile, Vocus Communications, Communications Alliance and the Australian Mobile Telephone Association.
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Digital platforms and gaming industry – 17 February 2020 in Sydney.
Invitees were: Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, DIGI, Communications Alliance and the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA).
Civil Society Forums
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During the consultation period, 58 stakeholders with an interest in online safety were invited to participate in the Department’s roundtables. 24 organisations attended civil society roundtables or one-on-one meetings as part of the consultation process.
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Attendees at the Civil Society Roundtables in Melbourne on 6 February 2020 were:
Youth Support Organisations: Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Project Rockit, Reality and Risk, Child Wise and Beyond Blue.
Adult Support Organisations: PartnerSPEAK, InfoXchange, Digital Rights Watch, Electronic Frontiers Australia and Domestic Violence Victoria.
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Attendees at the Civil Society Roundtables in Canberra on 11 February 2020 were: Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA) and the Australian Library and Information Association.
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Attendees at Civil Society Roundtables in Sydney on 18 February 2020 were:
Youth Support Organisations: eChildhood, Youth Law Australia and Foundation for Young Australians.
Adult Support Organisations: Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, Everymind, Women’s Safety NSW and Scarlet Alliance.
Consumer Rights Organisations: Responsible Technology Australia.
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The Department also met with Yourtown on 11 February 2020 and the Centre for Inclusive Design on 21 February 2020.
December 2020 to February 2021
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An 8 week public consultation period was held from 23 December 2020 to 14 February 2021. The Announcement was supported by a press release.
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The Department received 408 submissions on the Exposure Draft of the Online Safety Bill.
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376 submission were received before public consultation closed at 5pm on Sunday 14 February 2021.
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Of these, 154 submissions were received by close of business 12 February 2021.
Themes in the submissions
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On Tuesday 16 February, the Minister was briefed on the 376 submissions received by the 14 February deadline, including
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333 of the submissions received before close of consultation were from private citizens.
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18 submissions were made by members of online industry and industry peak bodies, including Twitter, Google, Twitch, DIGI (online industry peak body), and Communications Alliance (communications sector peak body).
Who we contacted
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The Minister wrote to State and Territory first Ministers, and industry members who participated in industry forums in January – February 2020 to inform them of the consultation period.
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The Department sent an email to 159 interested industry, civil society, government stakeholders and individuals that expressed an interest in online safety to advise them of the consultation period.
Who we met with
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The Government did not hold forums for industry or civil society groups in this round of consultation, instead the Department conducted meetings by request. We met with:
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The Australian Muslim Advocacy Network – 22 January 2021;
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Match Group – 29 January 2021 ;and
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The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) – 10 February 2021.