5 days ago
Meta concerned about ‘rushed’ social media ban
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has issued a statement on the under-16 social media ban.
As AAP reports, a spokesperson said that while it respected the decision by federal parliament, issues remained with how the ban would be enforced.
We are concerned about the process which rushed the legislation through while failing to properly consider the evidence, what industry already does to ensure age-appropriate experiences, and the voices of young people.
The task now turns to ensuring there is productive consultation on all rules associated with the bill to ensure a technically feasible outcome that does not place an onerous burden on parents and teens and a commitment that rules will be consistently applied across all social apps used by teens.
Age-verification trials on how young people would be stopped from accessing social media are still ongoing. The Meta spokesman said an option would be age verification through operating systems or app stores.
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Elias Visontay
ACCC approves more Qatar Airways and Virgin flights
The competition watchdog has granted interim approvals for Qatar Airways’ plan to increase its flights between Australia and Doha as part of an alliance with Virgin Australia.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced it had granted interim authorisation for the two carriers’ plans to enter into an alliance, which allows the two carriers to begin marketing and selling tickets for the new 28 weekly return services from June 2025.
The agreement will see Virgin Australia, which has not owned any planes capable of long haul flights since its pandemic-induced restructure, enter into a “wet lease” agreement with Qatar Airways, in which it leases not just the Middle-Eastern carrier’s aircraft but also its crew.
In effect, the authorisation via an Australian airline allows Qatar Airways to bypass the requirement for its government to secure increased bilateral air rights with Australia, more than a year after the Albanese government infamously shot down the carrier’s push for an additional 28 weekly flights in a decision that fuelled speculation about Qantas’ influence in Canberra.
The new services will be offered subject to final regulatory approval by the ACCC and other government bodies, meaning that if final approvals are not granted, customers who booked will be offered refunds or moved onto alternate services.
ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said “having this court-enforceable undertaking that protects customers was important to our decision to allow Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways to start selling tickets now”.
The proposed alliance is part of a broader move that will see Qatar Airways take a 25% minority ownership stake in Virgin Australia.
Meta concerned about ‘rushed’ social media ban
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has issued a statement on the under-16 social media ban.
As AAP reports, a spokesperson said that while it respected the decision by federal parliament, issues remained with how the ban would be enforced.
We are concerned about the process which rushed the legislation through while failing to properly consider the evidence, what industry already does to ensure age-appropriate experiences, and the voices of young people.
The task now turns to ensuring there is productive consultation on all rules associated with the bill to ensure a technically feasible outcome that does not place an onerous burden on parents and teens and a commitment that rules will be consistently applied across all social apps used by teens.
Age-verification trials on how young people would be stopped from accessing social media are still ongoing. The Meta spokesman said an option would be age verification through operating systems or app stores.
Birth rate fears after NSW caps nation-first IVF subsidy
An Australian-first rebate aimed at making parenthood easier for thousands of couples will be limited within months, sparking fears the move will drive down already declining birth rates.
As AAP reports, more than 14,000 women have been able to receive a $2,000 cash rebate for IVF treatment since it was introduced as part of the then-Coalition NSW government’s women-focused budget in 2022.
But the state government will apply an income test on applicants from 19 February, with applicants needing to show they receive the family tax benefit, hold a government health care card or have an annual household income of $116,000 or less.
State opposition leader Mark Speakman said the income test equated to $58,000 per person – or about $25,000 less than the starting salary of a teacher – and was a “cruel, distressing blow for the thousands of women and their partners who were relying on this subsidy to support their dreams of having a family”.
Labor said the Coalition allocated $24m over four years for the scheme, but that money had run out in less than two. Premier Chris Minns told reporters:
We obviously want to help people, but the number of people that applied for the scheme was far beyond what the government could afford. I apologise for it, I know that a lot of families struggle, they want to have kids, they need help to do it [and] cost of living is obviously a big impact on family budgets.
How does Australia’s social media ban compare to laws in other countries?
After passing both levels of parliament, the government has been touting its under-16s social media ban as “world-leading”. But how does the ban actually compare to laws in other countries?
You can have a read of this explainer below:
Caitlin Cassidy
‘Depends on context’ whether certain pro-Palestine phrases antisemitic, Mark Scott says
The University of Sydney’s vice-chancellor, Mark Scott, says it “depends on the context” whether pro-Palestine phrases like “from the river to the sea” are antisemitic.
Scott is continuing to face questioning over a review into the university’s policies and procedures, which includes a new “civility rule” that would require speakers on campus to “make the meaning of contested words and phrases clear to the audience”.
The s MP Henry Pike asked Scott at a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism whether he considered terms used on his campus such as “from the river to the sea” and “intifada” to be antisemitic in any context.
Scott said:
There is a significant debate around some of these terms and what [the] Hodgkinson [review] says ... there is free speech and there are limits to free speech and those limits to free speech are imposed by the law.
There isn’t a jurisdiction in the country that has banned those phrases ... it depends on the context ... there are Jewish academics at our university who would say that there are not. There are others at our university who have experienced them who would say that they are. It depends on the context.
Woolies denies shelves bare as strike enters second week
Woolworths insists its shelves are not beginning to run bare as warehouse workers enter a second week of strike action.
As AAP reports, up to 1,500 employees across a number of Woolworths distribution centres in Victoria and NSW walked off the job indefinitely on 21 November.
They are fighting for a pay increase, along with an end to a performance framework the United Workers Union said was pushing staff to sacrifice safety standards in pursuit of faster work.
Woolworths insisted all stores were still receiving regular stock deliveries, but some were getting their goods less frequently than previously scheduled.
The union claimed the strike was already having a huge impact, with “gaping holes” on shelves normally containing household and frozen goods. secretary Tim Kennedy said:
We are seeing bare shelves across the eastern seaboard now. We warned that this would happen if five warehouses took strike action. Woolworths are squeezing shoppers at the register and workers on pay and conditions, while making ever-increasing profits … this is contributing to growing wealth inequality in Australia.
A Woolworths spokeswoman said the company was working hard to sort out the pay dispute.
Watch: the under-16s social media ban explained
As expected, there is much talk today about the under-16s social media ban today, after it passed both levels of parliament.
As our technology reporter Josh Taylor explains, there’s a lot we don’t yet know about how it will work in practice. That includes which platforms will be affected and how those platforms will determine users are the age they say they are.
Since the ban won’t come into force for a year – after the next federal election – that will be the problem of whoever is the next communication minister. You can watch his explainer below for more.
Caitlin Cassidy
Sydney university to continue talks on campus protest policies after backlash
The vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, Mark Scott, says consultation will continue over the campuses’ protest policies after human rights groups and some academics and students criticised them on free speech grounds.
Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism, Scott was asked to reiterate that he had accepted all 15 recommendations of an independent review into the university’s policies and procedures by Bruce Hodgkinson SC, which would require speakers on campus to “make the meaning of contested words and phrases clear to the audience” and to maintain its strict ban on protests in buildings.
It’s only arrived this week ... there was a special meeting of senate, our fellows of senate have read the report, they have been briefed ... and they accepted the recommendations in principle. But they recognise significant work now has to be done.
In a statement yesterday, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties said “urgent intervention” by the state government was needed to direct management against implementing the proposed restrictions, which it alleged would “effectively ban” basic forms of political expression.
Scott told the inquiry that complaints about antisemitism had “significantly increased” while a pro-Palestine encampment was operating and had since decreased markedly in semester two.
Enforcing under-16s social media ban ‘number one priority’ if elected – Coalition
The shadow communications minister, David Coleman, spoke with Sky News earlier this morning as the under-16s social media passed through both levels of parliament.
He told the program that the “benefits far outweigh the risks” of the policy.
What other generation in history has grown up being exposed to as much damaging content as this generation? … [We can] divert our eyes from that and not talk about it, or we can stare it in the face, acknowledge it and do something about it.
Asked about the potential social impacts of the bill for young people, he continued:
I don’t think we’ve sort of come to a position where we should be saying, ‘look, if a 10-year-old can’t access Snapchat, that’s unacceptable.’ I just think that it doesn’t make sense because we know that, overwhelmingly, it’s a bad place for kids to be …
If I am fortunate enough to become communications minister at the election, enforcing this law and ensuring it works as hard as it can to protect Australian kids will be our number one priority.
Severe thunderstorms forecast across NSW and ACT today
As AAP reports, Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury predicted severe thunderstorms and heavy rain across much of NSW and the ACT today.
A cloud band will extend across eastern Australia, bringing humid conditions and scattered showers and thunderstorms.
Severe storms are possible across Sydney once again on Friday, with the risk of flash flooding where storms bring heavy falls.
In Queensland, the BoM forecast severe thunderstorms were likely in inland areas.
Bridges inundated in Queensland flash floods
Flash-flooding hit the isolated In Queensland mining town of Mt Isa after severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall, with all but two of the local bridges inundated, AAP reports.
Water rescue teams were required to help three vehicles out of floodwaters.
Moderate or minor flood warnings were in place for several rivers in NSW and Queensland, while flood-watch warnings were issued for NSW’s central-west and south-west catchments.
