The Senate's Environment and Communications Legislation Committee is reviewing the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026, which passed the House of Representatives before being referred to inquiry ahead of a Senate debate and vote. The Bill requires social media companies to take serious measures to protect people using their platforms from harmful material.
The inquiry began on Monday 9 November. Among the first to give evidence was Wayne Holdsworth, whose 17-year-old son, Mac, died in October 2023 after becoming the victim of a sextortion plot. Mr Holdsworth urged parliamentarians not to water down the legislation and said he was concerned that standards relating to unlawful material might be removed from it.
«Let's not let perfection get in the way of a really good idea and delay this for another six months,» Mr Holdsworth said. «We really need to ensure the government does include this, but does it quickly because as every day goes by, there's kids exposed to this.»
Mr Holdsworth is one of several parents whose children have taken their own lives, or been otherwise harmed by social media bullying, who are sharing their experiences with the senators conducting the inquiry.
The Bill would replace the existing co-regulatory industry online safety codes with a digital duty of care framework that also applies to internet service providers. The Internet Association of Australia has said it is concerned that the proposed Bill does not adequately distinguish internet service providers as mere conduit providers with little or no control over content shared online, and it has said its response will focus on making obligations reflect the technical and operational realities of those providers.
Civil liberties and digital rights groups have made submissions opposing the Bill. The organisation liber-net has urged the committee to recommend that the Senate reject the Bill in its entirety, arguing that it imposes an anticipatory duty on platforms and gives the eSafety Commissioner extensive surveillance and investigatory powers. The think tank ITIF has argued that the Bill should avoid overly broad language that could encourage censorship, should not give the Minister or the eSafety Commissioner power to require companies to weaken encryption, and should not create a private right of action against companies for online safety violations.
Scarlet Alliance, the national peak body for sex workers in Australia, has also lodged submissions on the Bill, including a September 2026 submission on the exposure draft and a later submission responding to the Bill as introduced on 15 October 2026. Scarlet Alliance has said it would welcome the opportunity to give evidence at the committee's public hearings on 9 and 10 November.
The committee's reporting date is 20 November 2026, after which the Senate is due to debate and vote on the legislation.