Oh thank you. You report that the technology trial will finish mid 2025, after the federal election. So (I hope) this daft idea is purely political posturing and it will be found to be impractical, to everyone's great surprise 🫢 by whoever is in govt by that time
Not if Dutton gets in. Sometime back, I recall him voicing a strong preference that every person on social media should be legally required to show their true identity.
A simple answer. They are in election mode, and Mr and Mrs Middle-Australia-Boomer-Undecided-Voter are in favour of it. Same reason, but in reverse, for anti-gambling reforms. Mr M-A-B-U-V likes going down the TAB for a flutter on the gee gees so it's gone before the election.
Great article! - I did wonder what had triggered it. Legislation through panic rather than a genuine conviction in the policy, just leads to shitty legislation and pain for the community
it's worrying, because as policy problems (particularly wrt the internet) get more complicated we're going to see more of this - short bit of legislation that sets out what it sees as a problem, handing huge power to minister/acma/esc with a note that says 'fix it'
probably fair enough if you're selling a billion dollars worth of spectrum for the Minister to be able to dictate terms, but worrying that parliament is so willing to delegate huge power (and a wide range of outcomes) on something it sees as this important
@joshtaylor.bsky.social Thanks for being the *only* journalist I’ve seen so far to really report on the expert testimony! Almost every single other mention of this I’ve seen is only quoting politicians and nothing else…
@joshtaylor.bsky.social Ah yes I should have thought of Cam, the Crikey coverage has been excellent, I was mostly just despairing at the absolute lack of any kind of analysis anywhere like ABC, SMH, TV news etc.
Hmm, the Opposition are happy to pass this with “The actual detail will come later, through the completion of a trial of age-assurance technology in mid-2025“, yet when it came to The Voice it was “if you don’t know, vote no” - hypocrisy much? Or just outright racism?
Yeah especially since the Voice referendum was as it was for the same reason , the Government doesn't want restraints on its power so the Voice was a lot of blah without teeth and this is broad delegation of power to the Government.
Comments
Were Gov Ministers offered presentation or the Project Plan?
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202411/accss-tony-allen-breaks-down-australias-age-assurance-technology-trial
https://ageassurance.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/D6.1-Project-Plan.pdf
We are not served well by much of the media on tech policy issues, and it's been that way for far too long.