“I am concerned that conducting a trial of age assurance technologies may unnecessarily distract industry from developing and delivering new and strengthened codes[of conduct],” Rowland wrote in a letter to eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant in August.
Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman said it was a “disgrace” Rowland described age verification as a distraction,saying the minister was at odds with Australia’s internet watchdog. The government says it may enact a pilot age-verification program after a years-long industry process.
The government has instead opted to let the adult entertainment industry maintain standards defined in new codes that Rowland claims would boost children’s safety but whichsome children’s advocates claim would be lengthy and ineffectual.
“The efficacy of the systems that currently exist for age verification are immature and also carry significant risks in terms of privacy and their ability to be implemented,” Rowland said in her speech on Wednesday.
“There will be no decent-minded Australian who wants children to access age inappropriate material,including pornography.”
Rowland raised the alarm in her speech about the large proportion of children she said were “stumbling across” porn as they browsed the internet without the intention of finding explicit content.