Rowland rejected the advice of eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant earlier this year to create a pilot age-verification program. In an August letter to Inman Grant,reportedin this masthead on Thursday,Rowland said it could “unnecessarily distract industry from developing and delivering new and strengthened codes[of conduct]” .
The government says it may enact a pilot age-verification program after a years-long industry codes process.
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Dutton will attempt to pressure Rowland on the issue when he unveils the election commitment alongside advocacy groups Bravehearts,the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and Collective Shout.
“There are growing concerns of how extreme,offensive and denigrating online images can normalise unacceptable behaviour,particularly in relation to women and girls,” Dutton said in a written statement.
“Families spend an increasing amount of time online. We want to help parents protect their kids from the damaging impacts this sort of content has on our kids.”
Instead of committing to an age-verification trial,the government 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 say would be lengthy and ineffectual.