In this submission, we outline three ways that Australia can harness public appetite to shape the Online Safety Act. These three recommendations address the current challenges of today’s tech landscape and future proof the mandate of the eSafety Commissioner to ensure the best outcomes for citizens.  

We recommend three priorities for the Australian Government’s review of the Online Safety Act 2021:  

1. Ensure that online safety policy is part of a broader vision for Australia’s digital future, where updates to the Act are developed in coordination with other areas of tech policy specialisation across government. 
2. Increase corporate responsibility for digital services defined in the Act, by:
   1. continuing preventative, risk-based obligations 
   2. increasing the consequences of non-compliance, through transparency obligations, greater fines, a direct right to action for individual users, and international coordination on regulatory reform and enforcement 
3. Strengthen democratic protections underpinning the Act to ensure Australia maintains its status as a world leader in online safety by:  
   1. enhancing the checks and balances, appeals processes, and oversight of the eSafety Commissioner’s powers  
   2. obligating the eSafety Commissioner to conduct international advocacy with an awareness of the potential harm of online safety regulations in non-democratic contexts   

Read the submission here.