Thanks so much Wippa and good morning to everyone and thank you all for being here. I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respect to elders, past, present, and emerging. Well, this is a day in which my pride to be Prime Minister of Australia has never been greater. This is world-leading. This is Australia showing enough is enough. And the world - including through, I note, some leading media global organisations who are here, just to confirm - is watching. Is watching and is following. But Australia is leading. And it's leading not because of actions of my Government. It is leading because of some of the heroes who are behind me and who are joining us here today. Australians who've lost a son or a daughter. Australians who have seen the direct impact of social media causing social harm for their families, for their communities. People who have had the courage to take what is a personal tragedy and turn that into a commitment and determination that others who will follow will not go through the traumatic experience that they have.
This is indeed a proud day to be Australian because make no mistake, this reform will change lives for Australian kids and allowing them to just have their childhood for Australian parents, enabling them to have greater peace of mind, but also for the global community who are looking at Australia and saying, well, if Australia can do it, why can't we? This will make an enormous difference. It is one of the biggest social and cultural changes that our nation has faced. It's a profound reform, which will continue to reverberate around the world in coming months, to assist not just this generation, but generations to come. It is about our families taking back control. Technology can have an amazing impact on making our life easier, but it is important, as technology develops, that humans keep control, that we assert our authority as a society and to back families and to say that enough is enough. We will take back control. We will control the impact that this is having.
To those parents, to those people who have campaigned, people like Wippa and Mel, who you'll hear from as well, but the parents directly affected, I just say, you have my admiration. I just bow down to you. Because this change has come from you and it's a government that has then responded. I do want to acknowledge as well Peter Dutton, on a day like today. This legislation passed the Parliament last year with bipartisan support. Peter Dutton, someone who has always cared about the impact of harm on young Australians, with a range of the measures that he established as well to protect young people from perpetrators of violence and grooming and other activities as well. So, this is a day that I think will be marked down. This is a journey that Australia has gone on.
It won't be perfect, it won't be perfect. This is a big change. But I've been asked this morning in media interviews, what will success look like? Success is the fact that it's happening. Success is the fact that we're having this discussion. Parents are talking to their children around the breakfast table. Teachers, as we are speaking, will be speaking to their students. And we as the society, I must say, not just young people as well, but non-young people are also thinking about the impact that scrolling is having on their sleep, that engaging with each other. Nothing beats interpersonal communication.
So, it is about as well, importantly, pushing back against big tech, saying that social media companies have a social responsibility. So, we do acknowledge it won't be perfect and we'll work through it. But I do want to work through and acknowledge the work that Minister Wells has done in bringing this to fruition, Minister Rowland in her advocacy previously in the lead up to the legislation being carried, and Julie Inman Grant, who you'll hear from, and her team in the eSafety Commission for the work that they've done, for the media who've backed this in as well. I've got to say that the tabloids on Sunday, that wraparound was the most powerful use of print media I have seen for a very long period of time. The fact that a great deal of effort had been got into it. But all those in TV, radio, the people who've engaged with this, it is important to have these discussions.
So, be proud today and remember this day, December 10. I think it will go with the other great reforms that Australia has led the world on. There are many of them in our great democracy that we can be proud of. Things that we call - the Australian ballot, for example, is just one of them. Before we go though, I do want to just say that yes, this is about parents and largely, I spoke with Charlotte's mum, gave a phone call after that tragedy, and the one-on-one discussions I've had with parents really convinced me that this was the right thing to do.
But as well as that, we've had young people advocating themselves, and I do want to introduce to you a remarkable young Tasmanian, Flossie, a 12-year-old who I've had the pleasure of welcoming into my office in Parliament House. Now, straight after this event. I'm told that she'll be racing back to Hobart for her last day of primary school and the end-of-year dance, which is one of the things that people can do. You can't dance if you're online, and it's much more fun to do it than to watch it. And you know what? There's something else, Flossie. The people that you're dancing with at your year six school you'll know are real, unlike the people online who you don't know, whether they're real, whether they exist, whether it's AI, what really is going on there. So, to Flossie, a powerful advocate, just one of the young people who I've met, thank you for your advocacy and for squeezing us into your very tight social calendar.
