File photo. National MP Catherine Wedd Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The National Party wants to ban 16-year-olds from accessing social media by forcing companies to use age verification measures, but for now that's not government policy.
National MP Catherine Wedd, with the backing of leader Christopher Luxon, has put forward a members' bill which would follow Australia's lead on cracking down on the social media giants.
The Prime Minister said he wanted to explore picking it up as a "broader government bill," which would mean it could become law more quickly.
Right now the legislation does not have government-endorsed, meaning it would be debated only if it was drawn from the ballot at random.
Wedd said the Bill would put the onus on social media companies to verify someone is over the age of 16 before they access social media platforms, and is modelled off Australian legislation.
"Currently, there are no legally enforceable age verification measures for social media platforms in New Zealand."
Wedd said she'd heard from parents, teachers and principals that there wasn't enough protections in place.
"My Social Media Age-Appropriate Users Bill is about protecting young people from bullying, inappropriate content and social media addiction by restricting access for under 16-year-olds."
The bill would require social media platforms to take "all reasonable steps" to prevent under-16s from creating accounts.
It would also introduce "penalties for non-compliance", including financial ones.
Christopher Luxon said he wanted to see whether other political leaders from across parliament would come on board and support the bill. Photo: Lawrence Smith / Stuff
Social media platforms would be able to rely on "reasonable verification measures to demonstrate compliance."
The responsible minister would have the authority to designate specific platforms as age-restricted.
The law would be reviewed three years after it came into force to assess its effectiveness and make any necessary changes.
Luxon, who felt "very strongly" about the issue, said he'd been talking about it for the "last 18 months" and the caucus had worked on the issue over the "last year or so," before signing it off as a National Party Bill last month.
But he wanted to see whether other political leaders from across parliament would come on board and support the bill.
"I think there could be quite a lot of good bipartisan support for something like this.
"It's not a political issue. It's actually a New Zealand issue."
Luxon said he had spoken to ACT and New Zealand First about it, but wouldn't comment on their positions.
"I'm just saying to you that I also want to make the pitch as a bipartisan piece of work."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he's open to the idea - but think's it's something the government should "show some leadership on."
"I'm concerned that they're just leaving that to a members bill."
Hipkins pointed to Australia where there was "government led action" on the issue.
"If the National Party believes in this, make it a government bill.
"This is a conversation we need to have as a country. The Australians have been courageous and tackled it. I think New Zealand needs to do the same."
He referenced New Zealand First's use of members bills to raise various issues.
"It'll probably be like a New Zealand First bill. How long will it stay in the ballot before they come up with another little itch they want to scratch?"
Last week the Minister of Internal Affairs, ACT's Brooke van Velden, told RNZ that Australia was "free to make their own rules around social media use."
She said a "minimum age for social media is not something the New Zealand Government is considering."
Van Velden said Australia's "minimum age" restriction would not come into force until later this year and was interersted to see how the policy was implemented.
