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eSafety watchdog issues new guidance for online safety rules
Sarah Basford Canales
Australia’s online safety watchdog has recommended social media platforms undertake the “most minimally invasive techniques” to determine a user’s age from December when a ban on under-16 users kicks in.
Guidance from the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, released Tuesday, shows digital platforms will also need to offer a “layered” approach to checking someone’s age to ensure those under 16 can’t bypass restricted sites.
The expectations also require platforms to remove existing underage accounts, prevent re-registration by under-16s and avoid allowing users to self-declare their age without additional checks.
The internet regulator’s guidance states platforms cannot force users to solely provide their government ID and that blanket age verification “may be considered unreasonable, especially if existing data can infer age reliably”. As my colleague, Josh Taylor, explained previously, this could mean checking a user’s behaviour, interests, or other factors such as the length of time since account registration.
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Sydney airport to add up to 14 new international gates
Luca Ittimani
Sydney airport is planning its biggest expansion since the city’s Olympics as it prepares to nearly double its passenger numbers and fend off its forthcoming rival in the city’s west.
The T2 and T3 domestic terminals would be connected and opened up to overseas flights, adding up to 12 new international gates along with two more at the existing T1 international terminal.
The airport’s current 25 international gates would rise to a possible 39, accommodating a surge in overseas passengers from 16 million annually to 36 million by 2045.
Domestic passenger numbers are expected to rise at a slower pace, rising from 25 million to 36 million, leaving Kingsford-Smith hosting a total of 72 million passengers annually. Air freight is expected to more than double from 0.6m to 1.4m tonnes.
Its new local rival, the Western Sydney international airport, expects to open in 2026, moving 8.4 million passengers annually by 2030 and then 10 times as many by 2063. Its last strategic plan suggested it would overtake Kingsford-Smith as Australia’s largest airport, though the new Sydney airport announcement suggests the incumbent is set to dominate for some decades.
Scott Charlton, Sydney airport’s chief executive, said:
This plan is about building the future of Australia’s gateway … [It] will be the most significant development at Sydney airport since the Olympics, and will unlock greater capacity across all terminals.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.
The big political news overnight is that Andrew Hastie, the shadow home affairs spokesperson, has threatened to quit the Coalition frontbench over Sussan Ley’s plan to support net zero. The reactions are like to roll on – especially given the government’s focus this week on the climate crisis.
Sydney airport is planning its biggest expansion since the city’s Olympics as it prepares to nearly double its passenger numbers and fend off its forthcoming rival in the city’s west. More shortly.
Plus, social media companies have been given a list of do’s and don’ts for the upcoming age restrictions, which require much more than just asking “are you 16?”. We’ll have the details in a bit.
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