Online safety policy
Digital Duty of Care in Australia: what it means for online safety
By Rinat Strahlhofer, Founder, Digital Readiness Lab
Published 16 October 2026 · Last updated 16 October 2026
The Digital Duty of Care is a proposed change to Australia’s online safety laws that would place greater responsibility on online services to identify and reduce foreseeable harm before it happens. It would also introduce additional protections for children.
As at 15 October 2026, the Bill has been introduced to Parliament but has not yet become law.
Australia’s proposed Digital Duty of Care would shift more responsibility for online safety towards the services that design and operate the digital spaces Australians use.
That matters particularly for children. But protecting children from harm is only one part of preparing them for digital life.
The Digital Readiness Lab’s 2026 research looks at another part of that picture: the capabilities children develop, and the conditions around them, as they move toward greater digital independence.
This page explains what the proposed legislation would do, what it could mean for organisations, and what the Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026 can add to the conversation.
Bill introduced to Parliament 15 October 2026 · Referred to a Senate committee reporting in late November · Not yet law · Status checked 15 October 2026
On this page:
What is the Bill?
What is the Digital Duty of Care Bill?
The Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 proposes a new duty on online service providers to take greater responsibility for preventing foreseeable online harm.
Under the Bill introduced to Parliament on 15 October 2026, providers would be required to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, a safe online environment, with additional protections applying to children.
What it means for organisations
What would a Digital Duty of Care mean for online platforms and organisations?
If passed, the proposed Digital Duty of Care would place more responsibility on online services to identify foreseeable risks and reduce them before harm occurs.
That means thinking about safety not only when something goes wrong, but in how services are designed, assessed and reviewed in the first place.
What the draft proposes
Legal obligations, if passed
Depending on the service and the final legislation, organisations covered by the duty could be required to:
- carry out a written online safety risk assessment of foreseeable harms associated with their service
- take reasonable steps to reduce those risks and review whether those measures are working
- consider how certain design features operate, including where children use the service
- keep records and provide information to the eSafety Commissioner where required
- provide user-control tools where required by rules made under the legislation
Where child development evidence helps
Questions a risk assessment should be asking
Legal compliance tells an organisation what it’s required to do. Evidence about children’s current digital lives can help organisations ask better questions about how their products work in real life.
For example:
- How are children of different ages actually using the service?
- Which features may make it harder for a child to stop, switch away or regulate their attention?
- What does a child need to recognise when something online is misleading, manipulative or difficult to judge?
- If something goes wrong, is it obvious where a child can turn for help?
- Do the service’s design, controls and support tools work in ways children and families can realistically understand and use?
These aren’t additional legal requirements. They’re examples of the kinds of child-development questions that can sit alongside legal and technical risk assessment.
This page provides general information, not legal advice. Organisations should obtain their own advice about how any Digital Duty of Care would apply to them.
What the research shows
What does the 2026 Australian Digital Readiness Index show?
The Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026 surveyed 1,029 Australian parents and carers, each reporting on one child aged 9 to 14.
It found that access to digital technology doesn’t automatically mean a child has developed the capabilities to navigate it independently. Across the Index, only 11.8% of children were rated as reaching the threshold across all three Digital Readiness capabilities: self-regulation, critical judgement, and help-seeking.
From the Australian Digital Readiness Index:
3 in 4
of children aged 9 to 14 had a smartphone.
7 in 10
were using a device before the age of nine (among children whose first-use age is known).
11.8%
were rated capable across all three capabilities: self-regulation, critical judgement and help-seeking.
70.7%
of parents had noticed at least one sign that their child might need more support online.
37.6%
of parents agreed with at least one statement suggesting parental controls could be difficult to set up or of limited use.
45.0%
of parents said they would use government or eSafety guidance but were not currently using it.
Why these findings matter in a Digital Duty of Care conversation
Age alone isn’t readiness
Parents rated children’s critical judgement higher at age 14 than at age 9, rising from 22.7% reaching the threshold at age 9 to 46.1% at age 14. But the Index found no clear age pattern for self-regulation or help-seeking.
Years using a device and smartphone ownership were also not associated with any of the three Digital Readiness capabilities.
Self-regulation can’t simply be assumed with age or experience
Self-regulation is the capability to manage attention, limits and emotions around devices. In the Index, parents’ ratings of self-regulation did not show a clear age pattern between 9 and 14. Greater device use experience wasn’t associated with higher self-regulation either.
That matters when organisations are considering design features intended to hold attention or encourage continued use.
Parents want more support, including from the services children use
The Index suggests families don’t see Digital Readiness as something they should manage entirely on their own. Among parents surveyed, 25% said the company that made the device or app should be a source of guidance, while a further 41.4% said they would like guidance from that source.
This doesn’t tell us what the law should require, but it does show that many parents expect the organisations shaping children’s digital lives to play a role in supporting them.
What the Index does, and does not, tell us
The Australian Digital Readiness Index measures Digital Readiness, not online safety.
It looks at three capabilities, as reported by parents:
- Self-regulation – managing attention, limits and emotions around devices
- Critical judgement – recognising advertising, judging information and knowing what to do when something doesn’t feel right
- Help-seeking – turning to a trusted adult when something feels upsetting, confusing or unsafe
The Index is based on parent reports collected in 2026. It identifies associations, not causes, and doesn’t measure the effect of the proposed Digital Duty of Care or any other law.
Sources: Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026 (Wave 1), Digital Readiness Lab. Fielded August 2026, published October 2026. Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026, Digital Readiness Lab, Statistical Appendix, Table B34.
Explore the 2026 Index →Readiness and safety
Why does Digital Readiness matter alongside a duty of care?
A Digital Duty of Care is about what online services do to reduce foreseeable harm. Digital Readiness is about the capabilities children develop, and the conditions that support them, as they move toward greater digital independence. Children need both.
Australia has put important protections around children’s digital lives, from age restrictions to rules affecting platforms and devices in schools.
Those protections matter. But children also need capabilities they can carry with them from one digital space to another, including whether they can work out what’s true online, put a device down when it’s time, and turn to a parent when something goes wrong.
Protection
What services, platforms and policy can do:
- reduce foreseeable risks of serious harm
- build safety into systems and product design
- provide appropriate protections where children use a service
- make controls, reporting and support easier to find and use
Readiness
What children can build, with support:
- manage attention and know when to stop
- question what they see and judge what is trustworthy
- recognise when something is wrong
- know when and how to ask for help
Protection and readiness are different jobs, but they should work together. Age can change access. It does not automatically change capability.
How the Lab can help
How can the Digital Readiness Lab help organisations?
The Digital Readiness Lab is an independent research organisation focused on understanding, measuring and building Digital Readiness in Australian children. We work with organisations, policymakers and partners to bring evidence about children’s real digital lives into research, strategy and decision-making. The Lab doesn’t provide legal or compliance advice.
Commission research
Explore a question about children’s digital lives, Digital Readiness or the systems and services around them.
Understand the evidence
We provide briefings for organisations and policymakers, helping make clear what the evidence says, what it does not say, and where the gaps remain.
Use the Australian Digital Readiness Index
Draw on Australia’s first national measure of children’s Digital Readiness to inform discussion, policy and decision-making.
Build from the evidence
Work with the Lab to translate research into practical products, programs and resources.
In development
Future standards and verification
The Lab is developing an evidence-backed framework for what good Digital Readiness support can look like across the organisations shaping children’s digital lives. Standards and verification are future work – The Lab does not currently certify organisations or products.
The Digital Readiness Lab does not provide legal advice, determine compliance with the proposed Digital Duty of Care, or certify compliance with it.
For journalists
Research and expert commentary for journalists
Journalists covering online safety, children and digital life can use findings from the Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026 and request comment from the Digital Readiness Lab.
How to cite the index
Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026, Digital Readiness Lab. Fielded August 2026, published October 2026.
Who can comment
Rinat Strahlhofer
Founder, Digital Readiness Lab
Available for commentary on Digital Readiness, children’s digital lives, the Australian Digital Readiness Index and the Lab’s perspective on the relationship between protection and readiness.
Key findings you can use
Summaries of published findings, not quotes. All figures are parent-reported. For a quote, contact The Lab.
- Age alone doesn’t equal readiness. Parents rated critical judgement higher at age 14 than at age 9, but self-regulation and help-seeking showed no clear age pattern.
- Only 9.9% of parents said they felt comfortable giving their child more independence online. Even among children rated consistently capable across all three areas measured by the Index, 57.1% of parents still weren’t comfortable stepping back.
- Explaining the reasons behind rules and giving children a real say was the only parenting approach linked with all three readiness capabilities.
Media enquiries: Renae Smith, media@digitalreadinesslab.com.au
Request research or comment →Common questions about the Digital Duty of Care
No. The Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 was introduced to Parliament on 15 October 2026, but it has not yet become law.
The Bill has been referred to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, which is due to report in late November. It would need to pass both Houses of Parliament and receive Royal Assent before becoming law.
Sources: Australian Government, Digital Duty of Care next step in Australia’s world-leading reforms, 15 October 2026; Parliament of Australia, Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026
A Digital Duty of Care is a proposed legal duty requiring covered online services to take reasonably practicable steps to address foreseeable online harms. The Australian proposal focuses on preventing foreseeable harm through how services are designed, managed, and operated, rather than relying only on action after harm occurs.
The proposed duty would apply broadly across online services used in Australia, potentially including social media, messaging services, search engines, app stores, hosting services, many websites and some AI services.
The exact scope will depend on the final legislation and any supporting rules. The Bill also allows for exemptions for low-risk services.
They address different questions.
Australia’s social media minimum-age law requires certain social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from having accounts.
The proposed Digital Duty of Care is broader. It focuses on the responsibilities of covered online services to identify and reduce foreseeable risks of harm.
Digital Readiness is different again: it's about the capabilities children develop, and the conditions that support them, as they move toward greater digital independence.
The Bill introduced to Parliament changed this aspect of the exposure draft. New categories of harm would require parliamentary scrutiny rather than being added through ministerial discretion alone.
The Bill provides for civil penalties of up to 60,000 penalty units per breach of the Digital Duty of Care.
No. The 2026 Index measures children’s Digital Readiness as reported by their parents, including three capabilities: self-regulation, critical judgement and help-seeking. It does not measure whether children are ‘safe’ online, whether a particular service causes harm, or the effect of the proposed Digital Duty of Care.
The Australian Digital Readiness Index was designed and analysed by Dr Sarah L. Howe, a developmental research psychologist, engaged independently by the Digital Readiness Lab.
Pureprofile conducted fieldwork in August 2026. The research was funded by the Digital Readiness Lab.
Other enquiries
For organisations
Bring child-development evidence into the decisions you make
Work with the Digital Readiness Lab on research, briefings and evidence about how children use and navigate the digital world.
Partner with us →For journalists
Request research or expert comment
Request Index findings, background information or commentary from the Digital Readiness Lab.
Contact the Lab →Sources
- 1.Parliament of Australia – Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026
- 2.Australian Government – Digital Duty of Care next step in Australia’s world-leading reforms, 15 October 2026
- 3.Australian Government – Choice of feeds on social media
- 4.Australian Government – Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026, Exposure Draft, 8 September 2026
- 5.Australian Government – A Digital Duty of Care for Australia: Developing a duty of care framework for online services used by Australians, May 2026
- 6.Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026, Digital Readiness Lab
- 7.Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026 – Statistical Appendix, Digital Readiness Lab
- 8.eSafety Commissioner – Social media age restrictions
About this page
Written by Rinat Strahlhofer, Founder, Digital Readiness Lab. Information about the proposed Digital Duty of Care is based on official Australian Government and parliamentary material and was last checked on 15 October 2026. Index findings come from the Australian Digital Readiness Index 2026, Digital Readiness Lab. All child capability measures in the Index are based on parent reports. This page provides general information and the Digital Readiness Lab’s perspective. It is not legal advice. The page will be updated as the proposed legislation progresses. Spotted an error or need the latest information? Contact us →