Professor Conor O'Mahony:

Briefly, on the first question, my sense of the Bill is that it is broadly going in the right direction. I do not think it is a case of it needing to be scrapped and to start all over again. It is a case of it needing to go further in a number of respects. To take a few examples that I mentioned, it is the right thing to make reference to principles like the best interests of the child and the child's evolving capacities. It is good to include that. However, we need to go further and clarify what that means and what obligations flow from those principles in respect of the media commission or the online safety commissioner or service providers. It should be clarified what they have to do on foot of those principles to make them a reality. The thrust of my submission is that the general direction is good, but there are a number of places in which the proposals need to go further and be refined and developed more.

On the gambling point, I agree with the Senator. The issue is that we must ensure that we do not leave loopholes, because we know that service providers will try to exploit those loopholes where they exist. If the evidence suggests - which I believe it does - that online gambling poses a risk of harm to children, then we need to be sure that the Bill really calls that out and puts in place specific safeguards that address that rather than leaving loopholes, of which service providers will be only too happy to take advantage.