Matthew Lesh

🚨📈📉 NEW GRAPH: Inflation has risen by 80% since 2000.

Highly regulated products like 💡 electricity, 🏘️ housing, and 👪 childcare have had rapid price increases.

But... competitive and innovative markets like 📷cameras,👗 clothing, 🐻 toys have had price decreases.

They will want to ban email and text messaging next!

The government’s under-16s social media ban won’t just mean Instagram, it’s going to include Lego Play, YouTube Kids and Spotify.

This is mad — it’s the parents who are using these services for education and entertainment for their children.

Could Australia's under-16 social media ban be declared unconstitutional?

Over the last two days, the High Court heard challenges from Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project.

Australia has no written bill of rights, but since 1992 the High Court has recognised an “implied” freedom of political communication, which derives from the ability to elect politicians and limit’s parliament’s power to place undue burden on political expression. It has been used to strike down a ban on political ads on TV and radio, restrictions on political donations, and Tasmania's antiprotest laws.

The case against the ban:

- It cuts teenagers out of the forums where political debate now happens. Reddit has pointed to Greta Thunberg and Leo Puglisi, both of whom reached tens of thousands on X as teens.
- Most Reddit and YouTube content can be viewed without an account, so the law blocks participation rather than access.
- It is not working, with one study finding that almost two thirds of 14–15 year olds had used a banned platform in the past week.
- There are less restrictive options available, like regulating design features or parental controls. France's Constitutional Council struck down an under 15 ban in August.

The government claims that the burden is modest and points to alleged risks from social to justify the ban. We probably won’t find out the result till next year, but it’s very much worth watching.

As it stands, the Australian government is trying to lock a generation out of political debate, for little to no apparent benefit. Other governments are trying to follow suit, without properly considering what this means for children, who should also be entitled to communicate on public platforms.

🗳️ NEW: Voters are expecting an early election, and half want one, finds the @CityAM / Freshwater Strategy Poll:

- 51% say it should be held by the end of 2027
- 39% expect one by then
- Just 23% want to wait until 2029

(n=1,219, 30 Oct-1 Nov)