Peta Credlin: All the international accolades and the flights to New York for three hour speeches, all on the taxpayer, it’s got loopholes. Kids are getting through, 70 per cent say they can still get online, they can still get to social media. So what about all that noise they made about these $50 million fines for big tech. Where are they?
Senator Henderson: Well Peta, as you say, the minister has been flying around the world praising herself and her government over the social media ban but it is simply not working. I think she’s trying to deflect. She’s been caught up in a very major travel rorts scandal. She’s now talking tough against the social media companies but where is the action? If they have breached the law, why isn’t the government prosecuting the likes of Meta, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the like. The problem is that the legislation provides that the social media companies must take reasonable efforts to shut down underage accounts. Now, the minister claims some 5 million accounts have been shut down. There’s no evidence to support that claim. That’s a very rubbery claim and yet she’s now saying that they’re not doing enough. The problem is that there are so many work arounds as you say, children are using VPNs, there’s not an appropriate age verification system. And so as we stand at the moment, the government is simply not doing enough and children are simply not safe online.
Peta Credlin: Right, imagine you’re the minister, what would you do?
Senator Henderson: Well, if the minister was prepared to get tough against the social media companies, against the big tech platforms, she should be taking every single step to make the safety tools available to parents which are available to organisations, big companies, government departments, through enterprise agreements. There’s a whole lot of safety tools. Parents should be able to control how much time children can spend on social media and what they see, the safety of the content – that is not available to Australian parents and that’s a shock. The other thing the government is not doing is using technology available to shut down horrific child sexual abuse material including livestreaming, and we have heard nothing from this minister about that horrific problem in this country. So there is much more the government could be doing but this minister is just, frankly, not up to the job.
Peta Credlin: Sarah, I’ve got to ask you as a Victorian Liberal, a Senator for Victoria, about the preselection debacle in relation to Moira Deeming. Are you surprised that after the scandal of Dinesh Gourisetty, who withdrew after it was revealed, and pretty easy to find this online, that he gave a character reference to a convicted paedophile that the Liberal Party has refused to endorse Moira Deeming and said they’ve opened up the preselection yet again for a contested race, for little over 24 hours to lodge nominations. What’s going on?
Senator Henderson: Well Peta, let me start by saying Moira Deeming is a wonderful member of parliament. She’s a warrior for women’s rights. She’s a warrior for the protection of children, a warrior for the people of Melbourne’s west and, of course, a great advocate for common sense. The treatment of Moira has been terrible and I am very disappointed that she has not been immediately preselected after, as you say, this debacle has unfolded.
Peta Credlin: Okay well, given all the internal issues and the Liberal Party is in a must-win race on behalf of all Victorians, who want to turn the state around come November at the state election, surely the head office, the Victorian Liberal president has to take responsibility, has to resign. They’re supposed to vet candidates. This got through. It’s just shameful.
Senator Henderson: Well Peta, everyone in the Liberal Party must be working hard night and day to ensure that Jess Wilson and her team are elected. This state is a basket case under Jacinta Allan. It is riddled with incompetence and corruption. It is a disgrace what is happening in our state and we have to give this Party every single chance to win in November. And I think that there has been a failure of organisational leadership and that has to be immediately resolved.
Peta Credlin: Would you blame Moira Deeming if she left after all of this, or went to One Nation? I mean, One Nation is eating into the Liberal Party vote right around the country but particularly in Victoria?
Senator Henderson: Well Peta, Moira is a wonderful asset for the Liberal Party. She loves the Liberal Party. The way she has been treated by some in the Party is just shocking. I desperately hope that she stays and I desperately hope that this can be resolved very quickly.
Peta Credlin: Alright, I wish you were running the show, Sarah, you’re not, because everyone else has got their head in their sand. I’ll leave it there.