Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026: Exposure Draft
Submission Date: 23 September 2026
The Law Council of Australia provided a submission to comment on the exposure draft of the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 (the draft Bill).
The draft Bill would amend the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) (the Act) to introduce a ‘Digital Duty of Care’ (DDC). This would be in addition to existing measures in the Act relating to complaint schemes, industry codes, and mechanisms to improve transparency and accountability, aimed at preventing the proliferation of illegal and harmful content online. In addition to the DDC, the draft Bill would add relevant measures to modernises the current framework, encourage a proactive response, to better protect individuals online and by placing greater regulatory responsibility on technology companies.
Before commenting on the substantive aspects of the draft Bill, the Law Council takes the opportunity to raise its concern with the consultation process led by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, Sport and the Arts.
The Law Council welcomes the public release of the draft Bill, which is an important part of any significant law reform process. However, we take particular issue with the compressed timeframe for consultation and submit that a period of 10 business days in which to respond is restrictive and insufficient to permit fulsome engagement and promote meaningful feedback. Further noting, while an Issues Paper1 was released in May 2026, the Department did not invite public submissions or engage with peak legal bodies at that time. Further, the Department’s request on the consultation homepage to ensure feedback is no longer than 5 pages places an unjustified restriction on stakeholder engagement with an important reform measure.2 The Bill, which amends five existing acts, itself is 71 pages.
The absence of a consultation paper or explanatory memorandum to accompany the release of the draft Bill is also concerning. A consultation paper or some preliminary analysis would have provided stakeholders with a useful understanding of the proposed approaches, international comparisons, and context on how the draft Bill has weighed various considerations.
As a membership-based peak organisation, the Law Council consults its constituent bodies, sections and advisory committees in developing law reform positions. The limited timeframe has substantially constrained this process. Accordingly, the views expressed in this submission are necessarily preliminary and should not be taken to identify all issues arising from the draft Bill.
1 Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, Sport and the Arts, A Digital Duty of Care for Australia—Developing a duty of care framework for online services used by Australians (Issues Paper, May 2026) 7 <https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/digital-duty-of-care-for-australia-developing-duty-of-care-framework-for-online-services-used-by-australians-may2026.pdf>.
2 Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication, Sport and the Arts, Exposure Draft—Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 (Web Page) <www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/media/publications/exposure-draft-online-safety-amendment-digital-duty-care-bill-2026>.
Last Updated on 24/09/2026