eSafety probed on Roblox following Guardian investigation

Independent senator David Pocock asked the eSafety commissioner in Senate estimates last night about Guardian Australia’s investigation into Roblox and what children may experience on the platform.

With Roblox not subject to the under-16s social media ban, Pocock asked whether Roblox was deemed as a gaming platform or a platform that is “actually enabling social interactions”?

Julie Inman Grant responded by detailing the changes Roblox has announced that would use age assurance to separate age groups from interacting with each other.

eSafety officials said that Roblox has been assessed as having a primary purpose for gaming – which is one of the exemptions from the ban – but as services evolve over time and more features are added that have a social aspect, it is something the platforms must continually assess themselves as to whether they might be covered by the ban.

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Union asks workplace regulators to investigate ANZ

Jonathan Barrett

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) has called for an investigation into ANZ’s handling of major job cuts after accusing the bank of failing to act on serious health and safety concerns raised by workers.

FSU’s decision to write to workplace health and safety regulators across Australia follows a decision by the major bank to slash 3,500 jobs, including some just before Christmas.

The ANZ chief executive, Nuno Matos, told parliament last month the cuts were “not something I am proud of”, but added that they were in the “best interests of our customers” because the bank’s operations had become too complex.

The FSU national president Wendy Street said:

[Matos has] refused to delay redundancies for employees who face an exit in December, refused to provide clarity on the outstanding job cuts and isn’t showing even a basic level of compassion for people under enormous stress ahead of Christmas.

People are distressed as they face uncertainty as they’re being forced out at the most stressful time of the year.

ANZ declined to comment.

ANZ CEO Nuno Matos. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare

Indigenous Australians twice as likely to face barriers accessing internet, study finds

Douglas Smith

Indigenous Australians are twice as likely as other Australians to face barriers to accessing, affording and using the internet, a university report has found.

The Mapping the Digital Gap report conducted by RMIT and Swinburne University of Technology, found barriers are far greater for those living in remote areas of the country, with three in four Indigenous people living in remote and very remote communities experiencing digital exclusion.

Assoc Prof Daniel Featherstone from RMIT said it meant significant barriers in accessing and using online services needed for daily social, economic and cultural life.

He said:

Connectivity is an essential service nowadays, especially in remote communities.

But there are a range of barriers to having affordable and reliable internet access in these communities – largely due to limited or strained infrastructure, low household connectivity and high reliance on pre-paid mobile services.

While the study found a 10.5-point digital gap on the Australian digital inclusion index (ADII), the research also found an 8.7-point improvement in digital ability for Indigenous people in very remote communities, rising from 45.8 in 2023 to 54.5 in 2025.

The ADII measures how Australians access and use digital technologies, factoring in digital skills and affordability out of 100.

A young woman uses the internet at Alice Springs library. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The GuardianShare

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And welcome to a new day. Nick Visser here to take things over – let’s get to it.

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Updated at 21.18 CET

Bruce Lehrmann to learn fate of defamation appeal

Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann will today learn whether a second return to the lion’s den has overturned his loss in a defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson, AAP reports.

The 30-year-old sued for defamation over an interview with Brittany Higgins on The Project in 2021.

In 2024 Justice Michael Lee found against Lehrmann, and said in his judgment that Higgins’s claims Lehrmann had raped her inside Parliament House two years earlier were established on the balance of probabilities.

He commented in his judgment that: “Having escaped the lions’ den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat.”

Lehrmann appealed against the finding during a two-day hearing in August, arguing the judge erred in finding Ten and Wilkinson had legally justified the imputation of rape.

After months of deliberations, the full bench of the federal court is due to hand down its decision today.

Bruce Lehrmann. Photograph: Steve Markham/AAPShareJosh Taylor

More from the Roblox questions last night:

David Pocock asked if eSafety was conducting its own experiments such as those carried out by our reporter Sarah Martin to see what Roblox features are like.

Inman Grant said eSafety was assessing if it had the legal ability to set up accounts for its own testing.

We look at a range of factors in terms of determining what we consider to be the relative risk, experts, things like that. Where those tests have been done.

[On the weekend] I’m often reading 404 Media or the Guardian or whatever it is, or Wired and sending [my team] some research to look at.

So we’re doing that. We’re doing some of our own testing. And we’re using our transparency powers, but we’re also just taking complaints in from the general public through our complaints schemes every day.

eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant at Senate estimates in October. Photograph: Dominic Giannini/AAPShare

eSafety probed on Roblox following Guardian investigation

Independent senator David Pocock asked the eSafety commissioner in Senate estimates last night about Guardian Australia’s investigation into Roblox and what children may experience on the platform.

With Roblox not subject to the under-16s social media ban, Pocock asked whether Roblox was deemed as a gaming platform or a platform that is “actually enabling social interactions”?

Julie Inman Grant responded by detailing the changes Roblox has announced that would use age assurance to separate age groups from interacting with each other.

eSafety officials said that Roblox has been assessed as having a primary purpose for gaming – which is one of the exemptions from the ban – but as services evolve over time and more features are added that have a social aspect, it is something the platforms must continually assess themselves as to whether they might be covered by the ban.

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Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will take the helm.

It was a busy night at Senate estimates, with the eSafety commissioner grilled on matters relating to the imminent social media ban for under-16s. First, independent senator David Pocock asked Julie Inman Grant about Guardian Australia’s investigation into Roblox and why the platform is not subject to the ban. Inman Grant also told senators that she rejected claims from a US congressman that she was a “zealot for global takedowns”. More coming up.

Indigenous Australians are twice as likely as other Australians to face barriers to accessing, affording and using the internet, a university report has found. Minding the Digital Gap found that poor strained infrastructure, low household connectivity and reliance on prepaid mobile services hampered access. More soon.

And this morning the federal court will hand down its judgment on Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal against his defamation case loss against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson. We’ll be bringing you all the developments.

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