# Michelle Rowland

### A minimum-age policy turns from proposal into legislation

As communications minister in the [Albanese](/people/anthony-albanese) government, Michelle Rowland championed a statutory minimum age for accounts on designated social-media platforms. The [prime minister’s parliamentary announcement](https://www.pm.gov.au/media/social-media-reforms-protect-our-kids-online-pass-parliament) records passage of the bill on 29 November 2024 and identifies Rowland among the government ministers responsible for the measure. The law did not make children personally liable for underage access. Instead, it placed a reasonable-steps obligation on platform operators and attached potential penalties for systemic breaches. This is a regulatory shift in accountability from individual households to technology companies. A parliamentary passage announcement is not the same as proven protection from online harms, and a legal age boundary is not evidence that every platform can accurately determine a user’s age without collecting sensitive personal information. Rowland's attributable contribution is public sponsorship and ministerial administration, within a collective cabinet and parliamentary process.

## Dated facts

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## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/people/michelle-rowland