Australia: Australian Government responded to independent review of Online Safety Act

On 14 April 2026, the Australian Government published its response to the Report of the Statutory Review of the Online Safety Act 2021. The response addresses all 67 recommendations of the review, supporting, supporting in principle, noting, or not supporting each. The Government committed to implementing, wholly or partially, or further considering 64 of the 67 recommendations. As an immediate priority, the Government committed to legislating a digital duty of care, placing obligations on service providers to take reasonable steps and exercise due diligence in maintaining systems and processes to prevent harm from the use of their services. The digital duty of care will be risk-based, proportionate, and applicable to all service providers where there is a risk of harm to Australians. It will be underpinned by safety by design principles, risk assessment, risk mitigation, and measurement. The best interests of the child will be a primary consideration for online service providers. The maximum civil penalty that a court can impose will be increased to the greater of 5% of global annual turnover or AUD 50 million. Civil penalties for non-compliance with removal notices will be increased to a maximum of AUD 10 million for companies. The Government will consider transitioning the eSafety Commissioner to a multi-member Commission model. A further statutory review of the updated Online Safety Act 2021 will be conducted within three years of commencement of the new legislation, or by 2029, whichever is earliest.