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Hume calls on the government to reverse the ATO credit card payment ban, while the eSafety Commission tells Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft and Steam to improve child safety.
The Australian Taxation Office ( ATO) is facing calls to reverse its decision to stop accepting credit card payments, as the eSafety Commission warned major gaming companies to improve child safety protections. The developments emerged during a federal politics sitting day in Canberra, with the ATO ban taking effect from yesterday and the gaming audit marking the first of its kind under the Online Safety Act.
ATO Credit Card Payment Ban Under Fire
Shadow Minister for Small Business Hume has urged the government to reverse the tax office decision to stop accepting credit card payments. From yesterday, businesses were banned from adding a surcharge to customers using electronic terminals to pay for goods on card networks including eftpos, Mastercard and Visa.
The Australian Taxation Office has also announced it will stop accepting credit card payments from November 30 because of the surcharge ban. Hume says customers will ultimately have to pay more as a result of the change.
Hume said the Coalition is calling on the government to reverse the change that the ATO is imposing on small businesses. She argued it is clear the government does not understand small business and is imposing unnecessary costs on them.
Hume also said she will write to the ATO to ask it to reverse the ban on accepting credit card payments. The surcharge ban applies to card networks including eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, and has flow-on effects for how businesses process transactions.
Productivity Commission Backs Corporate Tax Cut
The Productivity Commission says its proposal to cut the company tax rate would help with Australia's productivity challenge. The commission has previously called for a 20 per cent tax rate on profits for companies with revenue of up to $1 billion, but it was never adopted in May's federal budget.
A representative from the Productivity Commission said productivity was doing nothing, and that stronger productivity would allow more to be produced without adding to inflation. The commission says cutting corporate tax rates is one of the easiest ways to lift productivity.
The commission looked at the real drop-off in business investment since the global financial crisis and what could be done to lift it. Company tax reform is one of the easiest pathways to doing that, according to the commission.
Leeser Seeks Federal Action on WA Child Protection
Leeser has called for federal agencies to get involved in cases of unsupervised children in Western Australia in state care. Up to 15 Aboriginal children, some as young as five, were living unsupervised in a state-owned home in South Hedland.
Leeser says services across the state and federal government have failed to coordinate. He says there has been a failure of welfare checks, and has called on the Prime Minister and the federal Indigenous Australians minister to visit the area.
Leeser said the state government has now set up a coordination committee, but it does not include the federal agencies. He wants federal agencies involved as well, and wants the federal minister and the prime minister to visit there too.
Gaming Giants Told to Improve Child Safety
Australia's online safety watchdog has taken aim at some of the world's biggest gaming companies, telling them to step up their protections for children. After reviewing their submissions, the eSafety Commission found big differences in how Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft and Steam deal with serious harms including grooming, child exploitation, and violent extremist content.
The commission identified gaps in harmful content detection, repeat-offender prevention, and information-sharing initiatives. Age checks remain a big issue, with both Fortnite and Minecraft largely relying on users to declare their ages, making it harder to apply age-based protections.
Valve was singled out as the only platform not using hash-matching, a technology that helps to quickly detect and identify child sexual abuse material. eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant said while there has been some improvement to prevent serious harms, she expects services to lift their game.
Inman Grant said Australian children have a right to play online without being exposed to predators, sexual extortionists, violent extremist content or other harmful material. She said service providers should leverage systems that actually detect and disrupt serious harms before children are exposed to them.
This is the first time a gaming audit has taken place under the Online Safety Act, with the proposed Digital Duty of Care bill shifting further emphasis to how platforms prevent harm. The audit examined how Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft and Steam handle serious harms, and found varying approaches across the platforms.
ATO Credit Card Payment Ban Hume Esafety Commission Gaming Companies Productivity Commission South Hedland
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