Except in Australia experts don't come into it, except for sham inquirys that are held as a matter of course.
In this case, basically all the tech experts and child safety experts were saying that a blanket ban is not a workable policy, and could create harms in certain marginalised demographics where teens may rely on social media for support, yet the Government ignored them all and ploughed ahead.
The only changes to the legislation came from some political horse trading with the Opposition to get it through the Senate.
> The only changes to the legislation came from some political horse trading with the Opposition to get it through the Senate.
Well that is the normal process of things, surely? I mean, (politics is the art of the possible) * (nobody really likes seeing how the sausage is made).
Yes, but it's kind of insulting when they make a song and dance of fake 'evidence-based policy' and community consultation, with a whole inquiry and inviting experts to testify in front of legislators and tell them that the bills are flawed and unworkable, and that the policy is flawed from the beginning, and they sit there asking questions and nodding and looking concerned, and then it's just roundly ignored...
This process also got thousands of public submissions, many of which would have been in opposition, but they didn't have time to go through them all so they only published a dozen or so...
In this case, basically all the tech experts and child safety experts were saying that a blanket ban is not a workable policy, and could create harms in certain marginalised demographics where teens may rely on social media for support, yet the Government ignored them all and ploughed ahead.
The only changes to the legislation came from some political horse trading with the Opposition to get it through the Senate.