"LGBTQI people, refugee youth, disabled youth — they find community in different spaces if their experience at school or in their communities isn't so welcoming," Dober said.

"What happens for those young people who are then locked out of their valuable online communities?"Albanese said the government was listening to parents' and communities' concerns and noted tech giants had a social responsibility."They're not above everyone else, they can't just say, 'we're a big multinational company, we can do whatever we like regardless of the harm that's being caused'," he said.

But a decade of self-regulation by the tech sector had not amounted to much change and the Australian Association of Psychologists has urged the government to establish a fully independent regulator for the industry.

"The misogynistic content, the racist content, the hate speech — all of this can be stamped out," Dober said.The federal government is working with the states and territories to create a uniform framework.

NSW premier Chris Minns said social media had been an "unregulated" global experiment on young people and lauded the South Australian proposal, which would allow social media access for children from 14 to 16 with parental consent and bans anyone younger."When a product or service hurts children, governments must act," South Australia premier Peter Malinauskas said.Victoria is also working with the SA and federal governments to introduce social media age limits.Parents were highly concerned and Victorian premier Jacinta Allan said she had even banned social media platforms in her own household."I can see from my own kids use of technology, how it can be absolutely a good tool for education purposes," she told reporters."But I've also seen how some platforms, with the click of one button, can send a tsunami of inappropriate content into my kids' feed."Queensland premier Steven Miles noted social media could "leave a scar for life" and supported the Commonwealth's moves.Federal opposition communications spokesman David Coleman strongly supported age verification for social media but believed it should be limited to those aged 16 and above.