The Government is not moving to ban U16s from social media. The National Party is.

New Zealand First understands and agrees with the intent of the law change - no one is more concerned and share the anxiety that parents are feeling about this issue - but we will not be supporting the progression of legislation to ban social media for under-16s.

We have communicated our concerns to National over the past year. Our stance has not changed.

We have been concerned with the proposed legislation and more so about the direction and slippery slope that legislation like this will inevitably take our country.

The fact is, no matter how laudable the intent is of introducing laws to address this serious issue, there is no method that would fulfil that intent without banning VPNs or the use of digital ID to enforce the law.

This has been proven with the colossal failure of Australia bringing in similar measures that National want to bring in now.

This would lead to some sort of soviet era outcome that would be guaranteed to take New Zealanders’ freedoms and privacy away.

New Zealand First will never support this.

Ultimately, we as a country need to decide whether it is the right path for any government to take over the responsibility of parents, and the expectations that parents have the rights and responsibilities to make decisions for their own children.

Of course, government can play a part in making our society safer, but should never be by totalitarian overreach or at the expense of those parental rights, nor at the expense of the freedoms and privacy of the rest of the country.