Friday September 25th, 2026
SHARC has called on the government to ensure efforts to improve online safety are not at the expense of people seeking support for drug and alcohol challenges.
The draft digital duty of care bill aims to reduce harm in digital environments but there are fears it may also stifle public health information that saves lives.
This week, SHARC made a submission urging the Australian Government to explicitly protect online public health, harm reduction, health promotion, and overdose prevention information.
While SHARC supports increased digital safety, the bill risks causing unintended harm to people who use alcohol and other drugs, and folks in recovery.
It could also create significant barriers for SHARC and other organisations working to reduce alcohol and other drug (AOD) harms.
In its current form, the bill may remove or restrict evidence-based public health information, harm reduction messaging, lived and living experience (LLE) advocacy, peer support, and public drug policy debate from online spaces.
Without safeguards to distinguish between harmful content and evidence-based health information, the legislation could see platforms and organisations remove or suppress lawful content to avoid liability and significant penalties.
This would undermine public health objectives, reduce community access to life-saving information, and weaken the role of LLE participation in policy and service reform.
The bill is also not aligned with the National Drug Strategy or the recommendations of the federal inquiry into the health impacts of alcohol and other drugs released last week.
The inquiry’s recommendations include new digital models of harm prevention, a nationally coordinated early warning system for illicit drugs, improved access to harm reduction services and education, and drug checking to support health-based surveillance.
Each of these depends on the continued ability of AOD organisations to publish and disseminate drug-related information online.
Read SHARC’s submission on the draft duty of care bill here.