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Former child abuse royal commissioner Robert Fitzgerald and top domestic violence campaigners have accused the federal government of putting vested interests ahead of child safety by ignoring advice to trial an Australian porn passport.

In an open letter to be sent to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland on Tuesday, more than three dozen child and women’s safety experts said early exposure to pornography was leading to the normalisation of violence against women and a rise in child-on-child sexual abuse.

Signatories include consent campaigner Chanel Contos, the first NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People Gillian Calvert, parenting experts Maggie Dent, Michael Carr-Gregg and Steve Biddulph, the head of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children Anna Bowden, and ethicists Tim Costello and Professor Clive Hamilton.

Consent advocate Chanel Contos.Credit: Jamila Toderas

“It is our strong view that the government has allowed itself to be swayed by industry resistance to an age verification system,” the letter read. “Vested interests should not have been put before the wellbeing of children.”

At the request of the former government, the e-Safety Commission spent two years working on a way to ensure porn sites assessed users’ age. It recommended the government trial different types of technology to find one that balanced accuracy and privacy.

But late last month, the government rejected the recommendation, preferring a system that would give the adult industry a chance to regulate itself through a code system. It would wait until after that process – which could take years – before considering an age verification trial.

E-Safety research found 75 per cent of 16- to 18-year-olds had viewed online pornography, and a third of those first saw it before they were 13. Delaying exposure made it more likely they had the maturity to understand what they saw on screen wasn’t a script for real life.

Parenting expert Maggie Dent signed the open letter.Credit:

A Sydney Morning Herald and Age analysis of the world’s most popular free pornography sites found that despite content that showed men treating women with violence and coercion prohibited under Australian law, none stipulated the content was for adults or required users to tick a box confirming they were over 18.

The open letter was organised by Collective Shout, which campaigns for women’s safety. Its movement director, Melinda Tankard Reist, urged the government to heed the letter from disappointed women’s and child safety advocates.

“Millions more children will be exposed to rape, torture porn, sadism, incest, extreme degradation of women,” she said. “We hope the government will recognise the reasonableness of at least trialling a pilot program as called for by this leading group of Australian experts.

“Other countries are doing this. Why can’t Australia? What’s the harm with at least piloting an age verification program?”

Critics of age assurance – which ranges from an ID system, as mooted for France, to technology that assesses a user’s facial characteristics – say the technology is still maturing and were concerned about the privacy implications for adult porn users.

The international adult websites consulted by e-Safety argued that age verification would push people to darker sites as well as hurt business, and argued that sex education was a better approach. However, child advocates say the disadvantaged children most at risk had the least access to education.

In her announcement late last month, Rowland said the government supported industry-led codes on matters such as parent education and optional filters. “The government supports this approach and will work with the regulator to ensure the full and successful implementation of the Online Safety Act,” she said.

Robert Fitzgerald was a commissioner with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, as well as the Productivity Commission. He is now the NSW ageing and disability commissioner.

Other signatories included domestic violence expert Jess Hill, White Ribbon director Allan Ball and Katherine Berney, director of the National Women’s Safety Alliance.

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