Communications Minister Anika Wells concedes $10m extra cash needed to explain social media ban

Communication Minister Anika Wells has defended an additional $10 million spend on an awareness campaign for Australia’s under-16s social media ban.

The extra cost brings the total bill to explain the policy to $20 million, according to departmental evidence to Senate estimates on Tuesday morning.

Ms Wells conceded that Aussies were still confused after the first round of the advertising blitz, so a decision was made in late 2025 to up the budget.

“There have been decisions taken over the second half of the last year in response to feedback on the ground,” Ms Wells told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

“People like the Opposition, for example, were saying that not enough Australians were aware of what was coming, that people needed to inform themselves.

“One of the ways that we help Australians inform themselves about laws that are going to impact them, is an educational awareness campaign.”

Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh said doubling the previous taxpayer funded bill raised questions about the effectiveness of the ban.

“The time for the Minister for Communications to act and make sure kids, parents and teachers had all the information they needed was before the ban commenced,” Ms McIntosh told The Nightly.

“An additional $10 million on an advertising campaign, $20 million in total, is at this point in time (is) highly questionable.

“Families are struggling to put food on their tables and pay their rent or mortgages.

“This is not good use of taxpayer funds, but neither was the trip to New York.”

Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson had led the questioning on the expenses in the Environment and Communications committee, with agency officials providing a breakdown of the cash splash.

First Assistant Secretary Susan Charles said the campaign had driven more people to the eSatefy Commission’s website but admitted further reach was needed.

“Early tracking shows that there’s 96 per cent awareness with all audiences of the introduction of the social media minimum age,” she said.

“We’ve had a significant increase of traffic to websites.”

Ms Charles provided a breakdown of the additional spending, saying the money was spread across multiple platforms.

It included more than $3m digital video, $2.3m on digital radio, $3.1m on social media video, and $350K on regional newspapers.

The extra spending comes after Ms Wells sparked a travel expenses scandal across the Parliament following $120,000 bill to fly to New York with two staffers.

Ms Wells had attended an event at the UN General Assembly in New York in September to spruik the then yet-to-be-launched social media ban to world leaders at an almost $70,000 event.