Digital Duty of Care Submission Guide

Digital Duty of Care Exposure Draft Bill 2026

“Build Your Own Submission” resource

This resource contains:

• Information about the Digital Duty of Care Bill and tips to support you with your submission

• Template submission designed for Community Legal Centres, Civil Society and Not-for-Profit Organisations

This resource was prepared by Wotton Kearney in partnership with Digital Rights Watch as a practical tool for community legal centres, civil society and not-for-profit organisations to engage with the Australian Government’s consultation on the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026.

UPDATE: 23 OCTOBER 2026

THE INTRODUCED BILL

The Bill was introduced to Parliament on 15 October 2026 with an Explanatory Memorandum. This Guide has been kept as originally written and describes the exposure draft, so its section numbers are exposure draft numbers.

We draw your attention to changes that you may be interested in considering for advocacy purposes in Part 1 and Part 2 where relevant under the heading “UPDATE: WHAT HAS CHANGED IN THE INTRODUCED BILL”. (Note that we haven’t worked through or added any updates to Part 3 and Part 4.)

References are labelled “ED” (exposure draft), “Bill” (introduced Bill) and “EM” (Explanatory Memorandum). Many provisions have been renumbered; see the APPENDIX: CHANGES IN KEY PROVISIONS — EXPOSURE DRAFT COMPARED WITH THE INTRODUCED BILL.

The Environment and Communications Legislation Committee is taking submissions until 30 October 2026. Submissions should be sent to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts at digitaldutyofcare@communications.gov.au. See Part 4 of this resource for a template submission.