Oiva’s Submission on the Digital Duty of Care Bill: Practical Protection, No Sector Exemption

The Australian Government is consulting on an exposure draft of the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026, which would place an enforceable duty on online services to protect the safety of their users, with particular weight on children. Oiva lodged its submission with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts on 22 September 2026.

Our position

Oiva supports an enforceable digital duty of care. Children and families should be protected through the design and operation of online services, including services that hold information about children who never use those services themselves.

We did not seek a sector exemption. Our view is that a closed education and care platform should demonstrate that it manages its actual risks, with the depth of its assessment and evidence proportionate to those risks. We asked for requirements that developers can implement and regulators can enforce.

What we asked for

The submission makes ten recommendations. In summary, we asked the department to:

• make proportionality practical, with a streamlined assessment template for restricted-membership services and meaningful annual review
• allocate responsibility between software providers and their business customers according to actual control
• address children whose records are held by adult users, a situation the education and care sector deals with every day
• recognise controls already required under existing child safety law, including the regulation 168 digital technology policies and the 2026 device restrictions
• distinguish essential safety and care functions from engagement features designed to hold attention
• recognise meaningful human review of AI-generated drafts
• assess education and care communications in context, so a safety filter never blocks an incident report a family is entitled to receive
• permit proportionate assessment of software changes, linked to a maintained risk assessment
• coordinate assessments, guidance and public reporting across eSafety, ACECQA, state regulators and the OAIC
• place strong safeguards around research access and assumed identities involving children's information

Why a childcare software company is in this conversation

Platforms built for early childhood education and care hold some of the most sensitive information there is: records about children, written by adults, for adults. The Bill’s duty of care reaches services like the one Oiva is building, and we think it should. The obligations we asked for are the ones we are already building to, including human review of anything AI drafts and the evidence discipline that regulation in this sector already demands.

The full submission, including section references to the exposure draft, is available as a PDF download. Questions can be directed to John Hutchison at john@oiva.com.au.

Sources

• Oiva Developments, Submission on the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 (PDF)
• Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, Digital Duty of Care consultation (infrastructure.gov.au)

This article provides general information for Australian ECEC services and approved providers. It does not constitute legal, regulatory or professional advice. Requirements vary by jurisdiction, service type and individual circumstances. Providers should confirm their obligations with ACECQA, their state or territory regulatory authority and qualified professional advisers.