Sorry mate, but you’ve got it wrong. The Prime Minister has specifically come out and said that this law is aimed only at companies, and that children or the parents of children who are able to get onto social media anyway will not be punished. Only the companies that let them slip through.

And you only need to read the legislation to see that that’s true. There are no penalties associated with accessing social media under the age of 16. Only with “a provider of an age-restricted social media platform…failing to take reasonable steps to prevent age-restricted users having accounts”. Or less closely related, “a provider of an age-restricted social media platform must not collect information…for the purpose of complying with [the above requirement] if the information is of a kind specified in the legislative rules”, and another similar “a provider of an age-restricted social media platform must not…collect government-issued identification material…for the purpose of complying with section [the above requirement]”, but this last clause “does not apply if…the provider provides alternative means…for an individual to assure the provider that the individual is not an age-restricted user”. It is also the case that a person who provides an age-restricted social media platform “must comply with a requirement…to give to the Commissioner, within the period and in the manner and form specified by the notice [about that person’s compliance with the law]…to the extent that the person is capable of doing so.”

That’s it. That’s all the new penalties that can be applied.

Here’s a page from the eSafety Commissioner that also confirms it.

Are there be penalties for under-16s if they get around the age restrictions?

There are no penalties for under-16s who access an age-restricted social media platform, or for their parents or carers.