Coalition has 'no confidence' social media ban will work under Labor

YouTube's complaint that its inclusion in Australia's social media age ban will make teens "less safe" online has been criticised by Labor as "outright weird," while the Coalition declares it now has no confidence the new laws will "work".

Google confirmed on Wednesday that YouTube would comply with the ban from December 10, but also argued it would expose young teens to content not appropriate for their age.

"As the Social Media Minimum Age Act requires kids to use YouTube without an account, it removes the very parental controls and safety filters built to protect them — it will not make kids safer on our platform," the company said in a statement.

In response, Communications Minister Anika Wells said it was YouTube's problem if unsafe content was accessible on its platform in a logged-out state.

"I find it outright weird that YouTube is always at pains to remind us all how unsafe their platform is in a logged-out state," she said.

"If YouTube is reminding us all that it is not safe and there's content not appropriate for age-restricted users on their website, that's a problem that YouTube needs to fix."

Wells defends five-figure travel bill

Speaking at the National Press Club, Ms Wells said the government would fight to defend the social media age laws in the High Court, and defended her decision to spend almost $100,000 for her and two staff to travel to the United Nations in New York, where Australia hosted an online safety event in September.

Figures released during Senate estimates showed Ms Wells, her deputy chief of staff and department assistant secretary for online safety collectively billed taxpayers about $94,000 for return flights to New York.

Accommodation for the trio cost about $18,000, and about $70,000 was spent on the "Protecting Children in the Digital Age" event.

Ms Wells said the event, which was attended by senior government figures from around the world, had "fuelled a global momentum" in the online safety space.

"It's important, and I will continue to be transparent about what that cost … looks like, what we did, in the usual way," she said.

Ms Wells said the flights were not first class, and it was a "matter of public record" that she had slightly delayed her departure to the UN because of the Optus Triple Zero outages at that time.

Australian mum Emma Mason, who lost her 15-year-old daughter Tilly Rosewarne to suicide after being bullied on social media, spoke at the UN event.

Ms Mason defended Ms Wells's decision to travel, highlighting the importance of the moment for Australia.

"We went to the world stage, and we can't be there in tin hats," she said.

"We have to be putting our best foot forward and projecting Australia as a country of importance, of strength."

Ms Mason said she was "incredibly proud" Australia was moving first to implement the ban, but recognised this would be "hard" and "clunky" for parents in the early days.

Long-term gain, says mother

Mia Bannister, who founded the charity Ollie's Echo in memory of her teen son, who took his own life after a battle with anorexia and online bullying, said the fight parents are facing to get their kids to comply with the social media ban would be "short-term pain, long-term gain".

"We've lost children to this," she said.

"So I say to parents, stand fast, get your kids off the devices, and then be present … get yourself off social media as well."

Ms Mason agreed, saying it was important to make the incoming ban feel "social" rather than "isolating" for kids.

"Don't make the kids feel isolated; make them feel like they're part of something," she said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley criticised Ms Wells for the high cost of the trip, questioning what her attendance achieved.

She said Ms Wells appeared to have been "jetting off and spending $100,000 of taxpayers' money on a jaunt that doesn't appear to have delivered for Australians who are doing it tough".

Ms Ley also stepped up her criticism of Labor's implementation of the social media ban.

"Under this government and this failed communications minister, I have no confidence in this working," she said.

Asked how the Coalition, which supported the legislation behind the ban, would have done differently, Ms Ley said they wouldn't have "botched" it.

"The government said that this ban would be in place on 11 December," she said.

"The fact that it's not, that it's chaotic, that it's botched, and that the social media companies are also confused demonstrates a massive failure on behalf of the Albanese government."