A US psychologist prescribed a social media ban for kids. How did Australia become the test subject?

From nascent policy idea in one state to passing federal parliament in just days, it has been a whirlwind journey for the world-first legislation that will take effect from 10 December

• Australia social media ban explained: everything you need to know

In early 2024, the South Australian premier's wife put down a book she had been reading. It was Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation.

[She] said to me you better bloody do something about this ... and then we got to work," Peter Malinauskas later recalled in an ABC interview.