The National Party wants to ban 16-year-olds from accessing social media by forcing companies to use age verification measures, but for now that’s not government policy.

National MP Catherine Wedd, with the backing of leader Christopher Luxon, has put forward a members’ bill which would follow Australia’s lead on cracking down on the social media giants.

The Prime Minister said he wanted to explore picking it up as a “broader government bill,” which would mean it could become law more quickly.

Right now the legislation does not have government-endorsed, meaning it would be debated only if it was drawn from the ballot at random.