"I do value freedom of speech but at some point in time when there’s a significant amount of harm occurring we need boundaries ... in place to keep that in check,"Dr Webster said.

Parliament is considering new powers announced by the government last year to let the eSafety Commissioner order internet companies to delete posts with the greatest abusive potential and monitor their content standards. But Julie Inman Grant,the commissioner,cautioned that the platforms would still be the first port of call for complaints and said her agency would not be policing political speech.

"It's not like we're going to be out there issuing rapid fire judgments against perpetrators and hosting sites because all of these have to stand up in the court of law,"she said.

Facebook,which declined to comment along with Twitter,already has a global oversight board that is intended to make sure it makes clear and consistent decisions protecting the free expression of its users. Google did not reply to requests for comment.

All of the mainstream social media platforms have rules banning child abuse,hate speech and incitement to violence and terrorism. They also label some misleading information.

Labor supports the principles behind the government's move to give greater powers to the commissioner but is still reviewing the bill to make sure it tackles far right hate speech among other concerns. Much of the abusive material online that Ms Inman Grant's office already tackles is directed against women either as a form of domestic violence or at a distance at women in public life.

South Australian Liberal MP Nicolle Flint,who was stalked during the last election campaign and targeted by sexist posts online,said the government's changes would have let her take action faster if they had been law at the time.

"I strongly believe there is a very big difference between abuse and things you may not agree with,"Ms Flint said. Erin Molan,the Nine sports broadcaster who has been the target of vicious online trolling,agreed.

Venture capitalist Paul Bassat,who co-founded the jobs site Seek,went further in his calls for independent oversight,suggesting a panel of jurists to determine who is removed from social media in the wake of Mr Trump's removal,which he backed.

"The risk of ongoing violence appears to have been too great to ignore,"he said."Ultimately the platforms were choosing between two bad alternatives and chose the less bad alternative."

Mr McCormack,who is leading the government while Prime Minister Scott Morrison takes leave this week,batted away questions about whether Mr Trump should be removed from office,saying that was a matter for the US.

"It is unfortunate that we have seen the events at the Capitol Hill that we’ve seen in recent days,similar to those race riots that we saw around the country last year,"Mr McCormack said.

Labor's shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was"very disappointing"to hear Mr McCormack try to draw a similarity between the Black Lives Matter protests and the violent mob that stormed the Capitol in Washington,DC.

The tech giants are also facing a new mandatory code that could see them share some revenue with traditional media companies including Nine,the owner ofThe Sydney Morning HeraldandThe Age,in the wake of an inquiry into their effect on the media landscape.

with Cara Waters