Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As the minister is aware, I am extremely committed to children being as safe as possible online. I have delivered hundreds of cyber safety presentations and have worked closely with the minister, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications, on the establishment of the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner. I note that it is the 10 year anniversary of the death of Carly Ryan. It is one of the instances that I have frequently quoted the young people and parents as a reason why impersonation online is such a critical issue and why young people should never go to meet in person people they have met online. As we know, Carly was only 15 when a young man by the name of Brandon Kane, who claimed to be 18, wanted to be her friend. Over time Carly believed that she loved Brandon, because of the communications they shared and how interested he was in her and the things that mattered in her life. Over that time, a gentleman claiming to be Brandon's father asked to come to Carly's party, and then made some pretty obscene comments to her. Of course, when he left it was not long before Brandon got back in touch with Carly and said, 'I need to make this up to you. I need to meet you.' Carly eventually gave in and went to meet Brandon Kane at Port Elliot. Unfortunately, there was no Brandon Kane, there was only Garry Francis Newman, a 50-year-old online sexual predator and paedophile. Of course, Carly still would not do what he wanted, so in the end he assaulted her, he shoved her face sand and he drowned her.

This is a case that I repeatedly talk about when I talk to young people and parents. The reason I am so concerned is that in every class I do young people have the courage to admit to me that they have been to meet people in person whom they have met online. In one class I had seven 11-year-olds who admitted this to me, which significantly scared the teacher and their parents. Even more importantly, the youngest person's mother contacted my office after one of the presentations I did to say that her 11-year-old daughter, after listening to my presentation, realised that she was being groomed online for sex—at 11.

I have a very deep commitment in this space, Minister, which you are very well aware of, and I have worked with you on this for some time in this place. Minister, could you explain how families, teachers and schools are using the resources and services provided by the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner? Could the minister explain the importance of the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill, which I spoke about today, and the process the government is using the develop civil penalties for online image based abuse?

See this speech in context