Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

Let me turn to an area of great substance of which the member for Forrest has been an extraordinary champion, and that is the question of children being as safe as possible online. The Turnbull government established the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner. Because of the work of the Commissioner and the office's staff, thousands of Australian children are much safer online. It has been a significant journey getting to this point. The online safety working group was established when the coalition was in opposition, and it worked extensively with experts around the country. We drew extensively on expert input and advice. The member for Forrest has done such extraordinary and consistent work in this area. As a result of that policy work in opposition, we established the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner and the Enhancing Online Safety for Children Bill was passed into law. Since June 2015, the office has had over 3.3 million visits to its website.

Of course, the work in this area simply continues. The Minister for Justice recently introduced the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017, which is a reflection of the government's strong commitment to preventing harm to children both in person or online. Such harm, including sexual exploitation of children, is of course devastating for the children involved, their families and their communities. The introduction of this bill follows the tragic case involving Carly Ryan, which the member for Forrest explained to the House this afternoon. This is a vitally important area, and the Turnbull government is working very effectively in this area.

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