Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Stirling for this motion. There can't be any of us now who do not recognise that, alongside many benefits, the online world has brought new threats to our safety and to our mental health. We see scans, Trojan software, image based abuse, cyberbullying, online grooming, radicalisation, hacking, identity theft and more impacting on those who we care about or which are reported on in our national media every week. To counter these threats, we certainly need stronger regulation and enforcement. The coalition government should be commended for leading the world by creating a regulator with teeth. Already we've seen thousands of abusive posts and illegal images removed from the internet within hours thanks to this bold initiative and due to the eSafety Commissioner and her hard work.

However, just as much as regulation, we are going to need a true culture shift in this country. We need to begin applying the same rules and the same standards of respect, decency, and humanity online that we apply in our offline lives. In other words, if you can't do it or say it to someone's face offline, you shouldn't be able to do it on the internet. It's as simple as that. In creating this cultural change, the government could have made no better decision than to appoint Julie Inman Grant as the eSafety Commissioner. I've worked closely with Ms Inman Grant and, throughout, her professionalism, her command of her brief, her passion for changing our online culture and her sense of vocation have shone through. I'm sure that we've only seen the beginning of the fantastic work she's going to achieve as the eSafety Commissioner.

I first met Julie when, at the then Prime Minister's suggestion, she, along with Alastair MacGibbon, introduced me in early 2018 to what's called the Digi Group. This group includes representatives of the world's most powerful online businesses, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft. I was determined to speak to them about the terrible impacts that the abuse, harmful content and bullying which floods their platforms every day have on our mental health and about the international ideas for change that could make a real difference. These constructive conversations that started with Julie and Alastair's help have continued, although there is still a long way to go. I've been pleased to see concrete action from Facebook and Instagram to lessen their impact in recent months, but there is a lot more work to be done.

I also invited Julie to Fisher in February 2018 to promote the work of the commission and support my own efforts in educating our community about how they can be safer online. Once again, her passion came to the fore as she spoke about educating young and old about the Young & eSafe youth platform and how to equip young people with resilience and respect online. Most recently, the eSafety Commissioner has given evidence to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, of which I am the chair. The committee is undertaking an important inquiry into the issue of age verification to access online pornography and wagering. Julie's input was, as usual, invaluable. This inquiry—and the eSafety Commissioner's ongoing work—will make important recommendations that will help keep more of our young people safe online.

But there remain many, many more challenges that I believe this parliament should be examining. We should, and must, do more, for example, to prevent access to websites, blogs and social media posts which promote an unhealthy attitude to food and encourage or facilitate people suffering from an eating disorder. These so-called pro-ana sites are deadly, and they should have no place in our society. We should, and must, do more to protect children and young people from grooming and abuse through the chat functions of online gaming. Many parents are not even aware that, through many of these games, anonymous adults can have direct access to communicate with their children. This has to change.

Finally, we should, and must, do more to protect children from the creeping infiltration of gambling into online video games with so-called loot boxes. I am absolutely appalled at some of these loot boxes and what they can do to young people, and I'm very keen to ensure that we get rid of them altogether in this country.

See this speech in context