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

Today is world Safer Internet Day. Sadly, it's a desperately needed initiative. Social media can be used for a lot of good things, but unfortunately, over 15 years, we've seen a rising tide of people acting absolutely appallingly on social media, using it as a vehicle to bully, harass and intimidate their fellow Australians. Research commissioned by the eSafety Commissioner tells us that, in just the 12 months to June 2016, one in five teenagers say that they were cyberbullied, while last year 14 per cent of the adult population in Australia were the target of online hate speech. One in 10 adult Australians today have already had a nude or sexual photograph of themselves posted online without their consent. These actions have consequences. More than 40 per cent of those involved say that their mental health has been negatively affected, while a third have also suffered physical health effects.

Our constituents want to see action, so what can we do about this rising national crisis? There are certainly specific policy actions which I believe the private sector and government need to pursue. In particular—though I acknowledge that some, including especially Facebook and Instagram, have increased their work in this space—social media companies still have much more to do in relation to their responsibility for the content that is posted on their platforms. If they can constantly trawl what we say and do online to sell us ever-more-targeted products then they can design algorithms to better identify and filter out bullying, hateful speech and harmful content. I believe they also need to end total anonymity, where it exists, and ensure that all users who abuse others online can be individually identified and held accountable for their actions. It seems that some people feel that they are able to say whatever they like and do whatever they like on social media because there is some veil of secrecy, some veil of anonymity, that they can hide behind. That veil of anonymity has to be torn to shreds.

We know that people suffering from poor mental health often turn to the internet for information and outside contact. We can receive push notifications and pop-up chats from sales callers when we express an interest in a product or pass by a shop, and it seems now, with the likes of Google Home, Google Assistant and things like that, that you only need to be talking about something. For instance, Mr Deputy Speaker, you might be in your lounge room with Google Assistant or some similar product and you might be saying to your dearly beloved, 'I think it's time we invested in a new bed,' and—hey, presto!—you will be bombarded with ads on the internet for new beds and new mattresses. It's really quite scary. Why can't we use that same technology to provide proactive access to a counsellor for those who express an interest in suicide or for those who have expressed searching online for suicides and who then perhaps visit a suicide hotspot?

Most urgently, I believe we need to do more to prevent access to websites and social media posts which promote eating disorders and self-harm or facilitate sufferers' conditions. It is absolutely, undeniably unacceptable in today's day and age that we allow people to peddle websites and social media pages which promote self-harm and how one might go about committing suicide, for example. There is absolutely no justification for those websites, and they ought to be shut down. Companies like Google et cetera—the search engines, the social media companies—have to step in, otherwise government should. If they're not willing to make those changes, we should. Ultimately, it's not through better regulation or technology that we're going to solve this problem. It is, after all, the day-to-day attitudes of millions of Australians as they engage in social media which creates our online world.

As a society, in the street we don't accept bullying, harassment or abusive language. In general, we don't do it, and if we see others doing it Australians most often intervene. Face to face we generally try not to be rude or offensive. We try to act with courtesy and decency and, for most of us, even a little kindness. On the whole, we try to disagree respectfully and, above all, we generally let others quietly get on with their lives in peace. We certainly don't allow people to walk the streets in masks and use their anonymity to spread messages of hate or derision. We don't allow random attacks on strangers for their opinions or try to make others angry or depressed for sport. We don't take every disagreement as an excuse to fire a barrage of vitriol and scorn and we don't stand idly by while others behave in this way, yet a significant minority of us do just that online. Some of these people—the very same people who would thank a bus driver, help a passer-by with their shopping bags or disagree rationally and respectfully with, perhaps, an elected official—will vilify and abuse; behind the safety of a computer screen, they will do just that. This is what needs to change.

As a society, we must start applying the same standards of respect, courtesy, decency and humanity online that we apply in the offline world. We must start putting social pressure on people who refuse to live up to those standards. That is what Safer Internet Day is all about. By signing the pledge and making a very public commitment to making a safer internet, I hope all of us can start to set a conscious example and show the bullies and the trolls that we, as a community of Australians, will no longer tolerate this.

I've recently taken my own stand against this rising tide of bullying and harassment. When I became the federal member for Fisher in 2016, in the interests of spirited debate and freedom of speech, I took a very liberal approach to my social media. I only censored material that used profanity. But facing the ever-growing number of people who seem to have nothing better to do with their time than spread vitriolic messages of hate and derision, at the beginning of 2020 I decided to act. From now on I will not allow anyone, including me, to be abused, harassed, bullied or disrespected on my social media pages.

I encourage free speech, I encourage a healthy debate and I encourage my fellow Australians to disagree with me, or the government, but I will not allow those platforms to be used by those who choose to not treat each other with basic decency and respect online. I've begun to hide the posts of those people, whatever their political views, and permanently ban them from my page. I would encourage all members to do the same thing. We, as elected members, have got to stand up and lead by example on this point. I've copped only a very small amount of criticism for this stand, but I've got to tell you: the overwhelming majority of people who have responded have been extremely positive and thanked me for doing it. We hold a privileged position in this place and we must lead from the front. I believe it's time that the Australian community treated each other with respect online, as they do offline. We've got a part to play in this role, and I really encourage those opposite and my own side to do just that.

Today's a very good day: Safer Internet Day. Take the pledge, talk to your kids, do everything you can to keep them safe, and visit www.esafety.gov.au to get some terrific ideas on how to keep you and your family safe.

See this speech in context