Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about online safety. Australian children are immersing themselves in the online world rapidly through social media sites, online games, smartphones and tablets. The vast majority of teenagers are using social media. In fact, if you ask a group of 15-year-olds if they're on Facebook, Instagram or one of the other social media providers, almost all their hands go up. Even amongst children as young as eight, a large number report that they use these devices despite most sites having a policy that users must be 13 years of age. Social media is creating a substantial workload for school principals and teachers as well as parents. Creating a specific technology policy guideline in schools has become the norm now. If you ask a group of parents and carers what they are worried about, keeping their children safe online is one of their main concerns. The fear of predators, trolls and cyberbullying preoccupies parents and carers across Australia.

The fear is real and justified. Last week I met with the inspirational Sonya Ryan. Following the murder of her beautiful daughter, Carly, in 2007 by an online predator, the first crime of its type in Australia, Sonya channelled her grief and set up the Carly Ryan Foundation. Set up in her daughter's honour, the foundation aims to help other children and families navigate the online world safely. Sonya is determined to help prevent harm to other children. As Sonya said herself, 'What defines us as humans is how well we rise from such devastation.' Sonya is not trying to scare young people from social media but make them aware that people online are not necessarily who they say they are.

A good government takes responsibility for protecting its citizens, and that is exactly what the Morrison government is doing. The government will invest $5.2 million in a national online safety awareness campaign. This digital campaign will raise awareness of the new Online Safety Act when it becomes law and the new and strengthened schemes that will be available through the eSafety Commissioner.

An important part of the coalition's policy work has been to carefully review the evidence about the pervasiveness and seriousness of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying occurs in a variety of ways through a range of digital devices and mediums, most commonly through smartphones and social media sites. The posting of humiliating or harmful photos, videos or rumours is often exacerbated by other social media features such as comments, shares and likes, which can rapidly promote the spread of the damaging content. Cyberbullying can have very, very serious effects, including anxiety, depression, behavioural problems and even suicidal thoughts. The evidence strongly suggests that the remedy people want more than anything else in this situation is simply to get the harmful material down quickly, but that can be difficult to do. The online safety awareness campaign will promote a world-first adult cyberabuse scheme which will allow Australian adults who experience seriously harmful online abuse to have this material removed from the internet. The campaign will also promote the expanded cyberbullying scheme for children, which will capture a wider range of online services; a strengthened image based abuse scheme to address the non-consensual sharing of intimate images; and an online content scheme that will allow for the removal of the worst of the worst online content, no matter where in the world it is hosted. The campaign will also guide Australians to the resources, support and practical advice available through the eSafety Commissioner about staying safe online.

This digital campaign will raise awareness of the new Online Safety Act when it becomes law and the new and strengthened schemes that will be available through the eSafety Commissioner. In addition to this, I note the federal government's women's safety package, including the $21 million investment in women's online safety initiatives in the 2021-22 budget. The funding will allow the eSafety Commissioner to recruit 20 new staff to expand its Cyber Report team and strengthen its capacity to investigate and respond to reports of cyberabuse and other forms of harmful online content. The funding will allow for more rapid responses to reports of online harassment, abuse and harmful online content. It will also deliver an analysis capability for eSafety to identify trends, develop response strategies and provide strategic advice.

By raising awareness of the support and services available through the eSafety Commissioner, the federal government will empower Australians to engage more confidently in the digital environment.

See this speech in context