Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications and Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

The government cites this Online Safety Bill as evidence of its commitment to the online safety of Australian women. I say to the House that you can see the commitment of the government to the online safety of women in this country every day in this chamber: when they are given an option to condemn the actions of the member for Bowman and they refuse. You can see the evidence of their commitment to the online safety of Australian women every day in this chamber when the member for Bowman comes and sits in this chamber and is still in his role as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training.

We pursued this bill through Senate estimates. We asked, 'What is the purpose of this bill?' This is a bill designed to stop campaigns of online harassment, bullying and intimidation of women like the multiyear campaign conducted by the member for Bowman. We asked officials in the department of the minister sitting across the table, the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, to describe and evaluate the kind of behaviour that the member for Bowman has engaged in. We asked, 'Is a bill like this something that could probably do something about this kind of behaviour?' Their response was:

…absolutely the intention behind this new bill, when it's passed, is to provide an avenue for people experiencing that kind of activity—to have a pathway to make complaints and have someone able to take some action.

Don't look for those opposite to take action on this, because the divisions that took place before this bill was called on were the 41st time those opposite had been given an opportunity to take action on this. Forty-one times we've given those opposite the opportunity to show their commitment to the online safety of Australian women and to force the member for Bowman to honour his commitment to stand down as the chair of the education committee. Forty-one times they've marched in, followed the party line and defended him.

Not only that, they have repeatedly gagged Labor women who have come into this chamber and sought to hold them to account. Indeed, just in this term they have gagged the member for Newcastle, the member for Cowan, the member for Jagajaga, the member for Corangamite, the member for Lalor, the member for Cooper, the member for Sydney, the member for Franklin, the member for Parramatta, the member for Dunkley, the member for Eden-Monaro, the member for Macquarie, the member for Griffith, the member for Werriwa, the member for Brand and, just now, the member for Canberra. Not only that, they've had to put up with the member for Mackellar mansplaining to them the way that microphones work in this chamber.

This government's attitude to the online safety of women is clear for all to see. It's just like everything with this government: they're there for the announcement; they're not there for the delivery. You always have to check the fine print with this government. This Prime Minister is like the bloke you meet on the beach at Bali selling you the genuine Rolex watch. The warranty is going to come in the mail when you get back from your holiday, right? He's like a travelling snake oil salesman moving through regional Queensland. He's flogging the miracle cure, saying, 'This'll cure what ails you,' and moving on to the next town by the time the miracle cure is shown to be bunk.

You can't trust anything this government says. They don't follow through. Their actions don't meet their words. The member for Bowman said that he would resign. The Prime Minister said that he would resign. The Prime Minister said that his actions were totally unacceptable. Since that time, the member for Bowman has come into this chamber and apologised in this chamber, grovellingly—although he didn't seem to be able to articulate what he had done wrong. He went immediately from this chamber to Facebook, where he said that he didn't know what he was apologising for and it wasn't really an apology. He then went to empathy training. What he learnt in empathy training was to come out of empathy training and recant on his apology in totality.

A mate observed his behaviour, thought it was a bit weird and said he should go to see a doctor, and the member for Bowman had the hide to blame his appalling trolling, bullying and harassment campaigns online on ADHD. This is a real medical condition. People with ADHD are responsible for their behaviour. It's not an excuse. It doesn't cause people to maintain dozens of fake Facebook pages under the guise of community groups and local news organisations, harassing local constituents. That's not a symptom of ADHD. That's a system of an out-of-control member whom those opposite will do nothing to hold to account.

What has happened in this chamber in response to the member for Bowman's actions is a disgrace. A great Australian once said that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. This government accepts the member for Bowman's behaviour, and we see it writ large today in the re-election of the Deputy Prime Minister. Australian women have no friend in this government.

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