Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Hansard source

Today is Safer Internet Day. It's a reminder to everyone how important it is to keep an eye on kids when they're online to help keep them safe. That's why the coalition established the eSafety Commissioner, to advocate and work towards protecting our kids online. Unfortunately, cyberbullying is rife throughout Australia and there are so many children suffering now. Almost half of kids—that's half!—aged between eight and 17 have been treated in a hurtful or nasty way, bullied online, and this is unacceptable.

The opposition leader announced the coalition's position on protecting Australian kids online in June last year. He led the debate on social media bans for under 16s because he knows it's vitally important to keep kids away from harmful activities online. It took the Albanese Labor government until November last year to introduce a bill to ban under 16s from being on social media. Because it took so long, we'll probably have to wait until this December for the promised implementation of the ban. Labor has a track record of delaying the rollout of important projects. Australians would be right to question whether implementation will go ahead by December or if this will be another Albanese Labor government broken promise.

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