Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister please outline to the House how the Morrison-Joyce government is ensuring the online safety and wellbeing of those who live in regional and rural communities, particularly young Australians? Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Cowper for his question and I note the work that he has done as a strong advocate for mental health, especially in his advocacy for the work of Fortem, which provides first responders like police, rural fire services and SES, among others, with mental health support.

We note that in regional areas, and especially in remote areas, the time that is spent online by people, especially young kids, who haven't got other activities can be more than the 14.4 hours a week which is the average that people spend online. We remember especially the tragic death of Dolly Everett, who took her own life at the age of 14 after being bullied online. The time has come for us to make sure that we do more to protect and assist people with the trials and tribulations that come—especially parents with, in many instances, daughters who are being bullied, trolled and persecuted by anonymous people online. These people go with names that protect their identity, because they know full well that what they say is completely and utterly beyond the pale. They know that what they say is tailored in such a way as to create hurt, create harm and destroy people's lives—and in many instances it does.

Our nation spends billions of dollars on mental health, and some of that is caused by those who are online—because it becomes an addiction. People fight the phantoms but never win, because the phantoms never declare themselves. They make a sport of it—the disgusting mechanism of being satiated by the capacity to harm another person. This government must do something, and I hope that all governments around the world will now do their part to bring these into line. It is not a matter of shutting down free speech; it is a matter of acting appropriately.

Companies that make billions of dollars have the capacity to write the code to better protect those who use their product, a product which at the same time divests the fourth estate of their advertising revenue and the process of proper investigative journalism, which is so vitally important in maintaining a democracy. Upstairs in the fourth estate, above the Senate, there is Fairfax, or Nine; there's Channel Seven; there is the ABC; and there are overseas bureaus. But there is no room from which Facebook reports. This nation is going to stand up for those who remain vulnerable.