Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, representing the Minister for Women. Will the Minister update the House on how the Morrison government is committed to keeping Australian women and all Australians safe online?

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moncrieff for her question and commend her for her leadership in her electorate with women and young girls. The Morrison government is committed to protecting Australians from online harms. This includes protecting them from harmful, defamatory comments made by online trolls. This is such an important piece of legislative reform. It will make a difference that really counts in a challenging and fraught public policy area when you consider the demands and pressures of the online world and how profoundly they are felt by younger women.

Many of us in this place who were at school or were young women before social media became such a powerful and defining force in people's lives may need to remind ourselves that it is a different landscape that now exists when it comes to relationships and social interactions, and there is real hurt and damage being done by online trolls. As I said, this is critically important if we think about how vulnerable women are in their teenage years and young 20s, how vulnerable our daughters are now, and how what your friends and your peer group think about you becomes your whole world, a world that can too easily come crashing down under the force of online trolling.

To call it by its name, 'slut shaming' is one of the worst forms of cyberbullying, when young women are targeted on social media and bullied and humiliated because of the way they look, the way they dress and their presumed level of sexual activity.

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for McEwen is warned.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How do you, as a young, vulnerable woman, begin to take action against anonymous trolls who are motivated to destroy your reputation? These reforms will permit more Australians to seek redress for online harms, because anonymity should not be weaponised to abuse, harass or bully a person or damage their state of mind. In some circumstances, social media companies will be expected to introduce mechanisms to allow those who post anonymous defamatory content to be identified with consent or with a court order. If anonymous trolls can't be identified, social media companies could be liable in defamation or as publishers of that content under our proposed legislation. This is particularly important for Australian women because we know that women are the greatest targets of online abuse, with research showing that a third of all Australian women had experienced abuse or harassment online. This needs to stop. I know that all sides of the House agree with this. The Morrison government is committed to keeping Australian women and, indeed, all Australians safe in the real world and safe online.

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the member for Sydney, I just want to make sure that the member for Hotham heard my warning earlier over the noise.