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

The last 20 years have been quite remarkable in the technological advancements we have seen. We've literally become the Jetsons, where you can look at your phone and talk to somebody in the United States, or anywhere around the world—or from Canberra to Port Macquarie, which is when I talk to my kids at night time. I think it would be fair to say that these technological advancements helped us through this pandemic in terms of our connections with people and, more importantly, in terms of running the economy. We were able to continue to operate, whereas, if this had happened some 20 or 30 years ago, I think we would have really struggled. So we should be pleased about and proud of those advancements over the last 20 years.

Having said that, with those advancements comes the filthy underbelly, with the rancid cesspools of cyberbullying, child-grooming, child exploitation and fraud. It's disappointing that, as humans do, when you discover something good, someone seems to be able to exploit it. It's a little ironic that when you have children, and I have kids and most of us here have kids, you spend the better part of your life wrapping them up in cotton wool and ensuring that they're protected—you take them by the hand as you walk them across the street, you ensure that they don't talk to strangers and you do everything you possibly can to protect them—yet we allow our children to get online without ever giving a thought to what they're entering into. It's very sad that society has that element and it's even sadder that, during the lockdowns, crimes against children increased by over 60 per cent on the internet.

What is very pleasing is that both sides of this House—it is bipartisan—are ensuring that we protect our children through legislation being drafted, and it has been drafted, to protect them. And I thank the AFP and all the agencies who work in that area who are attempting to bring down and lock up those offenders who target our children, because there is nothing worse than those who seek to harm our young ones. So I thank the AFP for the hard work they do.

But both sides of this House are working together not only in looking at protecting our children from online grooming and exploitation but also in calling out bullies—calling out those 'keyboard warriors'. Everyone in this place has seen them. Everyone, probably day after day, gets emails calling us the most offensive things. Without a doubt, everybody in this place is here for the right reasons and is here to better our country. So it is good that we are working together to ensure that we call out these people and make them accountable for the things that they say and the things that they do. We've seen examples such as Erin Molan reduced to tears by relentless online attacks. Many people in this place have had relentless online attacks. So I thank all members of this parliament for what we have done and what we are doing to call these people out.

To those people watching or who later see this, I urge you to go and look at the eSafety Commissioner's website to ensure that you know what to do and to get those tips on how to look after not only yourself but also your children and your friends when these things happen—and they will happen, whether it's to your teenage son or your teenage daughter, or whether it's in the workplace. They will happen, and you need to know what you can do about it, because it's unacceptable. Technology is a good thing, but unfortunately it comes with that ugly by-product. So I urge everyone to have a look at that website, and I and the rest of the members will continue to fight for you.