Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

We all know that mental health is the single biggest health issue facing, confronting, many Australians today but particularly our youth. The government has a role to play to ensure that adequate services are developed that are responsive and supportive but that also aim to build resilience amongst young Australians. 'Resilience' is the key word—it is so important. I commend the member for Mallee for his fine speech. I am a bit disappointed he did not vocalise the lyrics of Taylor Swift a little more and do a few of her moves, although perhaps the parliament is fortunate that he didn't, but the message is correct: songs can reach out so well to particularly young Australians and they can send a powerful message—much better than we can standing here in the parliament making speeches. I am sure that will go viral on You Tube when the good member for Mallee loads it up later on, and I am sure that that message is going to resonate not just with the young people of his Victorian electorate but, indeed, with young people throughout Australia. It is important that we do whatever we can, as a government, as a parliament and as a nation to curb the scourge that is online bullying, cyber bullying; to curb the scourge that is people taking advantage of other people in a most unfair way and in a way that can affect their mental health.

The rise of social media networks and online digital platforms has grown and developed rapidly over the past few years, in such a short time, and it is constantly changing and evolving. We give it and take it across the dispatch box and we give it and take it when it comes to the public's views about us, but we are used to that—this is the hurly-burly world of politics. Young people should not have to put up with some of the things that are said about them, anonymously, on line, that are said about them via cyberspace. They get affected by it. Everybody is different. We need to build resilience but everybody is different and takes things in very different ways.

New challenges arise daily as online technology continues to evolve and as the way we communicate continues to change. It leaves us with the challenge of how best to respond and ensure children are safe when using the world wide web, interacting on social media networks—such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter—and engaging on online games networks. Today children are spending more time online than ever before. The internet is an extremely useful tool—we all know that—but it also poses some great risks and ongoing challenges for users, for parents and for people who are responsible for the care of children, in particular. The growing sophistication of internet and social media platforms is accompanied by an increasing risk and threat to users. Research shows that one in five Australian children are the victims of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can be even more debilitating than direct bullying, with victims feeling as though there is no escape. How sad is that? It can be destructive and lead to very serious long-term mental and physical health issues. Even worse, it can lead to suicide—a very long-term solution to what is often a short-term problem. We have seen far too often, far too tragically in this nation, kids driven to such despair that they take their own lives. This government is taking action to combat cyber bulling and provide a safer online environment for children and young Australians. I know that members opposite are also very much in lockstep with the sorts of things that we need to do as a parliament to prevent these sorts of mental health issues becoming even more prevalent.

This bill will enact a number of measures to provide a safer online environment particularly for children. This legislation will establish the office of Children's e-Safety Commissioner to provide a single point of contact for online safety issues. The commissioner will take the lead across government in implementing policies to improve the safety of children online. This is not Big Brother stuff—this is needed. As a parent of three children, I can see the immediate benefit of a one-stop shop for reporting any harmful or untoward behaviour targeted at vulnerable children. My children are pretty tough—they have had to be; they have grown up with me as a newspaper editor and I suppose a public figure, and over the last 4½ years as a politician. They cop a fair bit, being the children of a politician. Even they have been subjected to online bullying, and it hurts. It affects kids. No matter how resilient or how tough they are, it affects kids—and let me tell you there are a lot of kids out there who have not had, I suppose, the upbringing in a family where things are talked about over the dinner table, as happens in my house, where things are openly discussed and everybody has access to each other's Facebook. We are all friends on Facebook in our family. Some kids keep to themselves. Things are not discussed in busy households and sometimes things build up—kids bottle things up inside and there is no proper release valve. The release valve sometimes is self-harm; the release valve is doing things that they would not have resorted to had they not been bullied or seen something online.

The e-safety commissioner will work closely with the police and government agencies—that is completely necessary—as well as child protection organisations and parent-teacher associations. They will also support Australian research and information campaigns on online safety and will administer funding for the development of online safety programs in schools. How important will that be—getting the message out to where the kids are, to where they learn, to where they develop many online strategies. The bill will also see the creation of an effective two-tier complaint system to assist the commissioner to work cooperatively with large social media services.

This bill was a policy commitment the coalition made prior to the last election and one which is widely supported by the Australian community—as it should be. The government has played a proactive role in putting in place extra protection for children and supporting children and families in building resilience—a very positive outcome for the community, as a whole, in addressing some of the conflict issues which arise when people are engaging online.

I take this opportunity to recognise and praise the efforts of the member for Forrest, Nola Marino—a great regional member. I listened to her speech very carefully earlier today. She is constantly bringing cyber safety to the attention of members and senators and keeping that issue at the forefront of their minds.

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