Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise today in support of this private member's motion, to do with online safety.

Our society, our youth, our children and mums and dads—every single Australian—should be concerned about online safety. We heard earlier in the speeches that other members have made here about areas of fraud, and we see that regularly. I certainly have many people who come to see me and to talk about how they've been done online. That is through a whole range of things. There are official tax notices coming in an email and saying that you owe a certain percentage of tax, so call this number and give your details over the phone or send your payment to this address. This is an area where I suppose the internet and social media are rapidly changing, and these things have come into our lives at a faster pace than any other technology. Being a grandfather with grandchildren, I'm really concerned when I see my two-year-old toddler granddaughter going up to the TV screen and trying to scroll it across with her finger because she's so used to looking at my iPhone or the iPad and is thinking that the TV's a screen. So you can see how it affects everyone's lives from a very, very early age.

The internet is a positive thing. It's given us a whole new world to do research, to hear different views from different perspectives from around the world. But at the same time, the dark elements of the internet are there, and we should always be vigilant and ensure that we, as governments, do everything to combat these dark elements. They range from child predators to fraudsters to a whole range of other things to whether they're just looking at how they can extract money from you. In 2015, as we've heard, the government established the world's first Children's eSafety Commissioner and then expanded this role to cover all Australians, regardless of whether they're young or old.

Some of our old people are also very vulnerable to fraud. We've seen many, many examples. I pointed one out which was an email from the tax department saying 'You owe X amount of dollars and, if you don't pay it immediately, we'll be coming around to your house to collect the money,'—in those words, not so blunt. But they use very elaborate language. They get the person who's received the email to call a particular number and ask them to put a small amount of money—sometimes a large amount of money—into a particular account; otherwise they're coming around and they would be arrested immediately. If you're a person in your late 80s, not too savvy on the internet, receiving these emails, not only might you fall for the con but it traumatises people. I've had people ring me saying, 'I've just received this email or this text from a particular government agency asking for X amount of dollars.' They're not quite sure. They don't know and that's why they've rung us in the office. You can see them being traumatised just by the thought that they owe money.

During the last election campaign, the Labor opposition announced it would work to protect a whole new generation of Australian children from cyber-risk by creating a new eSmart Digital Licence that was set to begin its rollout in 2020. This was to protect our children. The eSmart licence would better equip Australian children with critical digital skills, educate them and, in turn, promote critical thinking and open discussion about online safety between young people, their parents, carers, and teachers.

One of the other things that has troubled me and many other members in this place immensely, and people have raised this issue, is online gambling, where it's made so easy to gamble without any verification of age or anything. I attend the football regularly—AFL football, of course, unlike my friends in the northern states—and see the promotion that's taking place by the betting agencies outside the gates with skimpily dressed women targeting young men, giving them promotional material to have bets during the game. This is something that we should be very wary of. Online gambling has created a new gambler with millions of dollars being lost every single year. What we need is good education, for people to know what their rights are online, and to ensure that we protect the Australian citizens from online harm.

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