Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—This bill is worth supporting, because, as I was saying before, Australians will no longer accept that they can be defamed and bullied and harassed online in an anonymous way. Ideally, we want to see these big tech companies legislated like the publishers that they are, so that the rules that exist in the real world exist in the online world and it's very clear to people that you can't make these anonymous comments online in a way that harasses and bullies and defames, and that, if platforms allow that kind of anonymous contact, those platforms have to take responsibility when it leads to defamation or causes concern.

The previous speaker, the member for the Greens, just demonstrated everything that is wrong with his side of politics and with his political party. Those opposite say they support Australians having the same rights online, and here they have a bill in front of them that allows adults to take the power back from these big tech companies who have for so long said, 'If you want increased connectivity in a digital world, you have to accept that you lose your privacy, you have to accept the risk of defamation, you have to just cop every anonymous comment that comes your way.' What the government is showing with this bill is that it is responding to Australians who are sick of it, who are saying: 'Enough is enough! No, I don't have to accept that. No, I want there to be the same rules online and in the real world. If somebody publishes something in the real world, in the newspaper, I can sue them for defamation, and I'd like to be able to take action in the online world as well.' It just goes to show that, while those opposite will talk a big game about saying that it's bipartisan, that families and children are protected from online abuse, they don't actually support the measures to enable that protection to occur when they're in front of them. The Greens won't support this bill. In the same way, we put forward mandatory sentences and longer sentences for those who commit the most horrible, heinous acts of child exploitation, and Labor refused to support them. They do this country a great disservice when they don't support the measures that actually allow us to address this kind of exploitation of all people, but particularly of children, online.

It's this government that has established an eSafety Commissioner, a world first. It has allowed us to be a leading example of what it means to keep our citizens safe online. I'm pleased to say that I've had the chance to catch up with the eSafety Commissioner many times and talk to her about the work that she does. She's incredibly passionate about it, and I commend her. Speakers from Labor and the Greens would paint the eSafety Commissioner as some heartless bureaucrat siting there and wanting to play censor, but it couldn't be more the opposite. The eSafety Commissioner is an incredibly passionate woman who is dedicating her life to trying to make sure that we can prevent some of this online harm. She's not sitting there as a censor—quite the opposite; she is responding to complaints from people. People come to her and say: 'There are sexual images of my child online. Can you help me take them down?' They say: 'There is somebody saying something anonymously that is defamatory of me. I'm suffering. My mental health is suffering. I think it's bullying. Can you help me take it down?' That's what this legislation enables. The eSafety Commissioner doesn't sit there, trawling through every comment. She's not following the Greens Facebook page, for example, and deciding what political comments they can make. That's just a ridiculous argument from the member for Melbourne. She is sitting there and taking the complaints from everyday, ordinary Australians who want to take back some control when it comes to online content that is mentioning them and involving them.

This legislation gives enhanced information powers to the eSafety Commissioner to unmask anonymous identities that are being used to bully and abuse and humiliate and harass online, and to work with tech companies to ensure that that kind of stuff is taken down. That's what it is going to take to keep Australians safe. Australians know this kind of anonymous content is wrong. We are empowering the eSafety Commissioner to address the emerging harms and respond more quickly to the worst of the worst content online, no matter where it is hosted. The mandatory transparency reporting requirements outlined in this bill allow the eSafety Commissioner to require online services to provide specific information about online harms, such as their response to material depicting abhorrent violent conduct or attacks organised by digital lynch mobs that seek to overwhelm a victim with a torrent of abuse—what an ordinary person would call trolling. It's abhorrent. It is simply wearing somebody down by sheer weight of defamatory, anonymous comments, and it has to stop in this country. I'm so proud that it's this government that's doing that.

Importantly for industry, this bill establishes in law a set of basic online safety expectations. I think these are absolutely in line with Australian community expectations. Australians want to be protected online and, indeed, to be able to pursue damages in the way that they can for traditional media types like TV and print. It is about accountability in our online world. We're not talking about removing freedom of speech; we are talking about serious online harm. As I said, we're talking about families taking back the power to take action.

Let's face it: these are criminal acts we are talking about, not censorship of political material, as the member for Melbourne said. These are criminal acts. This has been a long-term election commitment for us. This bill will increase penalties for the malicious use of a carriage service to menace, harass and cause offence, from three to five years. What do the Greens find so reprehensible in somebody being punished according to community standards when they bully, harass and cause offence? We hear a lot of nice words from the member for Melbourne about wanting to stand up for people and see justice in the world and all the rest, but, when it actually comes down to the crunch of supporting the powers that enable that to occur, we find him and the Labor Party missing in action, but not this government. This government has established the eSafety Commissioner. This government is now, through this bill, giving the commissioner better powers to enable all Australians to take back their lives online and defend their own freedom and reputation online. I absolutely think it's worth supporting, and I applaud it.

See this speech in context