Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the increase in youth crime across Queensland;

(2) acknowledges the increase in digital material featuring criminal activity by young offenders for the purpose of gaining notoriety;

(3) further notes the impact on victims of crime, as a result of such material being posted online and elsewhere, which demeans victims and flaunts a blatant disregard for the law and policing agencies;

(4) further acknowledges that digital platforms and online content depicting criminal activity material are being used as a tool to attract young people into criminal behaviour;

(5) notes the important role of the eSafety Commissioner as an independent regulator helping to safeguard young Australians at risk from online harms; and

(6) calls on the Government to:

(a) enhance protections of children and young people online, from digital content that depicts criminal activity material and prevent them from a life of crime; and

(b) protect victims of crime by empowering the eSafety Commissioner to explicitly handle online content of criminal activity material in a similar way to how cyber-bullying and cyber-abuse material is treated.

I have spoken on youth crime in Queensland far too many times this year. I continue to do so because, unfortunately, this is a scourge that continues to plague our state. You will hear other speakers from across the state follow me today. This is not an issue that's isolated to one area; it is spread right across Queensland. The reason I raise it is that there are things we can do about it here in this place.

I'm not for a second suggesting that the youth crime crisis we're experiencing is not entirely a result of the failure of the Palaszczuk Queensland government. Their repeated effort to go soft on crime in our state every chance they get has hurt Queenslanders. It has hurt people in the seats of Groom and Herbert and right across the state. In January, in Toowoomba, we saw the murder of Robert Brown by a young offender on the streets, and it caused a great outcry in our city. The horrific situation was caught on camera, showing the criminals taking his backpack from his lifeless body after they'd pushed him down onto the street. Weeks later, just metres from my front door, there was a violent assault with a sawn-off rifle, and that was followed by a stabbing on the other side of the block—right in broad daylight—in the centre of our city.

Locals got together and put together what they thought was a sensible solution that I could take to this parliament. I raised it in a private member's bill, the Online Safety Amendment (Breaking Online Notoriety) Bill 2023, and I'm very happy I was supported by the member for Herbert at that time, but this is a solution that has come from locals. They have identified that we in the federal parliament have carriage of the internet—this is something that we can do. I want to thank Joe Noble and Helen Bell for their excellent efforts in raising this with me. What they brought to me was very simple: we could extend the remit of the e-Safety Commissioner to explicitly include criminal activity material in the posts that they, with the big tech companies, are able to take down. Without conflating the issues, I raise this in a year when we were lectured by the government on how important it is to listen to regional voices. This could not be a clearer request from regional voices to be listened to. This is a situation that is affecting families—mums and dads. People are living in fear, and there is something that we can do.

This bill has had great support, be it from youth advocates or from the police force itself, right across the state. It's been effectively endorsed by the Queensland government—of all people—in bringing about additional police to deal with this. They understand that they have created a problem. They understand that they've built a monster. They understand that without action this will continue to grow. Sadly, they're not taking the action needed, and I'm sure you're going to hear more on that later.

But what saddens me is that I brought this private member's bill to this place, and, when it was put before the minister for comment, her response was: 'Nothing to see here. Just raise it with the social media companies. If you've got a problem, raise it with the big tech companies, and they'll take it down.' And they will tell you the great stats of the hundreds of thousands of posts that they have taken down. But I can give you countless examples, just from the Toowoomba region, of posts that are promoting criminal activity on these platforms.

Why is this important? Why do we need to raise this? It is because these posts are effectively a recruitment tool for the next generation of young kids. That has been found time and time again. This is how young kids are dragged into a life of crime. These posts are not simply depicting the crimes. They have soundtracks. They have great graphics. They are designed explicitly to go right up the algorithm so that people see them as often and as regularly as they can. They present an attractive view of the world of crime, and they are dragging these young kids into it.

I don't want to see more young kids in detention—no-one does. I want to see fewer young kids committing these horrific crimes. What sorts of crimes am I talking about? I've raised a few. There are plenty, unfortunately, to talk about, because Queensland is on track to have its highest level of crime since 2001. In Toowoomba, there's a terrible case that speaks exactly to this issue. Young criminals tried to kill a man with a tomahawk, having stolen a car in a carjacking, and were then chased through town by police in a very dangerous situation. This was reported only this month. It is one of many cases.

I call upon the minister to take action here. This is a simple step: simply include criminal activity material within the scope of the eSafety Commissioner. Allow them to take this down. Stop the cycle, stop the recruitment of more young kids into this, and do something about the youth crime crisis in Queensland.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and I reserve my right to speak.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in response to the motion put forward by the member for Groom. I start by acknowledging upfront how horrific life can be for victims of crime and how, as governments—local, state and federal—we should be doing more to prevent any such crime. Sadly, like night follows day, you will always see the Liberal and National parties ringing the youth crime bell: youth crime, young offenders. I've heard this bleeding jeremiad regularly in Queensland. We know that there's a state election coming up in October next year, so obviously LNP politicians at the local, state and federal levels are rolling out the law-and-order issues. They did it in 2017, they did it in 2020, and here we are again in the prep for the 2024 election.

I remember how tough on crime Campbell Newman was. That was his battle cry. Those opposite might remember him—the son of two Liberal ministers, who then ratted on the Liberal Party. When he was Premier, what did the Newman government do to actually show that he was tough on crime? The LNP cut about 110 senior officers from the Queensland police force and around 300 police admin staff, so frontline officers then had to perform those functions. They cut police training, reduced firearms training and forced police to pay for their own body-worn cameras. They cut $10 million from the youth justice budget and cut funds for youth support services. That was the LNP government. The LNP never let the facts get in the way of their devotion to scaremongering.

In Queensland, the number of 10- to 16-year-old offenders has actually decreased by 35 per cent in the past 10 years. The truth is that about 20 per cent of young offenders commit 55 per cent of the youth crime, so one in five kids are doing half the crime. The Queensland government introduced legislation this year that targets the small number of serious repeat offenders, and the government is investing in more police resources and intervention programs that can break the cycle of offending.

We know—sensible people know—that there's no quick fix when it comes to youth justice issues. These are complex issues that are often the consequence of generations of family disfunction, drugs, abuse, poverty, disadvantage. Sensible government invest in the interventions that change the lives of young people, rather than attempt to punish kids forever.

We know, for example, that digital material featuring youth crime is causing harm in our communities and shows a flagrant and flippant disregard for the law, the policing agencies and the community. The Albanese government recognises there is an intersection of crime and the misuse and amplification of social media platforms as an emerging issue, not just in Queensland but across Australia—and the world, in fact. This material is usually posted online because those posting want to gain some notoriety; they want to be noticed, and in some cases they want to see how far they can go, often encouraging others to do the same, almost coercing their peers.

In order to address these issues, it's important to reflect on the role of the eSafety Commissioner in disrupting and shutting down social media accounts that breach the Online Safety Act for the protection of our communities. The internet has economic, social and educational benefits, but Australians must feel safe when engaging with others online. The Online Safety Act was introduced in response to advances in technology and threats faced online from harmful behaviour and toxic content. We've all heard of kids that take their harm into their bedroom. There was an impetus for change: modern times of rapid change and social upheaval called for robust new laws. The objects of the Online Safety Act are to improve online safety for Australians.

Currently, the act empowers the eSafety Commissioner under the Online Content Scheme to require the removal of material that would be refused classification in Australia, including material promoting, inciting or instructing crime or violence. Online service providers must also adhere to a set of basic online safety and mandatory industry codes. The eSafety Commissioner works directly with law enforcement and online platforms to remove offending content. The eSafety Commissioner has advised that online platforms are more responsive to law enforcement requests that content be removed.

In the last budget, esafety was provided with increased funding and will receive an additional $132.1 million over four years and see its base increase from $10.3 million to $42.5 million each year. The minister is also bringing forward the independent statutory review of the Online Safety Act. This will make sure that the online safety framework remains fit for the changing online environment and can deal appropriately with online harms.

Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank my friend the member for Groom for bringing this motion forward. The electorate of Herbert, Townsville, is nationally renowned for crime and for violent criminal acts that we are seeing constantly, every night, from youth criminals. Tonight, like last night, like tomorrow night, people's houses will be broken into and their property will be stolen. Youth criminals will terrorise the streets, and people will feel like prisoners in their own home. This is simply not good enough. But this is a failure that we have seen from the state Labor government.

Before I speak on the eSafety Commissioner, I think it is important to highlight what I would like to see happen to these youth criminals. We saw the state Labor government talk about mandatory maximum sentencing. We need to flip that on its head and make it mandatory minimum sentencing. We need to remove detention as a last resort out of the Youth Justice Act and have early intervention at prenatal, not at 13, not at 15, not at 17. We need to target the right age to give these young people the best hope. But also we have to punish bad behaviour. I think the message needs to be very clear: if you commit crime, then you should do time. There is no place for this behaviour in our country, and people should feel safe in their own home.

Unfortunately, that's not what's happening in Townsville. Youth criminals are taking to their social media pages. They are filming themselves as they steal someone's car, as they rob someone in the street or as they break into a home with a machete. They post it online, they get all the notoriety they're chasing and they perpetuate further criminal activity to even where they use it as a game. Some time ago, we had a helicopter over the top and planes being diverted because a stolen car was running riot around Townsville, and these youth criminals were filming it. Another time these youth criminals were ramming police cars, ramming ambulances, ramming people on the street and filming it.

And they would post things like, 'You don't stop us; we come after you.' This needs to be stopped. We have the ability. I think this has gone on for far too long. Townsville gets compared to places in other nations with their criminal activity. Youth crime has never been targeted by the Queensland state Labor government. The previous member can say that we roll this out every couple of years, but I've been talking about it since I was elected because it is the No. 1 issue in Townsville.

Dozens of cars get stolen every day, and it's a grim reality for many constituents, like John, a father of two, who had his house broken into and Jeep stolen in the dead of night. Videos of reckless teenagers doing burnouts in multilane traffic were plastered all across social media. John was receiving updates every minute from family and friends who were forwarding him the videos. Can you imagine the emotions of someone who has worked so hard and had a criminal come into his house when his kids are inside, steal his car and then post about it all over social media? Helpless to stop the action, anger towards the criminals, fear for community safety and the concern for the wellbeing of others watching the video—the list goes on. But what happens to these youth criminals? Do they get locked up? Very rarely, if at all.

It's clear that this online activity is affecting the community. How does it affect young people who are vulnerable? Watching these criminals stealing cars, posting about it and not getting in trouble—the revolving door spinning. Why do early intervention when they're not in trouble for bad behaviour? If you have two kids and one child bites the other one, you don't give that one a lollipop. But essentially that's what's happening in Queensland, and that's what's making this revolving door continue to spin.

We must do our bit to break the intergenerational cycle of crime, and the way to do that is to be tough on law and order and tough on people that break these rules and break the laws and to stop it at the next generation. And the eSafety Commissioner has that ability. But a year ago this was raised, and still nothing has been done. Labor need to get off their hands and do something.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Groom for bringing forward this important motion. Not a week goes by when I do not receive correspondence from distressed constituents witnessing break-ins or youths clambering up drainpipes, waking them up at three in the morning or kicking in their doors while children are at home. These accounts are terrifying, and they're coming from the leafy suburbs in my electorate, hardly known as hotbeds of violence. On a street walk one day, I met a couple painting their parapet wall in anticipation of gates being installed due to local crime. On another walk, I encountered an entire street who are on a WhatsApp group due to local crime related to young people loitering in a school up the street.

Knife crime takes risk to stratospheric levels. Earlier this year, a couple of teenage boys in my electorate were set upon by a group of youths in an unprovoked attack. One boy incurred life-threatening injuries requiring major thoracic surgery. The mental scars take much longer to heal. Knife crime has surged since 2019, resulting in an increase in hospitalisations, which suggests an increase in the severity of these injuries. A trauma surgeon and former colleague at the Alfred actually described this as some type of madness. My local police commander said it is becoming normalised for kids to walk out of the house and grab their keys, their phone and their knife. I thank my local police in Stonnington, Boroondara and Malvern for their assistance. As frontline responders, they put themselves in harm's way for our safety. It is risky work, which they discharge with professionalism.

There is no doubt that the online world is amplifying the notoriety of young offenders. Social media is the accelerant of all society's ills. The algorithms are skewed to shock, captivate and polarise, not to soothe, educate or unite. So what levers does the Commonwealth have? The Online Safety Act already provides the eSafety Commissioner with powers to require the removal of material that would be refused classification in Australia, including material promoting, inciting or instructing crime or violence. The eSafety Commissioner works directly with law enforcement and online platforms to remove offending content.

The minister is bringing forward the independent statutory review of the Online Safety Act, with public consultation to commence in early 2024. In the 2023-24 budget, the eSafety platform was provided with an additional $132 million over four years, with an increase in base funding from $10 million to $42.5 million each year. In other words, it was starved.

The 2022 October budget confirmed the government's election commitment of $6 million over three years to roll out the Alannah & Madeline Foundation's eSmart Digital Licence+ and Media Literacy Lab in all Australian schools. It starts with education amongst our children in schools. Regulation, however, does not fix an unloved upbringing, a violent parent, the discomfort of sleeping in a car, the shame of illiteracy, the barriers arising from undiagnosed mental illness or birth trauma. It does not erase the revolving door of out-of-home care. Young people do not grow up aspiring to take the pathway to jail. Somewhere, they have missed the foothold on the ladder of opportunity. Perhaps there were too many setbacks in their formative years, with their downward spiral now threatening to take innocent people in quiet communities like mine down with them.

We can't, however, arrest our way out of youth crime. It demands a multiplicity of measures, starting from the early years: secure housing, access to health care—starting with a bulk-billed GP, supported by tripling of our bulk-billing incentive—and an educational safety net provided by astute educators, who we are trying to attract and retain with scholarships and fee waivers. It requires listening to young people like those in our youth advisory councils and removing cost barriers to skills for our oversubscribed TAFE courses, supported by foundational skill training for those who missed out on reading and writing in school. Evidence shows that, when children and young people are healthy and given opportunities to flourish, be inspired and learn, they are far less likely to offend. Replacing a punitive mindset with a therapeutic one is not easy, but it is necessary.

Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of this excellent motion moved by my good friend the member for Groom. There's no doubt that youth crime is at crisis level across Queensland after almost nine years of the state Labor government. Community anger and frustration over this issue is widespread, and this anger is supported by lived experience and statistical evidence. We are seeing groups of concerned citizens rise up across our community, including Voice for Victims, which has held several mass protests in Brisbane and has pushed demands for a stronger law and order response and higher assistance payments to victims. Recent analysis by the Australian Institute of Criminology has revealed that the top five worst cities in Australia, according to crime statistics, are all in Queensland: Logan City, Mount Isa, Rockhampton, Townsville—the member for Herbert was discussing the issues facing his community—and Cairns.

My electorate is also not immune from this crisis. Local police sources tell me that a vast majority of criminal activity within the Redlands is conducted by a dozen or so youth offenders that they know well. We've seen home invasions, robberies and, worst of all, the death of Katherine Leadbetter—who was 24 weeks pregnant—and her husband Matthew Field, who were walking their dogs in Alexandra Hills on Australia Day 2021 when they were struck by a car driven by a teenager on a drug fuelled rampage. Sadly, we've seen inaction from the state Labor government. In fact, Labor state member for Capalaba, Don Brown, recently said that the youth crime crisis was 'a media beat-up', much to the outrage of the local victims of this crisis.

The crimes are bad enough, but the problem is made worse by these youth offenders bragging about their exploits on social media platforms and inspiring others to try to outdo each other in the brazenness and the impact of their crimes. These digital trophies need to be targeted by law enforcement to prevent the proliferation of crime across our communities. The Queensland government continues to turn a blind eye to the uses of social media platforms which glorify violent crime and challenge community standards to such an extent. It is easy to say that this is a state government program, but the federal government does have the power to impact on this crisis by utilising the powers of the eSafety Commissioner.

The coalition proudly created and funded the Office of the eSafety Commissioner in 2015. The eSafety Commission was a world first; no other country had a comparable program at the time, and many still don't.

In 2021, the coalition government passed the Online Safety Act, giving the eSafety Commissioner strong new powers, including a world-first scheme to take down adult cyberabuse. Under the coalition, the total budget of the eSafety Commissioner grew consistently to more than $53 million in 2021-22, with a mixture of base and dedicated program funding. This motion calls on the government to protect victims of crime by empowering the eSafety Commissioner to explicitly handle online content of criminal activity material in a similar way to how it already utilises its powers to deal with cyberbullying and cyberabuse material under the current arrangements. I understand that there's currently a ministerial review of the Online Safety Act, and this issue certainly should be included as part of that review, and we strongly encourage the government to consider that.

This is very much a commonsense approach to dealing with this problem. Of course it's not a silver bullet. This isn't the only way that we're going to be able to tackle the youth crime crisis, which I know is impacting so many communities not just in Queensland but across Australia. But it is a step to provide some additional resources to tackle the social scourge that is now totally out of hand. It's totally out of hand within the Redlands, which I represent, and across all the communities in Queensland, it seems.

I also commend the member for Groom's private members' bill introduced earlier this year, which if adopted by the government would give effect to the policy intent of this motion. I commend him as well for bringing this motion forward so we can keep the pressure up and keep the debate going on this important reform. Queenslanders are sick of the impact of youth crime on our communities. We are sick of governments burying their heads in the sand while our streets are taken over. We are sick of the fear that these criminals have created within our communities. This is a practical way to impact on that problem, and I commend the motion to the House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the member for Groom did his homework, he'd know certain things like facts and statistics. Queensland crime statistics clearly show that youth crime has actually decreased by 35 per cent in the past 10 years and by 30 per cent over the past five years, and the rate of individual youth offenders in 2021-22 was the lowest on record and has declined over the last 10 years, since 2012-13, when the LNP were in power in Queensland.

It's true there's a cohort of serious repeat offenders responsible for a disproportionate number of offences, and they should be prosecuted with the full force of the law. Some of these offenders have shown a blatant disregard for the law by using social media to glorify their nefarious activities online and attract other people, young people in particular, into criminal behaviour. But it's this cohort that the Queensland government's tough youth justice laws, like the new breach of bail offences, are targeting, as well as tackling the complex causes of youth crime and investing in community safety. Since these laws came into effect in March in Queensland, 93 child defendants have been charged with publishing details of offending on social media, with a conviction rate of 100 per cent for matters finalised by the courts. On top of this, the Palaszczuk Labor government's investing more into police resources and intervention programs to break the cycle of offending, with an additional investment of more than $446 million, which is building on the $800 million already invested in youth justice and diverting young people away from crime. This is backed up by $69 million in federal government funding for the National Justice Reinvestment Program, which empowers communities to identify and implement local solutions when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth justice.

I see the motion makes a token attempt to link this issue to the federal government by calling on the Albanese government to 'enhance protections of children and young people online, from digital content that depicts criminal activity'. And it calls on the government to protect victims of crime by empowering the eSafety Commissioner to handle online content depicting criminal activity. While I appreciate the sentiment, the reality is that the Online Safety Act already provides the eSafety Commissioner with powers under the Online Content Scheme to remove material which would be refused classification in Australia, including material promoting, inciting or instructing crime or violence. The eSafety Commissioner already works directly with law enforcement agencies and online platforms to remove the offending content. The government's actually conducting a review of the Online Safety Act, with public consultation to be commenced early next year, so the member for Groom is welcome to make a submission for the review, which frankly would be far more constructive than grandstanding and moving motions like this.

Unfortunately, this exercise just makes the member for Groom look like he's in the wrong parliament. He should have run for Toowoomba South or Toowoomba North and served in George Street in Brisbane.

I know that's what LNP members from Queensland think they're doing; they think they're in the wrong parliament! The member for Groom should stick to his job as a federal MP rather than trying to help his Queensland LNP mates with scare campaigns on youth crime. They talk a big game when it comes to law and order but they don't listen.

Look at the cuts and chaos under Campbell Newman. Under Campbell Newman, 110 senior officers were cut and 300 police personnel were cut under the last coalition government. They reneged on their promise to provide $20 million for extra police and police training and safe-night-out precincts. They wasted $16.7 million on a failed boot camp experiment to breed faster and fitter criminals. They cut the police monitoring of more than 1,700 sex offenders, and who could forget the spectacular failure of their outlaw bikie laws? Even in opposition in Queensland, the LNP have failed to deliver a comprehensive crime plan. It's now more than a thousand days since they promised one, and, based on their 2020 state election commitment, there'd a thousand fewer police on the beat if they had won the last election.

So I say to the member for Groom: how about you seek preselection in Toowoomba North or Toowoomba South? Do your job as a federal MP and make that submission to that online safety inquiry, rather than bring motions like this. We have serious criminal problems across the country and we need to deal with them seriously, rather than waste the federal government and this parliament's time by grandstanding and helping your LNP mates in Queensland. Go and seek preselection into Toowoomba South or Toowoomba North. When it comes to federal parliament, don't lecture us on, basically, state issues around youth crime and community safety. Work with us and work with the Queensland government and have your Queensland LNP opposition mates do their job and develop some policies across that area. Get your facts right.

A division has been called in the House of Representatives—

Proceedings suspended from 17:26 to 17:43

Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Groom for moving this incredibly important motion and highlighting the deplorable and unsettling rise in violent youth crime across Queensland, especially in my electorate of Dawson. It is ripping our spirits to threads, making our people live in fear and lock themselves inside or even leave our beautiful region. Frankly, what is beginning to happen to the people in my electorate and the inaction of our current federal and state governments is absolutely disgraceful. For our people to prosper and be able to live their lives to the fullest and enjoy what only North Queensland has to offer, they first have to have the most basic human need of personal safety met, and that just isn't happening.

We need to know that, when we're sitting in our lounge rooms watching TV or leaving the house to go to work, we are safe; that the belongings that we have worked so hard to pay for are safe; that we won't be robbed in broad daylight at knifepoint; that, when we're taking our children for a bike ride to the park, we're not going to get ambushed by 10 young kids brandishing weapons, like what happened in Idalia in my electorate; that a 74-year-old neighbour won't be assaulted in his own home so that a couple of teenagers can go for a joyride until the fuel runs out, like what happened in Annandale in my electorate a few weeks ago; and that our partners, husbands, wives or children won't have to sleep with weapons next to their beds if they go away because they're too fearful for their safety.

This is happening in my electorate right now. Innocent people within my electorate are frequently coming home and narrowly avoiding a major crash because kids—some as young as nine or 10—are stealing cars and going out of their way to terrorise the people and residents in the area. Witnessing the escalating levels of criminal activity in our community is distressing. The long-term trauma the victims of these crimes are experiencing and suffering is distressing. We need to protect the victims of crime.

What makes it worse is we're seeing a dangerous competition emerging among these young offenders, fuelled by the desire for notoriety and misguided notions of popularity. This is no longer about a single moment of adrenaline; this has transformed into a contest, not of skills or achievements, but rather a race to commit the most appalling acts, leaving our people marred with the consequences of these thoughtless actions. If their mate steals a Mazda then they steal a BMW. If their mate steals a BMW then they have to steal a Mercedes. If their mate steals a Mercedes, they want to steal a Porsche. If their mate steals a Porsche, what next? Do they want to steal a life? All of this is being posted online for bragging rights, in a fight to be the biggest and the baddest, traumatising their victims over and over again. We need to protect our children and young people who might be drawn into a life of crime by these glorified videos that they are seeing online.

This motion is vitally important, and the time to act is now. Today I'm calling on the Albanese Labor government to stop sitting on their hands and turning a blind eye to this issue. I'm calling on the Albanese Labor government to enhance protections for our children and young people online, against digital content that depicts criminal activity material, and prevent them from a life of crime. And I'm calling on the Albanese Labor government to protect victims of crime by empowering the eSafety Commissioner to explicitly handle online content of criminal activity material in a similar way to how cyberbullying and cyberabuse material is treated.

This is Australia. And the fact is that it is 2023 and the people in my electorate are so afraid for their safety that they are sleeping with weapons beside the bed. This is truly unacceptable. The fact is that people in my electorate are thinking twice about taking the kids to the park because they can't guarantee they'll make it there and back safely. That's just appalling. Prime Minister, it's time to stamp out this criminal activity being posted online now. Protect these victims and, please, protect our children.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Groom for bringing this motion to the chamber today and giving us the opportunity to talk about the action that the Albanese Labor government is taking to ensure that Australian children are protected online.

The Minister for Communications has instigated a review to the Online Safety Act to ensure that the act stays up to date with the rapidly changing nature of the online environment. E-safety is a government priority, with $132.1 million provided over four years. The $42.5 million in base funding will allow the eSafety Commissioner to keep pace with complaints, improve awareness in the community of their role, and fully implement industry codes and basic online safety expectations. The Albanese Labor government has been strongly in support of eSafety's role. Under the former Liberal government, eSafety's funding would have declined, falling to $10.3 million by 2027-28. Labor will instead continue to put cybersafety first and ensure eSafety is able to continue their crucial work.

Labor made an election commitment to roll out the Alannah & Madeline Foundation's eSmart Digital Licence+ and Media Literacy Lab to all Australian schools. This will allow children to develop key skills that will allow them to navigate the cyberworld throughout the rest of their lives. In 2024, the eSmart Digital Licence+ will become available in schools, to equip teachers to help children aged between 10 and 14 to develop critical cybersafety skills. This will be closely followed by the eSmart Junior Digital Licence+, which is aimed at helping students between five and nine, in the second half of the year.

Industry codes are a key way forward in addressing serious, harmful content online. The first round of industry codes specifically addresses the most harmful online content—namely, child abuse material and pro-terror content. The second round of industry codes will be for lower-risk types of harmful content, including refused classification material and online pornography. The code development process started in late 2022, and, currently, six out of eight online industry sections have registered codes. All codes will commence six months after their registration in December of this year and March next year.

In August 2022, the eSafety Commissioner issued the first ever non-periodic reporting notices requiring reports on steps being taken to tackle online sexual exploitation. Summaries of responses received were published, and the commissioner acknowledged that services are currently not doing enough to tackle online child abuse. The second round of notices required five or more social media providers to report on how they were tackling child sexual exploitation, sextortion and the use of algorithmic recommendation systems. The eSafety Commissioner has been taking stronger steps to address noncompliance, including providing a warning to Google and issuing a fine to Twitter for their failure to comply with eSafety's reporting notice. In June this year, eSafety issued a non-periodic reporting notice to Twitter requiring further information on the steps that Twitter owner, X Corp, is taking to implement and enforce its policies against online hate and abuse. The eSafety Commissioner is combatting noncompliance by international social media companies and driving change within the sector.

The Albanese government is deeply committed to funding the work of the eSafety Commissioner and ensuring that it can continue for years to come. This Labor government is committed to ensuring that Australians are safe online. In January, the Minister for Communications and Minister for Social Services convened a national round table on online dating safety. The discussion included leading voices from federal, state and territory governments; law enforcement; academia; the family, sexual and domestic violence sector; diversity and inclusion organisations; as well as senior executives of the most popular dating apps on the market. In September this year, the Minister for Communications wrote to the seven most popular online dating companies in Australia, requesting that they develop a voluntary code of conduct to keep their users safe. Three major companies—Match Group, Bumble and RSVP—have already committed to collaborate on the code. Industry has nine months to develop the code, and its effectiveness will be assessed after nine months of operation.

I think it's very clear our government takes this very seriously. Could I say, particularly as a parent with children who don't yet, but probably soon will, access the online world, that this is really important and it's really comforting to know how seriously our government takes this, in spite of scaremongering from those opposite.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.