Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Chandler for her question. The Morrison government has been at the forefront of delivering measures designed to give people the protection of the rule of law online, just as they have it offline. We cannot accept a situation in which social media is a place where cowards use the shield of anonymity to bully, harass and ruin lives. For too long, trolls, bots and bigots have flourished online behind a digital curtain of anonymity. That's why we, on this side of the chamber, have been steadfastly committed to measures that keep Australians, particularly women and children, safe online.

This government established the world-first eSafety Commissioner and legislation to deal with abhorrent and violent material online. This year we passed the Online Safety Act, which will take effect in January. This act gives the eSafety Commissioner new powers and digital platforms more responsibility. There's a new adult cyberabuse take-down scheme and a stronger cyberbullying scheme, reducing take-down periods from 48 hours to 24 hours and giving the eSafety Commissioner the power to respond more quickly to the worst of the worst content, such as child sexual abuse material, no matter where it's hosted. Importantly, we've provided Australia's eSafety Commissioner with the power to order tech companies to report on how they are responding to these harms so that Australian parents know what these companies are doing to make their products safe for kids and families. If the companies don't respond, they can expect hefty fines of over half a million dollars.

Since we came to government, the coalition have not stopped fighting to keep Australians safe online, whether it's the Online Safety Act or the recently announced antitrolling bill. These measures are all part of our plan to keep Australians safe online.