Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, as part of Raise Our Voice's Youth Voice in Parliament Week, I'm proud to share a speech written by a Canberra student. This year, my office received more than 60 speeches from students across the territory. Every single one was thoughtful, passionate and impressive, and it was really hard to choose just one of them to read out. Thank you to all of those who sent them in. You should be incredibly proud of your work and your advocacy.

The speech I'll be reading was written by Jai, who wrote:

In this day and age, using technology and smart devices is very common for kids and teenagers alike.

Using these devices can also lead to online interactions on social media platforms, which can eventually lead to cyberbullying without proper restrictions from parents.

Hello, my name is Jai, and I am 12 years old.

And at this age, and slightly younger, a lot of kids receive their phones, and if not, their parents let their children use the parents' phones.

And then kids can use social media platforms on the devices, and then talk to other people.

And because a lot of children have devices, it's very common for them to interact with each other, and without proper restrictions, kids can also take pictures of other people and post them with insults.

This is a huge problem, and parents need to set restrictions on their children's devices or restrict their use of the devices because even with restrictions on websites, kids can bypass them.

After all, children are used to technology and know everything about it in and out.

Cyberbullying also doesn't just involve text; it can also involve pictures of kids without their consent.

So, in conclusion, I strongly believe that parents should take responsibility for their kids' device use.

Thank you, Jai. Thank you for participating in Raise Our Voice's Youth Voice in Parliament Week, and thank you to all of those other amazing Canberra students who sent speeches through to my office. I appreciate it. Thanks very much.