3.6.13 Cybersafety

Mr HAWKE (Mitchell) (20:40): I
rise with great pleasure to support the motion of the member for Forrest in
relation to cyberbullying and cybersafety posing a threat, especially to young
people. I want to note the contribution of the member for Forrest in this space
in this parliament. She has done an enormous amount of work on the committee and
the parliament's Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety. Indeed, this motion
represents yet another step forward in acknowledging that this House calls for
greater education and enhancing cybersafety education in all Australian schools.
I want to rise to support that in particular, because, after an inquiry into
cybersafety and young people, and with all of the experience I have had in my
role as the deputy chair of the cybersafety committee, I am aware that education
is put forward as the best solution to this challenge facing young people
today.

We have heard from members of this House about the challenges
facing young people in a rapidly changing world and, indeed, it is telling when
all groups—the internet industry, all of the different businesses associated
with providing the internet in Australia, parent groups and academics—say that
the best thing they can do is encourage, educate and equip young people with
things that they need to prevent these things from happening in the first place.
Perhaps the most telling thing that was said in evidence in the time that I have
been on this committee was, when we were discussing internet filtering—a pet
hate of mine—a witness said that we need to teach these young people to use the
filters in their heads. I think that was perhaps the most telling
crystallisation of the concept.

We know that most Australian children are immersed in the
internet. We know that the attitude of social media and social networking is
evolving in this country. We know that Facebook has opened an office in
Australia, which is a great triumph for Australia and Australians, and I commend
the work of the committee and the member for Forrest in forcing this. And we
have rejected the attitude of Mr Mozelle Thompson from Facebook who said, under
questioning from me about the issue of children under the age of 13 using the
Facebook site, when challenged on the fact that there were tens of thousands of
young people under the age of 13 using Facebook:

I accept that there are people who lie, and sometimes those are
younger people who maybe do not belong on the site. Facebook has mechanisms to
try to detect them, but it is not perfect.

This was the response of Facebook—and,
of course, every kid in my street under the age of 13 is on Facebook. That
attitude is a thing of the past. Indeed, I call again for the internet industry
to understand that self-regulation is better than failing repeatedly in this
space and having governments—bad governments and good governments—legislate over
the top of them. There is a great role for self-regulation. There is an even
greater role for cybersafety education in all Australian schools.

I was privileged to launch, with Kids Helpline and Optus, a
resource that went into all 10,000 of Australia's schools, the 'Make cyberspace
a better place' campaign. This initiative of Kids Helpline and Optus saw this
resource—which was an education pack containing information on cyberbullying,
sexting and the safe use of technology—go into 10,000 primary and secondary
schools. It was piloted at Oakhill College in my electorate, and I want to
re-commend the kids there for the work that they did in improving the quality of
those lessons and ensuring that they were young-people relevant.

But, as to the breaking up of these categories into the right
age groups of primary schools and high schools, where to fit in sexting, where
to fit in cyberbullying and where to fit in the safe use of technology is an
evolving discussion. But it is a critical discussion. It is something which I
completely support as the best mechanism available to our society to help
protect young people from the dangers they face online. It is certainly better
than passing a law through this place. It is certainly better than seeking to
impose unnecessary red tape and other institutions like filtering to pretend to
parents and to communities that the government can filter out negative or
harmful consequences of the online space—it cannot.

That is why I am very pleased to rise in support of the motion
of the member for Forrest. She has put forward something that is common sense
and that ought to be common sense; that is, when we move into this era where
online digital use is prevalent among all our young people, it is absolutely
vital that we ensure this is part of our education system, that we equip our
children with the tools they need to make their own decisions and protect
themselves online as the best way forward.