STATUTES AMENDMENT (ANTI-BULLYING) BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 15 November 2012.)

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (11:25): I rise today to commend the honourable member for Fisher for bringing to the attention of the house an extremely important issue, and that is the problem of bullying. The government shares the increasing public concern about the incident of bullying and recognises the very serious impact bullying behaviour has on the welfare of our communities. However, we do not believe that this bill represents the most effective way of tackling this far-reaching problem and we will be respectfully opposing it.

The government is concerned that the proposed amendments to the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 and the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 stipulated in the Hon. Bob Such's bill do not significantly change the operation of these acts to address instances of bullying. The bill firstly proposes to add two additional types of behaviour to the definition of unlawful stalking under section 19AA of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935, namely using offensive or abusive words to or in the presence of a person, and performing offensive and abusive acts in a person's presence or towards them.

In its current form, section 19AA covers acting 'in any other way that could reasonably be expected to arouse the other person's apprehension or fear'. Where the intention is to cause serious harm or serious apprehension or fear, the government believes that section 19AA as it currently stands covers the offences that Dr Such is attempting to target in his new amendments and, therefore, the proposed changes are superfluous.

In relation to the proposed amendments to the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009, the bill seeks to expand the definition of abuse to include acting or speaking abusively or offensively towards a person in their presence. As an act of abuse this would be a ground for an intervention order. Again, we believe that this type of behaviour would be captured by the provisions as they currently stand. Currently, an intervention order can be made where emotional or physical harm (that is, more than trivial) has been suffered, therefore the amendment only adds to a list of examples of behaviour that could cause harm without broadening the scope of the act.

The government shares the concerns of the honourable member for Fisher that the gravity of bullying behaviour occurring in the community is such that it deserves targeted legislation. The government is particularly disturbed by an increasing trend towards cyber bullying where technology and social media are being used to humiliate or degrade victims. Cyber bullying is particularly worrying for a number of reasons. Dissemination of material on the internet has the potential to cause large-scale public humiliation but can also act as motivation for others to plan and commit assaults. Additionally, there is research to show that young people are less likely to seek help for cyberbullying than for more conventional bullying.

In April 2011 the Deputy Premier in his role as Attorney-General released a paper entitled 'Online thuggery' which outlined the government's intention to create new offences to do with cyber bullying. A draft bill has since been prepared setting out the detail of the proposed new law. The bill makes changes to the Summary Offences Act 1953 to create new offences intended to combat humiliating and degrading film, and non-consensual distribution of invasive images. These proposed new laws will fill gaps in existing legislation used to punish bullying. Currently, piecemeal provisions of legislation addressing bullying behaviour contained in the act, such as the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986, the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 and the Children's Protection Act 1933, are simply not addressing the specific crime of cyber bullying nor providing adequate punishment.

Unfortunately, the incidence of cyber bullying has significantly increased with the advancement in modern technology. The utilisation of social networking sites such as Facebook and video-sharing sites such as YouTube are used to inflict harm on victims and is an extremely worrying trend worldwide. Governments around the globe will inevitably be called upon to address this issue, and the South Australian government is taking a lead, being the first Australian jurisdiction to propose laws directed at cyber bullying.

The government is committed to tackling the problem of bullying in all aspects of the community. We have taken an integrated approach with multiple government agencies all working towards eliminating bullying and violent behaviour within our community. The interagency—

The SPEAKER: Member for Torrens, your time has actually expired. Would you like to seek leave to continue your remarks?

Mrs GERAGHTY: Yes. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted.

Mrs GERAGHTY: The interagency round table on bullying in the workplace was established in 2005 with the aim of drawing together the experience of non-government and government agencies under currently involved the provision—

The SPEAKER: Member for Torrens, when I asked you to seek leave to continue your remarks, I meant at a future date. The next sitting date.

Mrs GERAGHTY: I take it then that we will not be able to put the motion anyway.

Debated adjourned.