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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-09 Daily Xml
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Child Protection

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:39): My question is to the Attorney-General. Will the Attorney-General please outline how the protection of children online is being placed at the forefront of this Marshall government?

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Deputy Premier, I call her to order for the last interjection. Deputy Premier.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:40): I am indebted to you, Mr Speaker, for chastising me. I thank the member for King for this question because I am sure every member here would never have anticipated the significance of exposure to risk of children with the development of online communications this century. The situation has not only been that they have had access to it, but predatory people with obviously negative purpose have utilised this, and it has been a matter which has challenged governments around the world.

The Commonwealth of Australia, a number of years ago, established the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, and that organisation has undertaken its work largely to protect children in this space. It is important because obviously the online safety of children has been significant. In fact, last year alone, the eSafety Commissioner finalised 10,000 investigations and received 305 complaints about serious cyberbullying targeting Australian children.

It was welcomed last night when the federal budget announced an extra $14.2 million over four years to further support this office and ensure that the protection that has been provided to children and advice through education programs and public information and the like has been effective. Of course, we now need to look at other vulnerable people in the community, including adults, particularly those who may be frail aged or have a disability, people who may be the victim of domestic violence, who are in a circumstance where they may be more vulnerable to the predatory and uninvited input by use of this medium, which sadly has been used as a tool in this offensive behaviour.

In fairness, I think in South Australia we have pulled our weight. I want to give credit to the former attorney-general because I think as soon as is reasonably practical after this issue was identified in respect of the filming and sexting of material, the former attorney-general introduced summary offences bill reform to crack down on revenge porn and to enable very significant sentences to apply. Of course, then in opposition, we supported that legislation. It was important in this attack against this type of conduct, and we welcomed it.

The federal parliament has also recently addressed legislation to deal with a similar aspect, that is the nonconsensual sharing of intimate pictures. Members may be aware that earlier this year legislation was announced and passed in their parliament which provided civil penalties of up to $105,000 for an individual and $525,000 for a corporation. These are all means by which we assist in the protection of children and other vulnerable persons from this type of conduct.

Nothing is more significant, sadly, than the death of Carly Ryan, an Adelaide teenager, in 2007 here in South Australia, and tomorrow I will introduce legislation to ensure that we have new offences to specifically protect against a person who lies about their age and attempts to meet with a child. It is one for which I will welcome the support of members when they have had an opportunity to view it, and I hope to have that support in the other place. I simply conclude by saying that this is a very concerning area and I hope that the parliament continues to support us in the fight against it.

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