Source : Perth Now news
Parents of children who have taken their own lives from social media bullying will tell senators their stories, as an inquiry into a contentious policy kicks off.
The inquiry into the government’s proposed Digital Duty of Care laws on Monday is expected to hear harrowing details of relentless abuse of children online.
Among those appearing is Mia Bannister, whose only child, Ollie Hughes, died by suicide in 2014 when he was just 14.
“Before his death, Ollie had experienced anorexia nervosa, bullying and online harm,” Ms Bannister wrote in a submission to the inquiry.
“His experiences exposed me to the complex and interconnected pressures young people can face, both offline and online, and to the limitations of systems that too often respond only after significant harm has occurred.”
Ms Bannister, supporting the bill, will argue a preventative approach is necessary for protecting children like her son.
“We do not wait for a building to fail or a workplace injury to occur before considering foreseeable risks. We assess those risks during design, construction and operation and establish systems intended to prevent harm,” she said in the submission.
“Digital environments should be approached with the same seriousness.”
Communications Minister Anika Wells defended the government’s work on the bill as “courageous”, saying it would create a better environment for the next generation of Australian children.
“It tells us that we need to go further and we need to do more because Australians are not being protected online,” she told Nine’s Today Show.
“It’s about embedding some basic safety standards and saying to big tech, if you build it, you are responsible for its risks,” she said, noting most Australians wanted the bill to pass.
But many conservative politicians and groups have labelled the plan as censorship, saying sweeping powers given to the minister, which have been partially rolled back from when they were first announced, could stop people expressing themselves freely online.
It would also allow the eSafety Commissioner to collect private information about Australians and share it with other bodies, the Institute of Public Affairs, a right-wing think tank, has claimed.
“If the bill is about protecting children and moderating illegal content, then why is much of it dedicated to regulating the internet for lawful adult users?” Institute fellow Margaret Cambers said.
