NEW ONLINE SAFETY ACT TO KEEP AUSTRALIANS IN PETRIE SAFE

The Morrison Government has commenced consultation on a proposed new Online Safety Act to keep Australians safe when online.

Luke Howarth MP, Federal Member for Petrie, said keeping Australians and residents in his electorate safe online is a top priority.

“The internet offers significant economic and social benefits, but these benefits will only be fully realised if Australians can engage confidently and safely in the online world,” said Mr Howarth.

“We have many school-aged children studying at numerous schools within Petrie whom are vulnerable to exploitation material so it is important that we ensure their safety through the Act.

“The proposals include expanding Australia’s cyberbullying scheme to protect kids across the full range of online services they use and the creation of a new cyber abuse scheme for Australian adults.”

Other features of the proposed new Act outlined in the discussion paper include:

• Decreasing the time within which platforms must facilitate the takedown of harmful content under the cyberbullying and image-based abuse schemes – from 48 hours to 24 hours.
• Extending the application of cyberbullying scheme for children to cover various other services they use every day (e.g. gaming chat services, messaging apps, social connection sites).
• Reducing the availability of harmful material by working with ancillary services providers, like search engines, to de-rank offending content.
• Providing the eSafety Commissioner with powers to mandate transparency reporting by the digital platforms.
• Introducing new basic online safety expectations to be proactively met by service providers.

The proposed reforms deliver on a commitment made at the 2019 election and respond to the 2018 review of online safety legislation by Ms Lynelle Briggs AO, which recommended the replacement of the existing framework with a single Online Safety Act.

Mr Howarth is encouraging interested individuals in the electorate to view the Government’s proposals and to have their say by Wednesday 19 February 2020.

More information about the proposed reforms and how to make a submission is available at www.communications.gov.au/onlinesafetyact