Conroy’s Internet Filter has distracted from the real issues in online safety

Stephen Conroy has finally abandoned his unworkable policy of a mandatory internet filter that would block the content available to users – both adults and children -  in a number of categories. 

But it’s taken him five years to admit reality – and in that time a lot of the real issues regarding online safety for children have been ignored. 

During that five year period, the number of internet enabled devices – included laptop and desktop computers, smart phones, games consoles and tablets – has exploded and social media has become a major presence (with over ten million Australian Facebook accounts.) 

Since early this year the Coalition’s Online Safety Working Group has consulted widely on this issue.

We have held roundtables and community forums; we have called for and received submissions from key stakeholders; and we have visited schools around Australia.

As expected – and as parents know – we learned that children are very heavy users of technology and have near constant access to the internet. In the groups we have spoken to, almost every teenager owns a mobile phone, with most being internet-enabled smart phones.  Amongst ten year olds, it is striking how many own Apple iPods – devices which, as well as storing and playing music, can access the internet over wi-fi (provided free in many locations including McDonalds stores). 

Many children have a games console such as a PlayStation, Xbox or Wii.  Later versions of these devices typically have internet access.

Just about every hand goes up when you ask a group of 13 or 14 year olds if they use Facebook. Even amongst eleven year olds, around half say yes – despite Facebook’s stated policy that users must be at least thirteen.

This very rapidly changing environment means children face risks which did not exist twenty years ago. If they do not use the proper privacy settings, children are effectively sharing personal information and photos with the entire world – including its most unsavoury inhabitants.  Children also face risks if they are indiscriminate in responding to ‘friend’ requests. One thirteen year old told us she had 800 ‘friends’ on Facebook – meaning she is giving a lot of strangers access to the information and photographs she posts. 

It is not surprising that in an area where things are changing so fast, parents are struggling to keep up.   Many parents do not know that there are parental controls built into many popular software packages and devices.

It is clear from our consultations that parents, teachers and others with responsibility for the care of children are concerned about online safety issues – and how to best protect children in their care against the risks they face online including cyberbullying, exposure to age-inappropriate content, and disclosure of personal information to those with harmful intent.

The Rudd-Gillard Government has spent its time pursuing an unrealistic and unworkable technological big bang solution and failed to focus on the real issues of online safety for children.

The Coalition has used this period to engage in careful policy development and we will release a discussion paper in coming weeks to seek feedback on specific measures we are considering in this area.