The federal government’s review of its online safety standards is timely. The rapid development of technology in recent years, the multiplication of players in the online field, and public concern about online abuse have made an already complex task more pressing. The questions asked by the review were broad and complex. They covered the working of a comprehensive Act dealing with benefits and harms of online communication, the regulation that will respect freedom of speech while offering protection to people who suffer harm from it, the accountability of those at each level of online activity, and licensing, in a field that by definition extends beyond national borders.
Many of the 33 questions to which the consultation invited a response were highly technical. Jesuit Social Services (JSS) commented only on eight of the questions to which its programs and research brought the authority of experience. They focused especially on appropriate regulatory support of young people at risk from exposure to harmful online activity.
In its general affirmation of the provisions of the Act, the submission drew on its preventative program Stop It Now! This offers an anonymous hotline, chat service and advice for adults who are concerned with their sexual attraction to children. Other programs under consideration explore a similar program for children, recognising that almost a third of instances of sexual abuse of children are perpetrated by children.
JSS has also participated in research on extent of abuse of children involving online channels.
The submission insisted that in balancing the right to free speech and the need to avoid potential harm, the right to protection from exploitation, violence and abuse, and the rights and best interests of children, must be central. This demands that compliance with the standards outlined in the Act should be assured before programs are introduced.
It also demands that the onus should fall on service providers to remove material used in child abuse and to introduce warnings of illegal behaviour. People exposed to the material should also have the right to report it. The use by regulators of sophisticated search engines and technology to detect illegal abusive material should also be permitted.
(These reflections are drawn from one of many submissions made by JSS to government inquiries on current issues. The submissions always focus on the needs of people, especially young people, whom our JSS staff accompany and whose experience and needs we seek to understand.)
You can find the submission on https://jss.org.au/policy-submissions/federal-pre-budget-submission-2024-25/