Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Tony Abbott to establish Online Safety Working Group

Group is offering help for parents, teachers and young people to deal with internet risks

The Coalition has announced plans for an Online Safety Working Group designed to assist parents and teachers in protecting young people from the risks associated with the internet and social media.

The Coalition will consult with technology, education and cyber safety representatives, to develop its online safety policy in the areas of education, regulation and enforcement.

Federal opposition leader, Tony Abbott, said in a statement that approximately 2.2 million Australian children actively engage via the internet and are vulnerable to its risks.

“In a relatively short period of time, the internet has transformed our way of life. However, there are also risks, and children are particularly vulnerable,” he said. “These risks include children being exposed to illegal or inappropriate content and the increasing use of social media as a forum for online bullying.”

Abbott added that the Coalition do not seek to repeat Labor’s “ham-fisted attempt” to put a filter on the internet or to hinder the dynamic nature of the online environment. Abbott was referring to the Federal Government’s proposed mandatory Internet Service Provider (ISP) filter which attracted criticism from the IT industry during 2011. “This is about protecting cyber privacy. It’s not about trying to enforce cyber censorship,” he said.

The Group will be chaired by the Member for Bradfield, Paul Fletcher, who will be joined by Australian Capital Territory Senator ,Gary Humphries, Mitchell representative, Alex Hawke, Solomon representative ,Natasha Griggs, Longman representative, Wyatt Roy, Barker representative, Patrick Secker, Tasmania Senator, Stephen Parry, Victoria Senator ,Bridget McKenzie, and member for Cowan, Luke Simpkins.

Abbott added that the Group will work closely with Shadow Ministers who are responsible for online safety, in particular, education and communications.

During 2012, it will hold roundtables and community forums across Australia.

Terms of reference for the Group are available on Abbott’s website.

Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Cowan, Federal Government, Solomon
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: cyber safety, Online Safety Working Group, Tony Abbott
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Get the Whole Picture Why Most Organizations Miss User Response Monitoring—and What to Do About It
    You can be armed with vast amounts of performance metrics, but if you don’t know what users are actually experiencing, you don’t have the real performance picture. While this measure is critical, it is one many organizations fail to consistently capture. This guide looks at the challenges of user response monitoring, and it shows how you can overcome these challenges and start to get a real handle on your infrastructure performance and how it impacts your users’ experience.
    Learn more »
  • Enterprise Buyers Guide for Application Development Software
    New software delivery models, leaner and faster development methodologies, emerging mobile apps and the impact of open source are all key trends changing the way software will be procured in the future. To help organisations understand this changing landscape and to provide a framework for procurement Computerworld has created an enterprise buyers guide which includes the top technology trends in applications, programming, architectures and methodologies. It profiles the software vendors to watch, addresses the security concerns caused by Web 2.0 and examines the impact of Open Source Software (OSS).
    Learn more »
  • ALM Buyers Guide: A Practical Guide to Choosing the Right Agile Tools for your Team
    This buyer's guide describes the key criteria for application lifecycle management (ALM) solutions for today's high-performance teams. It includes key considerations for enhancing your single- or multi-vendor ALM environment.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.