STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Dr HAINES (Indi) (16:09): I'm delivering this statement today on behalf of 13-year-old Davey from the electorate of Indi as part of the Raise Our Voice program. Davey says: It started with harsh, public mockery of quirky online posts. It is a shocking backwards step in the quest for equality for adolescents.

I'm talking about the "Bring Back Bullying" trend that is becoming popular on social media. Ninety per cent of the Australian population rejects bullying behaviours, viewing it as a serious social issue. But there are around 210,000 people who are using this trend to gain more followers on their social media.

And there are also people defending this online behaviour, which is appalling! The actual definition of bullying in the dictionary is: repeated, intentional, aggressive behaviour that involves an imbalance of power or strength, aiming to hurt, frighten or humiliate another person. There is a direct link between sustained cyberbullying and a dramatic increase in suicidal thinking and self-harm among the young in Australia.

When that problem is fixed, we should see a rapid improvement in mental health and people feeling safe on a device. This issue affects everyone in this country. It is better if we are all feeling safe, than afraid.

Davey asks: So what will the government do to fix this problem? Thank you, Davey, for raising this important issue. We should all be thinking about what more each and every one of us can do to stop online bullying.