QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr CLARE (Blaxland—Minister for Education) (15:03): I thank my friend the big-brained and big-hearted member for Banks for his question. School holidays are over. Kids are back at school in most parts of the country.

For some kids, bullying hasn't stopped over the break. That's what the internet means today. And here are a couple of facts that are hard to hear.

One in four students tell us that they've been bullied at school. One in two say they've been bullied online. Thirteen per cent tell us that online bullying has involved someone telling them that they should die.

Complaints about online bullying to the eSafety Commissioner have increased by 450 per cent. That's the world that our kids are growing up in today, and, the truth is, it's getting worse, not better. Since we last sat, three weeks ago, more young people have taken their own life here in Australia because of bullying.

That's why the new rules that come into force next year are so important. They'll require all schools—Catholic, independent and public schools—to take initial action on bullying complaints within two school days. That involves taking initial action to stop the harm that's occurring; talking to the children that are involved; contacting both sets of parents—the parents of the child that's being bullied and the child that's allegedly doing the bullying; and, in some very serious and extreme situations, contacting the police as well.

But that's not the only thing that we need to do. Because so much of this is happening on the internet, we've got to act here as well, and that's what the Digital Duty of Care Bill does. If a child is being bullied online, it's not just them who can see it.

Their friends can see it. Others can see it. Everyone can see it.

It can make you feel, if you're a young person and you're seeing all of this online, like you can't escape, like you can't breathe. It can make minutes feel like hours. It can make days seem like forever.

And that is when really bad things happen. That's why this legislation is important. It means that, when this happens, it can be taken down faster.

It cuts the time before a removal notice can be issued in half. This includes the latest plague, these new nudify apps—where photos of our kids are cut and cropped and pasted onto naked bodies—all designed to demean our kids, to degrade our kids and to humiliate our kids. I want everyone just to imagine: if that was your child, what would you expect us to do?

I reckon the people of Australia would want us to act, to take this filth and this evil stuff down. This isn't about political censorship; it's about protecting our kids.