Key events
Josh Butler
Indigenous children three times as likely to experience internet hate speech than national average
The federal minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, says “more work is needed” to address online harm in the leadup to the Voice referendum.
The eSafety Commissioner today released a report on the online experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. It says that Indigenous children are much more likely to use the internet to make friends, connect with people from different backgrounds, play games and post their own music or video content than national averages. Indigenous children are also far more likely to engage in online civic engagement – such as discussing social and political problems – and reading news than other children their age.
But the report also warned of negative experiences above the national average. Some 68% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children said they had been treated in a hurtful or nasty way, with 29% having had offensive things said to them, while 76% had been exposed to potentially harmful online material like violent images or sexual content.
The results came from a large online survey of parents and kids.
Burney said technology was a great tool being used to build connections and boost civic engagement among Aboriginal children, but that the government was looking to better help kids.
“Today’s research from the eSafety Commissioner is a reminder it also carries risks, with young Indigenous Australians more likely to be exposed to harmful content or hate speech attacks,” she said.
“As with so many other areas where disadvantage undermines health and wellbeing, more work is needed to ensure equal protections and access to the good things the internet can provide. This is especially so as we begin the referendum process to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the Australian Constitution.”
eSafety has also launched new resources in First Nations languages to better support kids online at its website.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said “there is no place in Australia for hate.”
“eSafety can help when things go wrong online, and support victims of online abuse. I look forward to seeing how eSafety’s latest resources support First Nations people to stay safe online,” she said.
Moira Deeming suspension ‘not off to a good start’: Pesutto
Back in Victoria and last night the Liberal leader, John Pesutto, spoke to ABC 7.30 about the Moira Deeming suspension, while at the same time Deeming tweeted that she “never condemned” people Pesutto had told the media she had condemned.
Don’t worry, I never condemned you, or KD or KJ.
— Moira Deeming MP (@MoiraDeemingMP) March 27, 2023
It seems a little bit of a mess. Pesutto has responded that the suspension is “not off to a good start” so expect to see more fallout from that today.
John Pesutto tells ABC 7:30 ‘there will be consequences’ for Moira Deeming – if what she told the party room today is different to her true intentions.
Comments come following these tweets from Deeming this evening. Mr Pesutto says the party will now have to review the tweets. pic.twitter.com/7IctStFxjM
— Sharnelle Vella (@SharnelleVella) March 27, 2023
ACT bill to force government bidders to check slavery risks
Daniel Hurst
Anyone bidding for government contracts worth more than $25,000 must show they are tackling modern slavery risks under new legislation to be introduced to the Australian Capital Territory’s parliament.
The would also require the ACT’s own government entities to consider and reduce the risk of modern slavery in their own supply chains.
Following legislation already in force in New South Wales, the ACT legislation would also create a new anti-slavery commissioner to provide advice and education about how to combat modern slavery.
Labor and the Greens – which together hold a majority in the ACT legislative assembly – agreed as part of their governing agreement to ensure territory legislation “can identify and effectively respond to modern day slavery”.
Jo Clay, the Greens member who proposed the bill, said the modern slavery category could include forced labour, forced marriage, sexual exploitation or human trafficking.
Clay said states and territories had “an essential role to play in addressing this issue both in their own borders and outside of them” because they had significant responsibility for service delivery. Clay said:
The ACT government need to lead by example in scrutinising their supply chains for modern slavery risk. We also need to ensure that our response is holistic and that we are looking at the local context.
I believe it is important that we take responsibility for what we buy and procure. Currently the commonwealth system only requires large companies with turnover of over $100m to consider these risks. Our changes will ensure that ACT government procurements above $25,000 consider the risk of modern slavery.
The move comes at a time when the federal government is reviewing national anti-slavery laws, with the option of tightening the reporting threshold and introducing penalties for breaches.
Good morning
Amy Remeikis
Welcome to day six of the last parliament sitting before the budget is handed down.
Having secured much-needed support on the safeguard mechanism, Labor is turning its attention to its housing future fund. It needs the Greens and two crossbench MPs on that one – Lidia Thorpe has committed to voting with the Greens on climate issues, but makes her own decision on others – and so far, a compromise has not been reached.
The main issue is that no one seems to think 30,000 homes over five years is particularly impressive, or believes that the fund will work. Labor hasn’t been prepared to budge or go further, so the bill is languishing. Still, there’s three days of hardcore negotiating to go, so who knows what will happen.
The count continues in NSW, with Labor waiting to see if it will form majority government. Pre-poll and postal votes matter in quite a few seats, so it’s not a done deal just yet. Our NSW team will keep you updated on the count as it comes through, as well as any decisions on who will lead the NSW opposition.
Our Victoria and Queensland teams will also drop in anything you need to know about what’s going on there as well – other than Queensland being the greatest nation on earth, of course.
Back federally and we’ll see if Peter Dutton pops his head up today. He was unusually quiet yesterday, not holding a press conference even when the Greens struck a deal on the safeguard mechanism – he left that to Ted O’Brien, which is not a sentence you read often (for good reason, usually). And he didn’t ask any questions during QT.
Labor thinks it’s because of this Saturday’s Aston byelection – Dutton isn’t exactly popular in Victoria, so the government think he’s keeping a low profile. Dutton barely campaigned in NSW, but a loss in Aston would be both historic (governments don’t win byelections from opposition, as a general rule) and also throw his leadership into turmoil.
So far, any grumbles from the Liberal party room have been fairly muted. But at the same time, the “there’s no one else” reasoning is getting a little harsher. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a great vibe in the joint party room meeting today, put it that way.
We’ll keep you across all the vibes and all the information as it comes to hand. It’s at least a three coffee morning.
Ready?
