May 30, 2022 • 22 mins
Part 7 of 7. eSafety. Australia’s Online Safety Regulator.
This series of podcasts is produced with the support of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.
We will look closely at how young people might engage with sexual content online and how parents and carers can get involved in this discussion.
In this episode Sharon Trotter Education Manager of Education, Prevention and Inclusion talks about the scope of eSafety and the role that they have in prevention of harm online.
See eSafety at https://www.esafety.gov.au/. Sexual Health Victoria at https://shvic.org.au/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
this podcast is intended for an adult audience.
Take care if there might be young people listening.
Welcome to doing it.
This podcast is to help parents carers and anyone working with young people understand relationships and sexuality education.
My name is Anne and I work with the sexual health victoria's schools and community team.
(00:23):
We deliver classes to school age Children so they can better understand their own bodies.
Growing up respect consent reproduction,
sex,
sexual health and relationships.
This episode is the last of a seven part series produced with the support of the E Safety Commissioner,
Go back.
If you haven't heard the earlier episodes in this series are focused on a sentence from the safety Best Practice framework for online safety education.
(00:49):
In reference to Children's Rights online,
it says that young people have the right to provision participation and protection.
My discussions in this series have focused on protection with the view that relationships and sexuality education is a protective factor on and offline sexual health victoria is an agency committed to providing education and clinical support so that people might have positive pleasurable sexual experiences and good sexual health increasingly,
(01:21):
this means providing education and support in and about online relationships.
In this episode,
I'm going to speak to Sharon Trotter,
who is the Education Manager of Prevention and inclusion at E safety Australia had a world first with the establishment of a government agency solely committed to keeping citizens safer online.
(01:43):
Sharon is going to talk in some more detail about what E safety does and their goals.
Sharon.
Thank you so much for speaking with me in conclusion of this series of podcasts I'm making with the Safety Commissioner,
you are welcome.
It's good to be with you.
So as I've been making this series,
I've kept in my mind,
(02:04):
three words from the best practice framework for online safety,
education provision,
participation and protection.
So what's your vision for young people in terms of their right to provision and participation in the online world?
That's a great question because to an extent,
you know,
as the Safety commissioner,
(02:25):
we are about the protection end and I guess another p the prevention end as well,
but when it comes to provision,
um I think we just really recognize how important the online world is for young people,
um it is absolutely fundamental to their lives,
They use it for a variety of purposes,
all the way from communication,
(02:46):
entertainment,
schoolwork,
help seeking.
Um it is so important to their lives.
So I guess we just really want to acknowledge and reflect that fact,
our most recent research into young people's use of the Internet show that teenagers are online over 14 hours per week,
which was exclusive of school time.
It was a pretty solid chunk of time when it comes to participation.
(03:10):
We really see and encouraged that young people are really involved in the decisions that involve them.
They have a seat at the table basically.
So that means for example,
that in the family context it might mean um we'll talk about some of this later,
but as a family,
you're drawing up a family tech agreement,
it's going to have a lot more chance of success if you've been talking to people,
(03:32):
your your young people,
your Children along the way,
um and you agree on what the rules of your household will be when it comes to their online use um for schools and so on when you're drawing up policies and guidance for young people about their internet use.
Again,
we really encourage consulting with those young people who are going to be directly impacted.
(03:53):
Um and for us at the safety we really again want to give young people that seat at the table when it comes to having a say in online safety matters and programs that involve them.
So we have we have recently set up our youth advisory council and a very exciting thing for safety.
We're really looking forward to hearing youth,
(04:14):
young people's voices and putting them at the center of our programs and um you know,
our practices going forward.
Yeah.
Co design is such an important feature um and co designing with youth.
Yeah,
absolutely.
We really just recognize that,
you know,
if we're really going to get cut through with our messaging,
we we need to be hearing from young people about what it is that they are experiencing and how,
(04:37):
you know,
we can realistically be helping them.
So what can government agencies like the safety due to provide protection for young people?
So we had a few PS before,
so I'm gonna conceptualize our work through what we call the three the three PS the three pillars of the work that we do um they are prevention protection and proactive change,
(05:01):
first of all,
starting with prevention.
So I work in the prevention space,
so of course,
I would say that that is the most important element and the goal with our prevention work is really to be stopping harms happening before before they start.
Um that's things like we do that through offering website information,
um we offer resources and programs for parents,
(05:24):
for teachers um and and not just for young people and the people who influence them.
We also offer programs for for example,
women who are experiencing technology facilitated abuse in the context of domestic and family violence um and other more vulnerable members of the Australian community.
We have targeted programs that reach those people.
(05:46):
Um so that's the prevention side of the pillar.
Um the protection side is,
you know,
what happens if things do go wrong um and that that's where we offer um complaints and take down schemes.
So I know that you have in your podcast series already have spoken to Alex Ash about about some of our complaints or one of our complaint schemes in particular,
(06:07):
but Um we have four ways that we can take four types of,
of content and we can take complaints about and we can work to get that content taken down.
So just in brief,
they are we have a cyber bullying complaints scheme.
So for young people under the age of 18 who have experienced cyberbullying,
(06:27):
they can complain about that to us and we can work to get that content taken down Intimate images.
Um if your um this is for anyone of any age,
if an intimate image of you has been shared without your consent again,
you can report that through to the safety and we will get that content taken down.
We have a new scheme which is targeting um serious cyber abuse that's impacting on an adult,
(06:51):
so that somebody over the age of 18.
Um and we also have our scheme for harmful and illegal online content.
So we offer,
you know those those four ways that if something is going wrong address hopefully address that concern.
Um and then the other way um that we do our work is through a proactive change element and that's really where we are working with the technology industry to embed concepts like safety by design,
(07:19):
which is,
you know,
the concept around making sure that when you build technology,
it has safety built in right from the get go.
So it's not being added as an afterthought or or as an add on,
but the tech companies are thinking,
you know through that lens of how they can promote safety and ensure that right from the outset of their product design.
(07:40):
The other thing that we offer under our we have regulatory schemes that we administer and we work with the internet industry around codes of practice whereby we call it a co regulatory approach.
An industry developing a code of practice that will deal with certain types of harmful online content.
We will work with them around developing that code of practice and we will register the code when we're satisfied that meets certain requirements.
(08:08):
So I guess that's another part of us sort of shaping that online regulatory environment when it comes to agencies like the safety.
Actually,
e safety is the first online safety regulator in the world.
So Australia has kind of led the way in terms of its response here to online safety concerns were certainly not the last.
(08:30):
We are,
we're aware that there's a number of other countries looking at Australia's model,
um,
and how it can how they can apply that or apply something in their own country.
Yeah,
that's so interesting.
I think a feature,
a word through the podcast has been proactive,
be proactive about this,
be proactive about this conversation.
(08:50):
And ideally prevention is better than following through with repairing harm if it happens.
Exactly,
that's right.
It is,
it is definitely best to prevent harm from happening,
but we do recognize that that that can't always be the case.
So I think it is important then to have a way of helping those people who have experienced online harm,
(09:13):
What can individuals do to protect themselves and their families from harm online.
So if you're a parent,
I think really one of the most important things you can do is just to be talking to your child about their their,
you know what they are doing online and keeping those lines of communication open with your child.
(09:34):
So we really encourage starting those conversations about online safety just the moment you hand over a digital device to them and from there on in,
it's important to keep checking back.
Obviously,
you know,
your child as they mature,
their online behaviors will change.
So keep keep talking regularly and often about what they what they are doing online,
(09:56):
who they're talking to.
You know,
if they are seeing anything that is of concern,
it's really important to to keep that conversation going.
The other thing we really encourage parents to do is not to focus so much on the fact that it's technology and they may feel that they are not the household expert when it comes to technology,
but to get online themselves um and participate with their child or on their own,
(10:20):
make sure that they also engaged online and um that they're aware of what their child is doing and what what the potential is of the various services or apps or websites that their Children accessing,
not being scared that it's technology and it's out there and they don't want,
they don't necessarily know what to do about it.
But seeing um guiding their young people through their technology journey as being another aspect of parenting.
(10:46):
Um,
and and just applying those same old parenting skills that they would um,
to any other situation in their child's life,
do things like create family tech agreements.
So again,
doing it with your child,
that might be things and your family tech agreement might include things like having limits on how long they can spend online,
um,
(11:06):
what apps and activities they're allowed to do online and also where potentially to use the devices you might want them to be using it,
particularly when they're younger,
um,
to be using the device where you can be keeping an eye on what it is that they're doing.
I think we recognize that for parents,
you know,
their obviously their rules are going to change as the child grows older.
(11:27):
So initially as a parent you might be very act,
but obviously as that changes,
your child will grow older,
they'll be a bit more independent online.
And I think that's where you really,
it really comes back to making sure that you have those lines of communication there open so that if a child experiences anything that causes them concern,
(11:48):
they know they can come to you,
we do encourage parents not to sort of leap to taking away the technology.
Um,
if your young person has an issue with or something has happened to them online,
obviously,
you know that that's a matter for the print your your judgment as a parent.
But sometimes that is the very thing that Children will most fair and that will,
(12:11):
that may cause them to be reluctant to come to you with a problem.
So you don't leap to taking away the device as a solution.
When we talk to young people about online behavior,
we often talk in terms of what is legal and what is ethical and the legal is is easy to find out.
(12:32):
We can read the laws and understand what they say.
But ethics is more difficult to talk about.
So how could discussions of ethical behavior be embedded into cyber safety?
Education,
education content is really framed really strongly around those kind of ethical considerations.
That's not to say that we don't include discussion around the legal aspects and sometimes young people just want to know,
(12:57):
you know,
if I do this,
is it against the law And sometimes it's a bit easier to define,
um,
you know,
what is legal and what's illegal,
although I should add that that is also um,
you know,
there's often interpretation and context over those kind of considerations.
But yeah,
our programs are really focused around um,
(13:18):
um,
some underpinning ethical understandings and I think that's really important for long term behavior change.
And I'm talking about things like um,
you know,
some sort of fairly simple in some ways ethical concepts,
like encouraging young people to be nice to others online to be aware of how their actions might impact others and to be aware that,
you know,
(13:39):
in an online context,
you can't necessarily see how somebody is is reacting to,
so to sort of anticipate how it might impact,
to be aware that something's might impact on some people more than others.
And so to apply that sort of contextual thinking,
things like how and when to seek help for yourself or for someone else if things do go wrong.
(14:01):
So I think,
you know,
they're really um I guess at heart they are sort of our ethical concepts and around they go to things like um more of those social and emotional behaviors that we really want to see um and cultivate in young people,
some of the programs we have and these are all available on our website,
but we have a program called the Yes Project,
(14:23):
which is all about encouraging young people to be positive present,
to be a positive presence online and to support their peers online.
We have a computer game called The Lost Summer which again,
is really encouraging young people to be respectful of others to take responsibility for their actions,
um to be empathetic to other people's situations and also to be resilient behaviors that we want to see and encourage online,
(14:50):
uh the same as the behaviors that we want to see and encouraged offline.
So it's not a whole different spectrum or a whole different way of thinking about things.
It is,
you know,
those same kinds of skills and capacities that we really want to be developing.
What would you like young people to know about services available through the safety we really want um I guess fundamentally we really want young people to know that we are here and that our services are available um and that we can offer practical help and support to both prevent those online harms from happening,
(15:24):
but if something has happened online,
we can offer support um and we can help hopefully to address the concern.
Yeah,
I think we really want to stress that if people make a complaint to us,
we focus on practical outcomes.
Often if people come to us because they've been cyber bullied or because they have experienced image based abuse.
(15:46):
The one thing that they most want and that will most sort of help them is to get that content taken down and we have through our powers,
we can we can do that,
we can,
you know,
we can arrange for that content to work with the providers,
the platforms and we can get that content taken down um if it's content that they've come to and they're concerned and it doesn't meet our complaints thresholds,
(16:08):
there are still ways that we can help,
we can refer people through to the police,
if we think it's a matter for law enforcement rather than the safety and we can and do refer people through two kids helpline or other help services if if they need help of that nature.
So um please come to us if you have a problem we can help to address it and we can direct you to other people who can also assist.
(16:35):
We really want young people to know about the range of education services and resources that we have um that we offer through both our website and we also offer training webinars for parents um and we offer professional training for teachers and for others who work with young people and support them.
(16:55):
So to check out what we offer there I think as well um if you are a parent and you want some advice on some of those really tricky issues like how to start a conversation with your kids about a sensitive issue.
We have a lot of conversation starters on our website as well.
Um if you're a teacher and you're looking for some curriculum based resources that are mapped to the national curriculum,
(17:18):
we offer those through our website.
So I think the key messages really to encourage young people to get online and check out what it is that we offer.
I think you're right and just know that you're there.
I think just knowing about the service in what appears I think to young people to be a very unregulated environment to know that there is regulation there I think is reassuring.
(17:43):
Exactly Sharon.
Thank you so much for speaking with me.
You are welcome.
Thank you.
Sharon has really reiterated the need for a proactive approach to protection.
Also that conversations about E safety don't need to be limited by someone's technical expertise.
(18:06):
Users of technology are making decisions based on the social and emotional skills that they have.
Young people will need help building these skills.
Sharon also talked about the regulatory role that E safety plays in Australia.
This is so helpful for young people to know about as a reporting avenue and it's important to the structure of how new technologies are designed and created.
(18:34):
Finally,
I would like to leave the last word to some young people.
I asked the staff at sexual health victoria if they would record the young people in their lives answering the question,
what should young people learn about seeing or doing sexy things online,
even in a work place full of people who talk about sex all the time.
(18:56):
It was hard to recruit.
I had parents who agreed that their Children would record for me and then word came back that their Children were absolutely not up for answering a question about sex or that the Children were concerned about whether audio would be used and who would hear it.
I've got a few responses.
(19:17):
Here's what they said,
what young people need to learn is how to say no.
If someone they know asked them to take photos of inappropriate parts of their body,
even if it's a close friend,
you just need to say no because you don't know what your friend might do with those pictures,
(19:39):
who they'll share it with or where they will post it.
If your text and photos that you sent to the other person are shared by others,
it may ruin your career,
your classmates might find out,
and your parents also will find out.
People should be taught on factors such as consent and basic sex education at a younger age before being exposed to what they see as attractive to differentiate between respectful and toxic relationships.
(20:13):
I think kids should know that people have pubes that you can't rely,
that everything you see is real.
Your expectations will become unrealistic about what most people like doing in reality and what most people look like in reality.
I think young people should learn that porn doesn't always reflect what a healthy relationship looks like.
(20:38):
I don't like sexy things,
they're worse and mom don't tell me that.
Thanks for listening.
I've really enjoyed being able to talk to so many people about sexual content online and what we should say about it to our young people.
I'm really hoping that this can progress the discussion we have with our young people about sex and relationships on and offline.
(21:03):
Thank you to all the contributors.
We had some parent voices in episode one,
our well being coordinator kate Greg from the safety mandy stevens,
beck martin,
Andrea core ideas,
Alex from e safety fetus,
Sandack to Detective Superintendent jane cross selling dr kath Albury,
(21:23):
Zara Hakim Hamilton's Sharon Trotter.
And thank you to our under 20 year old contributors in our final episode.
For more information on sexual health victoria,
go to vic dot org dot au.
Or follow us on socials for research,
information and resources on the safety go to safety dot gov dot au.
(21:46):
You can contact me directly at doing it at dot org dot au.
Thank you so much for listening.
Please rate the podcast if you like,
review it.
If you have some comments and circulate the resource,
if you can.
Thank you so much.
this podcast is intended for an adult audience.
Take care if there might be young people listening.
Welcome to doing it.
This podcast is to help parents carers and anyone working with young people understand relationships and sexuality education.
My name is Anne and I work with the sexual health victoria's schools and community team.
(00:23):
We deliver classes to school age Children so they can better understand their own bodies.
Growing up respect consent reproduction,
sex,
sexual health and relationships.
This episode is the last of a seven part series produced with the support of the E Safety Commissioner,
Go back.
If you haven't heard the earlier episodes in this series are focused on a sentence from the safety Best Practice framework for online safety education.
(00:49):
In reference to Children's Rights online,
it says that young people have the right to provision participation and protection.
My discussions in this series have focused on protection with the view that relationships and sexuality education is a protective factor on and offline sexual health victoria is an agency committed to providing education and clinical support so that people might have positive pleasurable sexual experiences and good sexual health increasingly,
(01:21):
this means providing education and support in and about online relationships.
In this episode,
I'm going to speak to Sharon Trotter,
who is the Education Manager of Prevention and inclusion at E safety Australia had a world first with the establishment of a government agency solely committed to keeping citizens safer online.
(01:43):
Sharon is going to talk in some more detail about what E safety does and their goals.
Sharon.
Thank you so much for speaking with me in conclusion of this series of podcasts I'm making with the Safety Commissioner,
you are welcome.
It's good to be with you.
So as I've been making this series,
I've kept in my mind,
(02:04):
three words from the best practice framework for online safety,
education provision,
participation and protection.
So what's your vision for young people in terms of their right to provision and participation in the online world?
That's a great question because to an extent,
you know,
as the Safety commissioner,
(02:25):
we are about the protection end and I guess another p the prevention end as well,
but when it comes to provision,
um I think we just really recognize how important the online world is for young people,
um it is absolutely fundamental to their lives,
They use it for a variety of purposes,
all the way from communication,
(02:46):
entertainment,
schoolwork,
help seeking.
Um it is so important to their lives.
So I guess we just really want to acknowledge and reflect that fact,
our most recent research into young people's use of the Internet show that teenagers are online over 14 hours per week,
which was exclusive of school time.
It was a pretty solid chunk of time when it comes to participation.
(03:10):
We really see and encouraged that young people are really involved in the decisions that involve them.
They have a seat at the table basically.
So that means for example,
that in the family context it might mean um we'll talk about some of this later,
but as a family,
you're drawing up a family tech agreement,
it's going to have a lot more chance of success if you've been talking to people,
(03:32):
your your young people,
your Children along the way,
um and you agree on what the rules of your household will be when it comes to their online use um for schools and so on when you're drawing up policies and guidance for young people about their internet use.
Again,
we really encourage consulting with those young people who are going to be directly impacted.
(03:53):
Um and for us at the safety we really again want to give young people that seat at the table when it comes to having a say in online safety matters and programs that involve them.
So we have we have recently set up our youth advisory council and a very exciting thing for safety.
We're really looking forward to hearing youth,
(04:14):
young people's voices and putting them at the center of our programs and um you know,
our practices going forward.
Yeah.
Co design is such an important feature um and co designing with youth.
Yeah,
absolutely.
We really just recognize that,
you know,
if we're really going to get cut through with our messaging,
we we need to be hearing from young people about what it is that they are experiencing and how,
(04:37):
you know,
we can realistically be helping them.
So what can government agencies like the safety due to provide protection for young people?
So we had a few PS before,
so I'm gonna conceptualize our work through what we call the three the three PS the three pillars of the work that we do um they are prevention protection and proactive change,
(05:01):
first of all,
starting with prevention.
So I work in the prevention space,
so of course,
I would say that that is the most important element and the goal with our prevention work is really to be stopping harms happening before before they start.
Um that's things like we do that through offering website information,
um we offer resources and programs for parents,
(05:24):
for teachers um and and not just for young people and the people who influence them.
We also offer programs for for example,
women who are experiencing technology facilitated abuse in the context of domestic and family violence um and other more vulnerable members of the Australian community.
We have targeted programs that reach those people.
(05:46):
Um so that's the prevention side of the pillar.
Um the protection side is,
you know,
what happens if things do go wrong um and that that's where we offer um complaints and take down schemes.
So I know that you have in your podcast series already have spoken to Alex Ash about about some of our complaints or one of our complaint schemes in particular,
(06:07):
but Um we have four ways that we can take four types of,
of content and we can take complaints about and we can work to get that content taken down.
So just in brief,
they are we have a cyber bullying complaints scheme.
So for young people under the age of 18 who have experienced cyberbullying,
(06:27):
they can complain about that to us and we can work to get that content taken down Intimate images.
Um if your um this is for anyone of any age,
if an intimate image of you has been shared without your consent again,
you can report that through to the safety and we will get that content taken down.
We have a new scheme which is targeting um serious cyber abuse that's impacting on an adult,
(06:51):
so that somebody over the age of 18.
Um and we also have our scheme for harmful and illegal online content.
So we offer,
you know those those four ways that if something is going wrong address hopefully address that concern.
Um and then the other way um that we do our work is through a proactive change element and that's really where we are working with the technology industry to embed concepts like safety by design,
(07:19):
which is,
you know,
the concept around making sure that when you build technology,
it has safety built in right from the get go.
So it's not being added as an afterthought or or as an add on,
but the tech companies are thinking,
you know through that lens of how they can promote safety and ensure that right from the outset of their product design.
(07:40):
The other thing that we offer under our we have regulatory schemes that we administer and we work with the internet industry around codes of practice whereby we call it a co regulatory approach.
An industry developing a code of practice that will deal with certain types of harmful online content.
We will work with them around developing that code of practice and we will register the code when we're satisfied that meets certain requirements.
(08:08):
So I guess that's another part of us sort of shaping that online regulatory environment when it comes to agencies like the safety.
Actually,
e safety is the first online safety regulator in the world.
So Australia has kind of led the way in terms of its response here to online safety concerns were certainly not the last.
(08:30):
We are,
we're aware that there's a number of other countries looking at Australia's model,
um,
and how it can how they can apply that or apply something in their own country.
Yeah,
that's so interesting.
I think a feature,
a word through the podcast has been proactive,
be proactive about this,
be proactive about this conversation.
(08:50):
And ideally prevention is better than following through with repairing harm if it happens.
Exactly,
that's right.
It is,
it is definitely best to prevent harm from happening,
but we do recognize that that that can't always be the case.
So I think it is important then to have a way of helping those people who have experienced online harm,
(09:13):
What can individuals do to protect themselves and their families from harm online.
So if you're a parent,
I think really one of the most important things you can do is just to be talking to your child about their their,
you know what they are doing online and keeping those lines of communication open with your child.
(09:34):
So we really encourage starting those conversations about online safety just the moment you hand over a digital device to them and from there on in,
it's important to keep checking back.
Obviously,
you know,
your child as they mature,
their online behaviors will change.
So keep keep talking regularly and often about what they what they are doing online,
(09:56):
who they're talking to.
You know,
if they are seeing anything that is of concern,
it's really important to to keep that conversation going.
The other thing we really encourage parents to do is not to focus so much on the fact that it's technology and they may feel that they are not the household expert when it comes to technology,
but to get online themselves um and participate with their child or on their own,
(10:20):
make sure that they also engaged online and um that they're aware of what their child is doing and what what the potential is of the various services or apps or websites that their Children accessing,
not being scared that it's technology and it's out there and they don't want,
they don't necessarily know what to do about it.
But seeing um guiding their young people through their technology journey as being another aspect of parenting.
(10:46):
Um,
and and just applying those same old parenting skills that they would um,
to any other situation in their child's life,
do things like create family tech agreements.
So again,
doing it with your child,
that might be things and your family tech agreement might include things like having limits on how long they can spend online,
um,
(11:06):
what apps and activities they're allowed to do online and also where potentially to use the devices you might want them to be using it,
particularly when they're younger,
um,
to be using the device where you can be keeping an eye on what it is that they're doing.
I think we recognize that for parents,
you know,
their obviously their rules are going to change as the child grows older.
(11:27):
So initially as a parent you might be very act,
but obviously as that changes,
your child will grow older,
they'll be a bit more independent online.
And I think that's where you really,
it really comes back to making sure that you have those lines of communication there open so that if a child experiences anything that causes them concern,
(11:48):
they know they can come to you,
we do encourage parents not to sort of leap to taking away the technology.
Um,
if your young person has an issue with or something has happened to them online,
obviously,
you know that that's a matter for the print your your judgment as a parent.
But sometimes that is the very thing that Children will most fair and that will,
(12:11):
that may cause them to be reluctant to come to you with a problem.
So you don't leap to taking away the device as a solution.
When we talk to young people about online behavior,
we often talk in terms of what is legal and what is ethical and the legal is is easy to find out.
(12:32):
We can read the laws and understand what they say.
But ethics is more difficult to talk about.
So how could discussions of ethical behavior be embedded into cyber safety?
Education,
education content is really framed really strongly around those kind of ethical considerations.
That's not to say that we don't include discussion around the legal aspects and sometimes young people just want to know,
(12:57):
you know,
if I do this,
is it against the law And sometimes it's a bit easier to define,
um,
you know,
what is legal and what's illegal,
although I should add that that is also um,
you know,
there's often interpretation and context over those kind of considerations.
But yeah,
our programs are really focused around um,
(13:18):
um,
some underpinning ethical understandings and I think that's really important for long term behavior change.
And I'm talking about things like um,
you know,
some sort of fairly simple in some ways ethical concepts,
like encouraging young people to be nice to others online to be aware of how their actions might impact others and to be aware that,
you know,
(13:39):
in an online context,
you can't necessarily see how somebody is is reacting to,
so to sort of anticipate how it might impact,
to be aware that something's might impact on some people more than others.
And so to apply that sort of contextual thinking,
things like how and when to seek help for yourself or for someone else if things do go wrong.
(14:01):
So I think,
you know,
they're really um I guess at heart they are sort of our ethical concepts and around they go to things like um more of those social and emotional behaviors that we really want to see um and cultivate in young people,
some of the programs we have and these are all available on our website,
but we have a program called the Yes Project,
(14:23):
which is all about encouraging young people to be positive present,
to be a positive presence online and to support their peers online.
We have a computer game called The Lost Summer which again,
is really encouraging young people to be respectful of others to take responsibility for their actions,
um to be empathetic to other people's situations and also to be resilient behaviors that we want to see and encourage online,
(14:50):
uh the same as the behaviors that we want to see and encouraged offline.
So it's not a whole different spectrum or a whole different way of thinking about things.
It is,
you know,
those same kinds of skills and capacities that we really want to be developing.
What would you like young people to know about services available through the safety we really want um I guess fundamentally we really want young people to know that we are here and that our services are available um and that we can offer practical help and support to both prevent those online harms from happening,
(15:24):
but if something has happened online,
we can offer support um and we can help hopefully to address the concern.
Yeah,
I think we really want to stress that if people make a complaint to us,
we focus on practical outcomes.
Often if people come to us because they've been cyber bullied or because they have experienced image based abuse.
(15:46):
The one thing that they most want and that will most sort of help them is to get that content taken down and we have through our powers,
we can we can do that,
we can,
you know,
we can arrange for that content to work with the providers,
the platforms and we can get that content taken down um if it's content that they've come to and they're concerned and it doesn't meet our complaints thresholds,
(16:08):
there are still ways that we can help,
we can refer people through to the police,
if we think it's a matter for law enforcement rather than the safety and we can and do refer people through two kids helpline or other help services if if they need help of that nature.
So um please come to us if you have a problem we can help to address it and we can direct you to other people who can also assist.
(16:35):
We really want young people to know about the range of education services and resources that we have um that we offer through both our website and we also offer training webinars for parents um and we offer professional training for teachers and for others who work with young people and support them.
(16:55):
So to check out what we offer there I think as well um if you are a parent and you want some advice on some of those really tricky issues like how to start a conversation with your kids about a sensitive issue.
We have a lot of conversation starters on our website as well.
Um if you're a teacher and you're looking for some curriculum based resources that are mapped to the national curriculum,
(17:18):
we offer those through our website.
So I think the key messages really to encourage young people to get online and check out what it is that we offer.
I think you're right and just know that you're there.
I think just knowing about the service in what appears I think to young people to be a very unregulated environment to know that there is regulation there I think is reassuring.
(17:43):
Exactly Sharon.
Thank you so much for speaking with me.
You are welcome.
Thank you.
Sharon has really reiterated the need for a proactive approach to protection.
Also that conversations about E safety don't need to be limited by someone's technical expertise.
(18:06):
Users of technology are making decisions based on the social and emotional skills that they have.
Young people will need help building these skills.
Sharon also talked about the regulatory role that E safety plays in Australia.
This is so helpful for young people to know about as a reporting avenue and it's important to the structure of how new technologies are designed and created.
(18:34):
Finally,
I would like to leave the last word to some young people.
I asked the staff at sexual health victoria if they would record the young people in their lives answering the question,
what should young people learn about seeing or doing sexy things online,
even in a work place full of people who talk about sex all the time.
(18:56):
It was hard to recruit.
I had parents who agreed that their Children would record for me and then word came back that their Children were absolutely not up for answering a question about sex or that the Children were concerned about whether audio would be used and who would hear it.
I've got a few responses.
(19:17):
Here's what they said,
what young people need to learn is how to say no.
If someone they know asked them to take photos of inappropriate parts of their body,
even if it's a close friend,
you just need to say no because you don't know what your friend might do with those pictures,
(19:39):
who they'll share it with or where they will post it.
If your text and photos that you sent to the other person are shared by others,
it may ruin your career,
your classmates might find out,
and your parents also will find out.
People should be taught on factors such as consent and basic sex education at a younger age before being exposed to what they see as attractive to differentiate between respectful and toxic relationships.
(20:13):
I think kids should know that people have pubes that you can't rely,
that everything you see is real.
Your expectations will become unrealistic about what most people like doing in reality and what most people look like in reality.
I think young people should learn that porn doesn't always reflect what a healthy relationship looks like.
(20:38):
I don't like sexy things,
they're worse and mom don't tell me that.
Thanks for listening.
I've really enjoyed being able to talk to so many people about sexual content online and what we should say about it to our young people.
I'm really hoping that this can progress the discussion we have with our young people about sex and relationships on and offline.
(21:03):
Thank you to all the contributors.
We had some parent voices in episode one,
our well being coordinator kate Greg from the safety mandy stevens,
beck martin,
Andrea core ideas,
Alex from e safety fetus,
Sandack to Detective Superintendent jane cross selling dr kath Albury,
(21:23):
Zara Hakim Hamilton's Sharon Trotter.
And thank you to our under 20 year old contributors in our final episode.
For more information on sexual health victoria,
go to vic dot org dot au.
Or follow us on socials for research,
information and resources on the safety go to safety dot gov dot au.
(21:46):
You can contact me directly at doing it at dot org dot au.
Thank you so much for listening.
Please rate the podcast if you like,
review it.
If you have some comments and circulate the resource,
if you can.
Thank you so much.
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