Get tough on cyberbullies

Federal MP wants stricter penalties

CYBERBULLIES would be punished to deter them from their cowardly online intimidation if one Federal Government MP has her way.

Michelle Landry is due to address Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and other Cabinet ministers at a joint party room meeting in Canberra on Tuesday.

She will plead with them to get tough and ensure that perpetrators face tangible consequences for their actions.

Penalties could include fines and community service.

One of the Liberal MP’s constituents, a 13-year-old, was harassed on social media and on the anonymous app Sarahah for months. The abuse culminated in January, when she was told to kill herself.

The girl’s mother, Katrina, set up an online petition for a ban on Sarahah and similar apps, which has now amassed close to 200,000 signatures.

Sarahah, originally set up in the Middle East as a way for colleagues to reflect anonymously on one another’s work, allows the sharing of comments within a social circle without any trace of who is posting the remarks.

“I think we’ve spoken about this issue (of cyber-bullying) for far too long,” Ms Landry, the member for the Queensland seat of Capricornia, told the Mercury.

“These people — and it’s not just kids — need to have consequences for their actions.

“I believe there needs to be penalties and we have to start getting real about how severe the penalty will be ... and formulating a real strategy around this.

“We’re losing far too many lives and we’ve got to get this under control.”

Ms Landry, who met Katri- na this week, will also have private meetings with AttorneyGeneral Christian Porter and the Minister for Communications, Mitch Fifield.

Katrina, who asked that her surname be withheld, said: “When she was told to kill herself, I couldn’t sleep, I was so worried for her.

“It was when I was lying awake at night that I knew I had to take action, and wrote the petition.”

Katrina said social media giants such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and smaller developers all needed to take more responsibility.

“They can’t hide behind privacy concerns. It’s up to them to track down the perpetrators. Surely, it’s not that hard for them,” she said.

CEO of online mental health organisation ReachOut.com, Jono Nicholas, said more support was needed to prevent cyber-bullying.