Rip into cyberbullies

MP pushes to install tough new 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 partyroom meeting in Canberra on Tuesday.

She will plead with them to get tough and ensure that perpetrators face tangible conse- quences 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 cyberbullying) for far too long,” Ms Landry, the member for the Queensland seat of Capricornia, told News Corp.

“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 formulat- ing 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 Katrina this week, will also have private meetings with AttorneyGeneral Christian Porter and the Minister for Communications, Mitch Fifield.

CEO of online mental health organisation Reach- Out.com, Jono Nicholas, said more support was needed to prevent cyberbullying.

“Social media companies have a responsibility to keep their users safe, and the time is now for a bigger conversation about how we tackle cyberbullying head on … because we cannot allow this behaviour to continue,” Mr Nicholas said.

E-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said many online platforms could be misused, but this was particularly so with anonymous apps.