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Thursday, 28 June 2007 |
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Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [3.38 p.m.]: The Opposition looks forward to seeing the details of some of the proposals. We welcome anything that encourages the contribution of youth in society in a range of areas. I need to make the point that the Howard Government is making an unprecedented attempt to bring the youth of Australia into the electoral process right now. Locally a fantastic group called Kids with a Voice is doing something similar. The group gives kids the opportunity to have ongoing participation in the voice of their school. The kids at Balgowlah Heights, under the stewardship of Catherine Henderson, are identifying projects that they can undertake. The first project for these fourth-grade to sixth-grade kids is safety crossings for every school day. It is a fantastic opportunity for kids to make a difference. Although we talk about youth affairs and protecting our youth we have a gap, and it is online predators. I have raised it before and I will raise it again. I call on the Government to act. At the moment any person who is a registered sex offender can access the Internet freely and lure—
Mr Alan Ashton: Communications is a Federal responsibility, and you ought to know that.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: No, it is not actually a Federal responsibility. There is opportunity within State legislation—
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for East Hills will remain silent.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: I am assuming that the member for East Hills is taking the issue seriously. But the question is: What is the Government doing about it? We are in the midst of bringing a group of people from the information technology industry, child protection services and the police together to make recommendations about what we should do from a legislation point of view to close this gap. We will introduce legislation to that effect. We spoke about bipartisanship today and to me this is a bipartisan issue. If we are talking about youth affairs we should protect our children. I have three young kids about whom I am concerned because they could be lured, as could all the children out there, through the Internet by their friends. I encourage the Government to consider that. I look forward to reading the details of the Minister's response.
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