A new grants program to enable non-government organisations (NGOs) to deliver safety education and training projects to make Australian children safer online has been launched by the Department of Communications and the Arts.
Announcing the initiative, the Minister for Communications, Senator Mitch Fifield and the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison said every parent worried about their children when they went online.
“We’ve seen too many tragic cases of online abuse and bullying,” the Ministers said.
“This new suite of measures will help keep our children safe online and support parents, community leaders and teachers to do their bit.”
Mr Morrison said that following a request from child psychologist, Dr Michael Carr Gregg, the Government would commission a review of digital licences and other tools designed to build and test children’s online safety skills.
“There are a number of organisations already doing good work in this space and we will look at existing tools, in particular the eSmart Digital Licence developed by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation,” Mr Morrison said.
Senator Fifield said society’s highest obligation was to protect children.
“The Online Safety Grants Program will enable NGOs to deliver practical, on-the-ground improvements to online safety for Australian children.”
He said the independent review would also explore the elements that make up an effective competency-based program for educating children about online safety and examine whether current training and testing tools available for children were effective and if any improvements are needed.
He said the grants program would be administered by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.
