Bill Shorten MP 
MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG

9 August 2012

MEDIA RELEASE

 

Local School Joins Youth Advisory Group on Cybersafety

 

Federal Member for Maribyrnong, Bill Shorten, welcomes the participation of Moonee Ponds West Primary School in the 2012 Youth Advisory Group on Cybersafety (YAG).

 

“The YAG has been a really valuable program for the Government and for young people. The secondary schools rounds of the YAG earlier this year were a great success, and it’s good to see primary schools getting involved in this program too,” Mr Shorten said.

 

“We know kids are getting online younger, so it’s really important that primary school children get the opportunity to help shape the Government’s cybersafety policies by telling us about their experiences online and what we can do to help them stay safe.

 

“Students from Moonee Ponds West Primary will have the opportunity to talk to the Government via a secure online website using a range of methods including blogs, discussion forums, quizzes and polls.”

 

The Government in turn gets the chance to find out about the issues facing young people, and the best ways to communicate with them to keep them safe online.

 

“Now in its fourth year, the program has been opened up so that any Australian school can nominate to take part, and I’m pleased to see Moonee Ponds West Primary School has taken up the opportunity for the first time.

 

“We’ll be building on past successes, like the Easy Guide to Socialising Online, which provides cybersafety information about 26 different social networking sites, search engines and online games - and has over 60,000 hits since it was launched in January 2012 by the Prime Minister.

 

“The YAG has also contributed to the development of the Cybersafety Help Button. The Help Button provides easy online access to cybersafety information and assistance available in Australia. It’s been downloaded to around 300,000 devices and is now accessible on personal computers, laptops, blackberry, windows 7, Android mobile phones, and internet explorer, Mozilla and safari extensions.”

 

Now in its fourth year, the YAG is expanding to include around 3,000 students from up to 400 schools, and gives primary and secondary students the opportunity to provide cybersafety advice directly to the Government.

 

For more information on the government’s cybersafety plan visit: www.dbcde.gov.au/cybersafetyplan.

 

To learn how to socialise safely online visit: www.dbcde.gov.au/easyguide.

 

[ENDS]

Suburbs in the Maribyrnong electorate include: Aberfeldie, Airport West, Albion, Avondale Heights, Brooklyn (part), Essendon, Essendon North, Essendon West, Kealba, Keilor East, Keilor Park, Maribyrnong (part), Moonee Ponds, Niddrie, St Albans (part), Sunshine, Sunshine North and Tullamarine (part).

 

Media Contact:

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Kieran Barns-Jenkins9326 1300