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Cruel Intentions

Updated May 22, 2011 15:05:00

It's been said that natural disasters like tsunamis, cyclones and floods bring out the best and worst in human nature and that's certainly been the case in Toowoomba. The city was rocked by the death toll in flash flooding and inspired by a selfless act of courage by one brother for another. Yet they'd be appalled to learn that not only had the surviving youngster been singled out for a beating by other kids but that Toowoomba is one of the worst centres in the country for cyber-bullying.

Source: Landline | Duration: 13min 16sec

Topics: internet-culture, floods, australia, qld, toowoomba-4350


ANNE KRUGER, PRESENTER: It's been said that natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, cyclones and floods bring out the best and worst in human nature.

That certainly has been the case in Toowoomba. The regional city was rocked by the death toll in flash flooding and inspired by a selfless act of courage by one brother for another.

Yet in time they would be appalled to learn that not only had the surviving youngster been singled out for a beating by other kids, but that Toowoomba is one of the worst centres in the country for cyber-bullying.

(Crowd cheering Prince William)

A string of high profile visitors helped morale as Toowoomba grappled with that day in January. Stories of sorrow and of heroes retold and heard right through to the upper echelons of power.

(Montage of flood scenes, picture of Jordan Rice)

JULIA GILLARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER (choked up): The courage it takes for a young boy, 13-year-old Jordan Rice, to say to his rescuers, "Take my brother first." And before that brave rescuer could return, Jordan and mum Donna were taken by the flood.

But the legend of Jordan's amazing courage will go on. A hero in the purest sense of the word.

ANNE KRUGER: But with all this good will a nasty undercurrent was at work, ready to pounce, literally, and hit Toowoomba while it was already down.

Headlines then revealing low-lives targeted and bashed 10-year-old Blake Rice, and to rub salt into the wounds, the perpetrators gloated about it on Facebook.

PETER TAYLOR, TOOWOOMBA MAYOR: It is unfortunate, this behaviour. I condemn it, I don't condone it at all. I believe these people will be caught because the police have means to track social network sites, they have information and they are tracking down the people responsible for the bullying.

ANNE KRUGER: And it's not the first time the Garden City has had to deal with undesirables on the internet, with a case of cyber-bullying hitting the local headlines last year.

The police internet safety taskforce known as Argos, and prominent child psychologists, say teenagers in regional towns are particularly fast in their uptake of online tribute pages.

So what are these social networking sites, and how do they work?

Police say they start off looking innocent enough - answer a few questions about yourself. You can even keep it anonymous but things can soon get out of hand.

(Shot of flirtatious Facebook conversation on tribute site)

ACTING SUPERINTENDANT CAMERON HARSLEY, QUEENSLAND POLICE: With all these social networking sites, and predominantly with tribute pages, they are set up with good intentions in the beginning.

Inevitably somebody gets on and has an anti-social blog or puts something antisocial on, or an image on which is inappropriate and then it seems to self-generate from that very quickly within the social networking sites.

So within a short period of time, within a few hours, we see people adding to that antisocial behaviour and it becomes out of control very quickly.

ANNE KRUGER: But the story doesn't end there. Another tribute site, Great Wall, was found to be just as menacing to kids in Toowoomba.

The Australian Federal Police in conjunction with the FBI kept a close eye on the Great Wall site and were eventually able to get the site shout down, temporarily at least.

What began in the back streets in the town of Ohio in the US Midwest was traced to a local operative in Toowoomba.

CAMERON HARSLEY: The administrator itself closed it down for a short period of time, I'm led to believe. Police did a number of education programs within schools to get the children aware of the consequences of using those social networking sites, the antisocial behaviour attached with the use of some of those sites, and that was very fruitful with educating the children and stopping that type of behaviour.

ANNE KRUGER: The internet, of course, is a valuable tool helping regional and rural communities connect and gain access to information and resources, and there's no denying it is here to stay.

Over the years Landline has dealt with a whole range of farm safety protocols. It is now clear a best-practice tool kit also needs to focus on cyber safety.

CAMERON HARSLEY: When you are online and chatting as a child, you think you're maybe chatting to another child or a peer or somebody else who assumes an identity of someone else you know - but, in fact, you may be chatting with a perpetrator, an offender, who is trying to access children or images of children.

ANNE KRUGER: And the internet safety message is heading further west.

A few years ago, Senior Constable Mick McGuire left the Gold Coast glitter strip for the bush beat here in Charleville in south western Queensland.

He is passionate about protecting young country kids from the perils of cyberspace.

SENIOR CONSTABLE MICK MCGUIRE, QUEENSLAND POLICE: It is a big issue for our young country kids out here. It is a message that they need to know as much as the city kids.

ANNE KRUGER: They are using every means possible to get the cyber safety message out, including taking it to the air - that is, the School of the Air.

MICK MCGUIRE: We've had a great response from the kids here. As you are well aware, country kids have their own unique sense of what's right and what's wrong and we get some very interesting questions along the way.

Using the School of Distance Education has been fantastic. We have managed to reach kids we would normally not drive and give a presentation to.

ANNE KRUGER: So Mick, we're off to a different type of classroom. What can we expect in here?

MICK MCGUIRE: Well, we'll be talking to a computer screen and students on the other side. It is actually quite amazing.

ANNE KRUGER: So how does it work?

MICK MCGUIRE: Well, we put the CD-Rom into the computer drive and all the students then come in on the conference, and then they can ask questions over the air and we try to answer them the best we possibly can.

ANNE KRUGER: So are the parents there as well? What sort of involvement do they have?

MICK MCGUIRE: Yeah, the parents have been very, very interested in the Surf Safely message and the cyber-bullying message that we're putting out there and we have had a lot of positive feedback from the parents.

SCHOOL OF THE AIR TEACHER: Good morning Ben, how are you today?

BEN: Good, thank you.

SCHOOL OF THE AIR TEACHER: Look, Ben, today we are lucky enough to have Senior Constable Mick McGuire to talk to you today about cyber bullying and the internet.

So away you go, Mick.

MICK MCGUIRE (on the air): We don't really want to stop you from using the internet and chat rooms and blogs, we just want to make sure that you use them safely.

We know here at the School of Distance Ed that the use of the computer is extremely important for you guys, because it is the main source of any education. So we just want to give you hints and tips, and some advice to stay safe and have some fun on the internet.

BEN: I was wondering if cyber bullying can occur on Facebook?

MICK MCGUIRE: Yeah, it certainly can, Ben, and that is what we are here to try to stamp out today.

Since we have brought the program to the kids it has been great and they have been coming forward more and just discussing what they believe may or may not be cyber bullying.

They run it past us and we give them advice. The main message we are giving them is to not respond to any of the rubbish that may be sent across the email or across their phone, and to report it to an adult or responsible person.

(Excerpt from YouTube Anti-Cyberbullying Advertisement)

TEACHER (on stage of school auditorium): Lindsay, you are up.

LITTLE GIRL: Today I am here to talk about Patti. Patti's best characteristics: She is stupid, stupid and ugly.

(Shots of Patti's face and the faces of other children looking upset)

Everything she does is ugly - watch her eat, watch her stuff her face. Look at her - greasy hair, dirty fingernails, it makes me want to vomit.

Her dad does not work so they have no money. That is why she wears that nasty pink sweater. Everyone hates her, even the teachers and they have supposed to like everyone. Get a life Patti.

Thank you.

ONSCREEN: If you wouldn't say it in person, why say it online.

Delete cyberbullying.

Don't Write it.

Don't forward it.

(End of excerpt)

ANNE KRUGER: Renowned child psychiatrist Dr Michael Carr-Greg has become a champion of protecting kids against bullying both online and in person.

And he has seen first-hand the changes in recent years in Australia.

DR MICHAEL CARR-GREG, PSCHOLOGIST: About 60 per cent to 90 per cent of the socialising that young people do in 2010 is digital - either through the internet or through mobile phone.

And wherever you get kids socialising, you're going to get bullying so it was, I guess, a logical progression.

ANNE KRUGER: What about the effects and consequences of cyber bullying?

DR MICHAEL CARR-GREG: This has been well researched and we know there are short, medium, and long-term effects. The short term is sort of shock, horror, depression and anxiety.

Long term, we have seen kids engage in deliberate self harm. And in some very rare instances, they have even killed themselves.

ANNE KRUGER: The national children's counselling service, Kids Helpline, says the bush is disproportionately represented in calls for help regarding cyber safety and cyber bullying.

WENDY PROVODORE, KIDS HELPLINE: So, in 2009, 440,000 young Australians tried to make contact with Kids Helpline. Our counsellors all responded to 270,000 of those, and 120,000 were from kids who live in regional, rural or remote Australia.

That is interesting because there is only 33 per cent of kids that live in those areas, but 44 per cent of the contacts coming to us are from the areas.

COUNSELLOR 1: Hello, Kids Helpline.

COUNSELLOR 2: Hello Kids Helpline.

COUNSELLOR 1: How are you?

COUNSELLOR 2: How are you going?

ANNE KRUGER: In a sign of the times, Kids Helpline set up a separate cyber bullying department.

WENDY PROVODORE: Since 2008 we have decided we will have to track cyber bullying because it is one of the areas that is growing.

And there is lots out there in the community, people hear about it, they don't really understand, I don't think, what's happening for young kids. And so we've watch those numbers come through in a growing area.

For example, on our website we put a hot topic up about cyber bullying and in the last six months there has been 4,500 hits to that site.

So it could have been young kids or teenagers, or indeed it could have been adults trying to access information about cyber bullying. But that's a lot of people coming in and downloading information.

ANNE KRUGER: So what is the difference between cyber bullying and the more traditional school yard variety?

WENDY PROVODORE: Cyber bullying doesn't go away. So if someone is coming at you on your phone, or they are coming through a chat site or social networking they can come to kids 24 hours a day.

So when they are at school they might access something, when they are at home they might. Can you imagine living with stories coming to you, people having a go at you 24 hours a day and you having the opportunity to look at that?

It's very hard to turn off.

ANNE KRUGER: Bullying can take on different forms - a moment of recklessness with a mobile phone can cause lasting heartache and a police record.

CAMERON HARSLEY: It's very easy to take an inappropriate photo in good fun and thinking that it's not a criminal offence, but it's very easy to step over the line once you start taking those sorts of photos, communicating or distributing them.

The other issue is, once they are distributed on the internet there is no way of removing them. So they are going to be there forever and a day.

All those offences - the taking of the photos, the transmission, the possession, the receiving of them - are all crimes. So, the offence ranges from 7 years to 14 years under the State law as well as the Commonwealth.

ANNE KRUGER: One of the most effective ways for parents to tackle possible cyber abuse is for them to become more actively involved in how their children use the internet.

CAMERON HARSLEY: We encourage parents. It should be a conversation that is regularly had. It should be also not just the conversation that's had, but if you are going to give your child a webcam you need to be very mindful of what they're using that webcam for.

You need to be very mindful of the environment which the computer sits. If a computer sits in a child's room and you have little contact with that child, you don't know really what's going on.

DR MICHAEL CARR-GREG: You don't let children have access to this technology in their bedroom.

Secondly, you must have an online family contract where you clearly specify what is and what is unacceptable behaviour.

Thirdly, you should use a filter, like K9 Web Protection.

And fourthly, monitor and supervise what your kids are doing online.

Do the shoulder surfing.

WENDY PROVODORE: So if the kids are doing social networking, ask your kids 'Show us, show us what you are doing'.

Talk to the kids about stranger danger. Remember that old idea we used to have. We used to talk about stranger danger as very, very important. We just forget to tell kids now days that that can happen online.

So online we can have somebody come up who they don't have a clue in the world, they don't get to see the person and yet they will release all this private information about themselves.

MICK MCGUIRE: Whether or not we know if we have stopped anything, the kids are the ones that know that. They are the ones that delete the pictures or don't respond to any inappropriate questions.

Just making them aware is our main aim. We're not going to tolerate cyber bullying out west. We're not going to tolerate cyber bullying at all. It is just something we want to stamp out.