Calls for charges if schools fail to report obscene images

There are calls for Queensland schools to face criminal charges if they mishandle the reporting of nude images by their students.

Shadow minister for women Shannon Fentiman wants a review of existing legislation. Picture: iStock.

The state government is being called on to urgently overhaul laws around the reporting of nude imagery shared by children on social media – with schools which fail to notify police to face criminal charges.

It comes as grieving mother Emma Mason, whose daughter Tilly Rosewarne suicided after being bullied online, demands government funding be pulled from schools which don’t comply.

Shadow minister for women Shannon Fentiman wants a review of existing legislation, saying there are “obvious gaps”.

“Teachers already have a mandatory duty to report sexual abuse or suspected sexual abuse of a child to police,” Ms Fentiman said.

“Failure to do so is a crime carrying a maximum jail time of three years.”

She said the 2021 legislation should be scrutinised to see that it is “capturing online sexual content”.

Ms Fentiman also wants the government to convene an e-safety summit similar to one jointly held by NSW and South Australia last year.

“It’s been very disappointing that we haven’t heard much from the Education Minister in the wake of coverage in The Courier-Mail about the shocking scandals at Good Shepherd Lutheran College and Grace Lutheran College,” Ms Fentiman said.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek did not respond to questions from The Courier-Mail around reviewing legislation or hosting a summit.

Grace Lutheran College, Rothwell.

Asked what steps the government was taking on e-safety, Mr Langbroek said: “Just last week, I attended a collaborative roundtable discussion with key stakeholders including representatives from P&Cs and the Queensland Independent Schools Parents Network.

“We came together to discuss behaviour, anti-bullying and the deepfake scourge and how we can work collaboratively to reduce the devastating impacts it’s having on young lives.”

Mr Langbroek said he had written to the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board, directing it to ensure schools understood and complied with their reporting obligations.

Emma Mason, a lawyer and fierce advocate of child safety online since 15-year-old Tilly’s 2022 death, said it was “absolutely criminal” that potentially illegal material was going unreported to police.

“Private schools run their own show, but given all schools receive a base level of funding by the federal government, there must be investigations so no-one starts hiding (social media abuses) from police to protect their reputations,” Ms Mason said.

“You tie responsibility for reporting to police to meeting the markers in order to be funded.”

Ms Mason also called for uniform rules across state and non-state schools for dealing with the sharing of deepfake nudes and other horrific material.

Minister for Education and the Arts John-Paul Langbroek, Qld parliament Question Time, Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

“We need all schools to have the same processes – not the Catholics or Anglicans saying, well this is how we do it, because they are focused on losing school fees.”

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has written to education ministers to ensure schools are enforcing mandatory reporting after a huge spike in the number of deepfake images.

As exclusively reported by The Courier-Mail, Good Shepherd Lutheran College in Noosaville was made aware in February of pornographic images posted by Year 7 and 8 students on Snapchat but it was not reported to police until May.

Sister school Grace Lutheran College in Rothwell failed to alert police to deepfake nudes of female students created and shared online by a male classmate – and ordered students to delete the images from their phones.

Originally published as Calls for charges if schools fail to report obscene images