Groom MP proposes bill to strengthen E-Safety Commissioner’s power to take down crime videos

A new bill proposed by Groom MP Garth Hamilton would strengthen the E-Safety Commissioner’s power to force Instagram and Facebook to remove crime videos and rob youth offenders of the ill-gotten fames they seek.

Groom MP Garth Hamilton has introduced a private members bill into parliament to give the authorities the power to remove crime videos from social media.

The Breaking Online Notoriety Bill seeks to amend the Online Safety Act and extend the E-Safety Commissioner powers to treat videos of explicit criminal activity in the same manner as they treat cyber bullying and harassment material.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, Mr Hamilton said he wanted to neutralise the fame that posting crime videos gives young offenders.

“These kids are being recruited online by videos taken of these crimes and what astounds me from talking to victims of crimes is these offenders will hold their phone up to record their crime, or have their friend do so that they can film it better.”

“You go on right now and see dozen of (Instagram) profiles that reference my postcode, 4350, and you can we drug use, car theft, you can see speeding through the streets, you can see assault and battery

“These a vulnerable kids from disadvantaged backgrounds and they see these videos that glamorise a lifestyle.”

The amendment was supported in principle by Griffith Criminology professor Ross Homel who said anything that can be done to limit the “reward” young people get from offending should be encouraged.

“There has always been a strong peer group element in youth offenders and social media is a platform that reaches so many people, so it does amplify that peer process,” he said.

“It is offensive to the whole community, but the offender has a very immature view of the world and thinks that it is something to be proud of.

“It is something that they will become ashamed of in later life so we protect them as well.

It took shape in February after 75-year-old Robert Brown was pushed over during a daylight robbery in the heart of the Toowoomba CBD.

The elderly man suffered critical neck and head injuries and died in the Toowoomba Hospital about a week later.

His death sparked calls from across the Darling Downs for the Queensland Government to take great action to address an escalation of youth crime.

The Toowoomba Chronicle joined that call through its Enough is Enough Campaign, as did the Voice for Victims advocacy group.

Mr Hamilton said the idea to extend the E-Safety Commissioner’s power came from discussions with victims of crime.

“In this house the Federal Government has authority over internet carriage services and this was brought to me from the ground up,” he said.

“We are not just seeing anti-social behaviour but it is escalating, we are seeing break ins, car theft and more recently terrible assaults that have gone with that.

“Footage of offenders brandishing machetes as they walk into a property to commit an offence in broad daylight is something we would have never thought would be possible.”

The Queensland Government has announced a suite of reforms including extra funding for police and Youth Justice social workers to case manage high-risk offenders and their families, the introduction of breaching bail as a youth justice offence and funding for an extra 25 police staff to deal with crime videos posted on social media.

The bill will proceed to debate at a later sitting.