4 September 2017
The Turnbull Government alongside the Office of the eSafety Commissioner is pleased to support the annual National eSmart Week which is hosted by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation (AMF).
National eSmart Week coincides with National Child Protection Week from 4-8 September and has a focus on building cyber safe communities and increased education about online safety.
With one in seven Australians reporting that they have been subjected to being cyberbullying in the past year, it is more important than ever for schools, libraries and community organisations to register as ‘eSmart’.
eSmart is a program designed to tackle cyberbullying in a multitude of ways. It has five streams which target schools, libraries, children and teachers. The program uses behaviour-change initiatives providing a framework to support a cyber safe environment. It also uses games and videos to teach school-aged children how to socialise safely online.
More than 2,200 schools, 200,000 students and over 60 per cent of Australia’s public libraries are now registered as eSmart entities. In support of National eSmart Week, the AMF will host a number of events and webinars to help schools and libraries tackle cyberbullying.
Since July 2015, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner has completed more than 22,000 illegal online content investigations, addressed more than 500 serious cyberbullying complaints and delivered education presentations to more than 100,000 students, teachers, parents and community members through its Virtual Classroom program.
A full calendar of events and information on how to register your school, library or community organisation as eSmart can be found at www.esmart.org.au/news-events/national-esmart-week-2017/.
The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has a range of online safety resources available at www.esafety.gov.au.