The Member for Barton, who is the first Tamil and first Papua New Guinean elected to Federal Parliament, used a 90-second speech in the House of Representatives on Tuesday to back a stronger digital duty of care and greater powers for the eSafety Commissioner.
Ambihaipahar told MPs that her own social media accounts regularly attracted abuse based on her skin colour, but said her greater concern was its effect on younger people who encountered the comments.
“The behaviour we tolerate online influences how we think about ourselves and others,” she said. “Yet some in this parliament ignore that reality. Instead they blame woke schools or excuse bigotry as freedom of speech.”
Ambihaipahar said she received “plenty of online hate and abuse because of the colour of my skin”, including messages telling her to leave Australia
Ambihaipahar said she received “plenty of online hate and abuse because of the colour of my skin”, including messages telling her to leave Australia.
“Accounts tell me to go home or declare, ‘You’re brown; you’re automatically wrong.’ Don’t worry about me; I have thick skin,” she said.
Her concern, she said, was what repeated exposure to such comments could teach young Australians about acceptable behaviour online.
“But I do stress about the young people who follow me on socials, who see these comments and begin to believe that this is a normal way to treat each other, even when the abuse comes from bots,” Ambihaipahar said. “If this is happening in my own comments, imagine what is being said in the darker corners of social media.”
The comments come amid continuing debate over the responsibilities of social media companies for harmful material carried on their platforms and the extent of regulatory powers needed to protect users.
Ambihaipahar said she wanted social media to remain a place where people could encounter different perspectives and where journalism, entertainment venues, musicians and small businesses could reach audiences.
“I want the online world to deliver diverse perspectives, creative journalism and great exposure for venues, musicians and small businesses and to connect us as it was always meant to, not become some training ground for hatred and racism,” she said.
Ambihaipahar said stronger regulation could help address the problem, adding: “I look forward to the digital duty of care and stronger powers for the eSafety Commissioner to help make this a reality.”
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