News & Views

Deputy Principal

Student Development & Wellbeing  - Michelle Licina

Michelle Licina
Michelle Licina

Child Protection Week - A Spotlight on Harm from Online Resources 

This week is Child Protection Week. As we prepare our College for the QLD Family & Child Commission’s ten Child Safe Standards that will come into effect from 1st January 2026, it is a good reminder of the role of schools and families in the protection of Queensland children from harm when they interact with businesses and organisations.

 

We know that parents have the very best intentions when providing a phone to their secondary school child to keep them safe from the dangers of the physical world as they navigate their own way to and from school and go to public places with friends without adult supervision. News stories of Daniel Morcombe and near-miss abductions are any parent’s worst nightmare.

 

My focus with my Educational Wellbeing Team that includes our Heads of House and Counsellors has been the protection of our students and young people from online harm. 

I cannot speak highly enough of the work of Julie Inman-Grant and the Office of the eSafety Commissioner in Australia. This incredible woman is a world-wide trailblazer in holding big tech companies to account for their ‘blind eye’ approach to the harm of children for the sake of profit. 

 

There has been much debate – most of it unhelpful – to the changes to laws regarding young people and their access to social media. As a College, we cannot wait for this change. It is a good start. We know that when Governments make big decisions, lives are saved. 

 

My personal experience is an example of how government decisions can change lives.  I was 11 when I lost my 13 year-old sister who, while visiting a friend for a swim on the weekend, fell from her push bike, hit her head and died. This was 1980, before helmets were available or made compulsory by governments. Her passing was considered a road accident and contributed to the QLD road toll in that year. The road toll in 1980 was in the high 500’s. In Queensland, the exponential percentage increase of cars on the road and licensed drivers from 1980 to now would be difficult to calculate – so many more cars and drivers. This year, we have just passed a road toll of 210 and, while we always want this number to be zero, helmets, seat belts, random breath testing, air bags, safer cars and safer roads – all decisions made by Governments – have done their job in keeping us safe and significantly reducing our road toll each year.

 

There is so much credible data now available, thanks to the time that digital devices including smart phones have been in existence, on the mental health harm and predatory access to our young people from their use. 

 

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner is a government agency. Inman-Grant’s initiatives to keep our children safe are a world first. Their website messages are tested on target markets to ensure the information cuts through to their intended audience. We trust the work of this office and are so grateful for the courageous stance they are taking to protect our children. We offer their resources to our students via the Educational Wellbeing tile on MyMtA. 

 

The College asks for your partnership in helping your daughters navigate their smart devices and what they see – often without warning. I’m asking our families to do three pieces of homework over the coming weeks and perhaps the holidays:

 

I hope the laws about to pass regarding access to social media for teens and the work of the Commissioner to hold big tech to account are the ‘seat belts, air bags, RBT and helmets’ necessary for our young people to thrive in a world safe from harm in all its forms.

 

Every blessing,

 

Michelle Licina

Deputy Principal Student Development and Wellbeing