Education Minister Michelle Rowland is warning parents against using parental control on their children’s online education.
But if parents don’t want their children exposed to online material, they should be able to control what their kids do on their computers, according to the Minister.
She is launching a new government-backed initiative, the Parental Controls Council, to look at ways to tackle online offending in children’s education.
Rowland says the council will work with schools to ensure children are protected from inappropriate material and to make sure parents are not exposed to inappropriate content, but that she is not saying they should not be allowed to use parental controls.
“We’re not saying that they can’t use parental control to protect their children,” she said.
“But the parents who have the greatest responsibility in that regard should be the ones to decide how they want their kids to use the internet.”
Rowland said parents should have the power to set how their children use their computers.
But she also said parental control should be a “last resort”.
“Parents who choose to have their children have access to their personal information, their online activities and their academic records,” she told ABC News Breakfast.
“[But] we know that this can be a last resort for some families and that parents who use parental consent to share their personal data have a greater chance of preventing their children from being exposed to pornography and other harmful material.”
Parents should have that last resort and if they don’t, I don’t think that parents should be using parental controls.
“Rowlands said she was not sure how many of the council’s members were parents.”
There’s a lot of people who are parents who are not parents,” she added.”
So there’s a wide range of opinions about parental controls in children and I think that’s really important.
“The new policy will include the following: