Qld to push for summit on cyberbullying

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will meet with stakeholders to create a plan to tackle cyberbullying ahead of next month's COAG meeting.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

Annastacia Palaszczuk will meet with stakeholders on cyberbullying to create a plan for the issue. (AAP)

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced she will take a plan to tackle cyberbullying to COAG next month.

The premier is set to meet on Monday with a range of stakeholders, including child welfare experts and legal advisors, to help draft the proposal.

Ms Palaszczuk said parents and children are feeling "defeated" by the issue, and she wants to be able to take their stories "from the kitchen table to a plan for action around the COAG table."

"I firmly believe that we are just skimming the ocean of a big issue, where bullying and harassment is now following young children into the family home," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters on Sunday.

The premier said she hoped the meeting on Monday would be the start of bringing the issue to the national stage, with the COAG meeting set to be held on February 9.

She admitted that many of the offences already fell under existing laws such as using a carriage service to harass or threaten, but said cyberbullying needed a more holistic approach.

"We need young people to be courageous. We need them to sit down with their parents and share their stories."

Tracey Adams from child support group yourtown, which runs Kids Helpline, said in many instances parents also needed to be re-educated about the appropriate response to cyberbullying.

"It can be very confronting when a parent has a child come to them and say they are experiencing cyberbullying, and often as a parent the first response can be to take the device away," she said.

"And that can be why young people are hesitant to tell their parents, because they are afraid of being punished, but that young person has done nothing wrong."

The Liberal National Party opposition has offered bi-partisan support for the issue, with deputy Leader Tim Mander saying it was "beyond politics."

"It's really important that we have a whole-of-community approach to addressing this insidious issue," Mr Mander told reporters on Sunday.

"This issue is beyond politics, it's been going on for some time, and it's about time we had a serious attempt at addressing it."


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Source: AAP



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