THE father of a 13-year-old Brunswick East teenager who was bashed and cyber-bullied says a new local taskforce will provide an invaluable resource.
Joanna’s father said the bullying of his daughter only stopped after he involved police and said the family wanted to share its story to educate parents.
“There are stacks of people that don’t know what they can do,” he said.
“If (parents, teachers and students) just sit back and watch, it’ll get worse.”
During a February schoolyard fight an older female student allegedly punched Joanna, not her real name, several times in the head.
News of the attack spread on Facebook and teens posted cruel comments praising the bully.
Joanna received follow-up threats and began experiencing panic attacks, insomnia and thoughts of self harm.
“Sometimes when I got home … I almost felt (like going) back downstairs and (getting) a knife,” she said.
Joanna’s father took screen shots of the Facebook pages to police, which he hopes will form evidence for a test case for Brodie’s Law, a recent amendment to the Crimes Act 1958 that makes cyber-bulling illegal.
Joanna said cyber-bullied friends were too scared to tell police, but would be willing to report anonymously to a proposed 24-hotline.
A hotline is one of many initiatives to stamp out bullying proposed by a new independent national foundation led by Moreland councillor Oscar Yildiz.
A taskforce to establish the foundation includes Moreland Insp Dean McGowan, Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner Helen Szoke, seven Labor and Liberal MPs and psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg.
The families of Brodie Panlock, Sheniz Erkan and Allem Halkic, who all committed suicide after being bullied, are also part of the foundation.
Cr Yildiz said the foundation would run education programs, support victims and lobby for safer social media.
“We want to tackle the increasing scourge; one in four people are affected by bullying in Australia,” he said.
Cr Yildiz wants anyone impacted by bullying or wishing to donate resources or money to the foundation to phone 0413 850 357.
Kids Helpline 1800 551 800.
Article source: http://moreland-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/bullies-wont-win-against-moreland-taskforce/
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