‘It’s just vile some of the things we’ve seen’: Patten’s push for tougher anti-trolling laws

A push from Reason Party MP, Fiona Patten, for tough new anti-trolling laws was sent to the parliamentary committee on Wednesday morning.

Ms Patten told 3AW’s Ross and John the current law is “pretty old fashioned” and needs refreshing in the current climate.

“Currently we have a vilification law that protects people from being vilified on the grounds of their race or their religion,” said Ms Patten.

“We’ve had that for around 20 years.

“Given the escalation of attacks against people, I sought to expand the attributes of people who would be protected by that law to cover gender, to cover disability and to cover sexuality.”

It bill been parked, with the Premier declaring they must work on what’s happening with the federal anti-discrimination laws before they touch online trolling regulations.

“The government has committed to making changes after the upcoming public inquiry,” Ms Patten said.

“People should have robust debates and disagree, but they need to try and do it in a more civil manner.

“It’s just vile some of the things we’ve seen.

“The standard you walk past, is the standard you except and I don’t think we should accept that type of behaviour.”

Click PLAY below to hear from Fiona Patten