On 2 December 2015, the Senate referred this inquiry to the committee. The inquiry lapsed at the dissolution of the Senate on 9 May 2016.

On 13 September 2016, the Senate agreed to the committee's recommendation that the Harm being done to Australian children through access to pornography on the Internet inquiry be re-adopted in the 45th Parliament with a reporting date of 23 November 2016.

The committee has resolved not to call for new submissions but to refer to the evidence received during the 44th Parliament. All correspondence and evidence previously received for this inquiry has been made available to the new committee. This means that submissions already provided to the committee about this issue do not need to be re-submitted.

Collective Shout's co founder Melinda Tankard Reist joins a panel of experts and two young people to discuss the harms of pornography

Russia's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has blocked access to two of the world's largest pornography websites.

Internet service providers had until Tuesday to implement the ban. 

The sites now redirect to a message explaining they have been blocked "by decision of public authorities".

Recently Plan partnered with Our Watch to survey 600 Australian girls and young women between 15-19 about personal safety and gender equality.

The findings indicated that levels of abuse and online harassment are endemic.

Some of the key findings included:

• 58% agreed that girls often receive uninvited or unwanted indecent or sexually explicit material such as texts, video clips, and pornography

• 51% agreed that girls are often pressured to take ‘sexy’ photos of themselves and share them

• 82% believe it is unacceptable for a boyfriend to ask a girlfriend to share naked photos of themselves

The Australian Psychological Society has spoken out about their concerns for the wellbeing of children due to the easy accessibility of online pornography.  

Click here to read the submission

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is the peak medical body in Australia representing doctors across all specialties of medicine. The AMA have strong views on how sexualised media is negatively affecting our kids. And they have good reason to, they are dealing with the aftermath every day.

Written by Jas Swilks. Originally posted February 13th 2016 on 'Thoughts From Jas'.

TRIGGER WARNING: domestic violence, graphic discussions of violence against women and violent pornography. 

Melinda Tankard Reist as published on ABC Religion and Ethics

The Pornography and harms to children and young people symposium was recently held in Sydney.

Keynote speaker Dr Michael Flood appeared on The Drum to talk about the influence pornography is having on young people's attitudes towards sex and relationships.