Women trying to find love online should soon be better protected as dating apps, governments and police join forces to stamp out sexual violence.
A roundtable meeting on Wednesday will aim to tackle the issue head-on.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth, who is hosting the meeting with Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, said she would discuss measures that could prevent abusive behaviour such as requiring background checks.
“Someone might not have been convicted of any crime, but they may be using inappropriate behaviour, inappropriate comments,” she told ABC radio on Wednesday.
“How can we pick that up earlier, before a crime or abuse is perpetrated?”
Ms Rishworth said she wanted companies to start designing safety measures within their apps to ensure users were protected from harassment.
“What I would like to see is the ethos of our national plan to end violence against women and children embedded into the design of some of these apps,” she said.
“The other area that we really need to get better at is making sure that those who have experienced violence have a say in how companies respond.”
Ms Rowland described sexual violence in the community as “devastatingly common”.
“We know that women are more likely than men to experience online harm, particularly sexualised, violent and threatening abuse,” she said.
“It can be difficult to comprehend this scale of harm.”
Sexual violence includes online abuse such as revenge porn, sexual harassment, abusive language, threats and controlling behaviour.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said dating apps needed to take more responsibility for stamping out bad behaviour.
Tinder has launched a dating safety guide in Australia to prevent violence against women and educate its users after one in three said they weren’t fully aware of safety features on the app.
The government is working towards making it easier to identify perpetrators and hold them accountable as well as providing better support for those who experience abuse.
“The issue of sexual violence against adults is complicated by the fact that it can include a wide range of behaviours, both online and offline,” Ms Rowland will tell the meeting.
“As we consider these harms, we cannot do so in a vacuum. Harms perpetrated by users of online dating are part of a wider landscape of harm in the offline world.
“These harms reflect broader cultural patterns.”
One in three people told the Australian Institute of Criminology they were subject to sexual violence from someone they met on a dating app, including sexual assault or coercion and revenge porn.
A woman also dies at the hands of her partner every 10 days in Australia.
“Our focus is on changing these attitudes and behaviours so we can live in a community where everyone is treated equally and with respect,” Ms Rishworth said.
Byย Dominic Giannini and Maeve Bannisterย in Canberra
