The internet has played a big part in keeping people connected over the past year – and that trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon – which makes it important that every person knows how to stay safe online. This is why Netsafe is proud to host New Zealand’s Netsafety Week designed to start kōrero and engage with our wider diverse communities.
Netsafety Week 2022 will take place between 25 and 29 July. This year’s Netsafety Week theme is Diversity Matters. Online Safety Done Together.
The week is about understanding different communities online safety perspectives and promoting respect and positive relationships online. The goal? To create transformational online safety change for the people of Aotearoa and have our most inclusive and diverse conversations yet.
We will update this page as more information becomes available or you can follow @netsafenz on social media for the last updates.
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NETSAFETY WEEK EVENTS
Monday 25 – Women’s networking breakfasts
7:30am NZT
Join us in Wellington, Christchurch, and Auckland to hear stories from 3 incredible women about overcoming gendered online abuse.
Auckland - Paula Bennett In person breakfast recording
In Auckland, our keynote speaker is Paula Bennett, former deputy prime minister of New Zealand.
During her time as an MP Paula Bennett faced relentless online abuse involving threats of violence against her and her family. Listen to Paula's story about resilience and overcoming online abuse.
Watch a recording of the Auckland breakfast event with Paula Bennett
Christchurch - Sara Templeton In person breakfast highlights
In Christchurch, our keynote speaker is Sara Templeton, local Christchurch City Counsellor.
Watch highlights from the Christchurch breakfast event with Sara Templeton
Wellington - Amanda Millar In person breakfast highlights
In Wellington, our keynotes speaker is Amanda Millar a multi-award winning journalist and media trainer.
Amanda and her team provide media training to people in high profile roles. She also provides tricks to stay safe online when keyboard warriors lurk behind every tweet or post. Amanda will be sharing tips and tricks you can use everyday, so that we all enjoy more positive experiences online.
Watch highlights from our Wellington breakfast event with Amanda Millar
Tuesday 26 – LGBTQIA+ community webinars
10am NZT
Shay Singh, founder and chair Indian Origin Pride New Zealand (IOPNZ): Rainbow online safety from a cultural lens
Shay Singh, co-founder and chair Indian Origin Pride New Zealand (IOPNZ): Rainbow online safety from a cultural lens.
Shay Singh is the co-founder and chair of Indian Origin Pride New Zealand, which raises awareness of the rainbow community within Indian cultures.
Shay is a PACENation Fellow. He is currently leading the PACENations-Growing the international market project and coordinating activities outside the United States to promote broader awareness of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Finance internationally and support the adoption of PACE programs (or the establishment of an equivalent financial instrument) in countries around the world. Shay is also a highly experienced leader of environmental upgrade and sustainable finance programs across Australia and New Zealand.
Watch the recorded 'Rainbow online safety from a cultural lens' webinar
11am NZT
Sinakhone Keodara: A threat to sue that changed the dating game.
Sinakhone Keodara has volunteered his time and lent his talents to various social justice causes ranging from advocating for removing Unexploded Ordnance from the Vietnam War era from his home country to the gay marriage fight in America to other multiple social justice issues. Sinakhone founded BodiGuard in 2021 in response to an onslaught of anti-Asian hate attacks. His mission is to provide protectors for vulnerable individuals and small businesses as they move through their lives.
In 2018, he threatened to sue Grindr for allowing the proliferation of sexual racism against gay Asians that culminated in the dating app industry changing its user guidelines to ban discriminatory language from their user profiles.
Watch a recording of the 'A threat to sue that changed the dating game' webinar
12pm NZT
Mark Fisher, Body Positive Executive Director: Misinformation and Homophobia – get the facts straight
As the Body Positive Executive Director, Mark is a highly regarded and hugely capable leader with significant experience internationally in the HIV sector. Before moving to New Zealand in 2013 Mark was a Director at The Ontario HIV Treatment Network in Toronto Canada for 8 years and prior to that spent 10 years working at Ontario Public Health Laboratory.
He utilises his background in technology and passion for the HIV Community to manifest change. Being grounded in the public health and not-for-profit sector he rises to the challenge of working within limited budgets whilst making a significant impact that is soundly based on scientific evidence and community values.
Watch the recording for : 'Misinformation and Homophobia – get the facts straight' webinar
1pm NZT
Alice Hunsberger, VP, Global Head of CX (she/her), Grindr: Safely connecting the queer community
With 11 million LGBTQ+ users logging on from every country in the world, Grindr is the largest social network for the queer community.
Since its launch in 2009, Grindr has grown to become a fundamental part of users' daily lives globally.
With a mission to connect the queer community with one another and the world, Grindr has regularly taken steps to foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all of their users, from creating progresssive, power-dynamic aware community guidelines, enforcing thoughtful behavior policies, and consistent awareness campaigns to model better behavior for users on the app.
Alice Hunsberger, VP, Global Head of CX at Grindr joins us to talk about taking steps they’re taking to encourage a kinder, more respectful queer community.
Watch the recording for 'Safely connecting the queer community' webinar
Developing policy responses to proactively tackle online harms
12.30pm NZT, Tuesday 26
Brent Carey, Netsafe CEO, and Simon Milner, Vice President - Public Policy APAC, Meta
In the two decades since the mainstream adoption of the internet, a lot has changed, both in terms of technological trends and advancement, and how people use online services in their lives. The pivot from desktop to mobile, fundamentally shifted the way we consume and use the internet today.
Fast forward to today, it stands on the precipice of another fundamental shift with our journey towards the metaverse. Join us for a discussion between Netsafe CEO, Brent Carey, and Meta’s Vice President of Policy across the Asia Pacific, Simon Milner, about New Zealand’s online safety scene, regulatory models that can drive greater transparency and accountability of digital platforms, and the work being done to promote greater safety across the Meta Family of Apps.
Watch the recording for 'Developing policy responses to proactively tackle online harms' webinar
Wednesday 27 – Online safety issues impacting Māori
10am NZT
Kōrero about the issues and challenges affecting Māori online and how we can support Māori to stay safe online
The hui had a broad focus, covering a variety of abusive behaviour online, specifically with respect to content abuse and harmful digital communications. Harmful communications on the internet include cyber bullying and harassment.
This hui was an opportunity to hear from Māori, to discuss online safety issues that matter to Māori, discuss the online safety industry’s key challenges and potential solutions to progress in the short to medium term to make a difference for Māori online safety.
Attendees at the forum had access to this double sided information sheet to assist with identifying issues surrounding online content abuse for Māori, understanding the issues more clearly and courses of action to start to address some of these challenges together.
Thursday 28 – Seniors, neuro and linguistically diverse communities’ webinars
10am NZT
Hanny Naus, Age Concern Professional Educator: Ageing Safely
Hanny has worked with Age Concern New Zealand since 2013 with a focus on Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention and some local Age Concern community activities. Her mahi is inspired by the workers throughout the country supporting older people who have experienced abuse and their family/whanau; as well as many Age Concern’s superb efforts to enhance the wellbeing of older people in their communities.
She has a wealth of knowledge on keeping older people safe online, from scams and online elder abuse and will presenting on the unique online safety problems that come with getting older and what to do.
11am NZT
Sam Leggett, CERT: Cyber Savvy Seniors
The world is moving online quickly, that means risks are popping up every day and it's important that New Zealander’s are aware of what's going on. CERT NZ, the government's cyber security agency, is here to give an overview of the cyber threats that are targeting New Zealander’s 65 and over. This session will touch on the main threats that are being reported to CERT NZ, along with advice on how to identify and report them.
Learn the tips and tricks that will help you be safe online and become a Cyber Savvy Senior.
12pm NZT
Hannah Barnes & Peter Kamphuis, Spectrum Care: Joining the online community: opportunities and challenges for adults with intellectual disabilities
The internet is means for all New Zealanders, including adults with intellectual disabilities, to connect, learn, and access online communities and
information.
Spectrum Care is a disability support provider who has been working together with Netsafe to make online safety information more accessible. In this presentation, you’ll hear from people with lived experience of disability about the opportunities the internet provides. We’ll also talk about some of the education and safeguarding we’re working on to make sure people stay safe online, and discuss the importance of accessible information for all.
1pm NZT
Graeme Read, Mike Styles & Annette van Lamoen, Ako Aotearoa
Ako Aotearoa, New Zealand’s National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, offers a wide range of professional learning and development opportunities to support learner success.
In this presentation we, Graeme, Mike and Annette, will give you whirlwind tour of some initiatives designed to build capability in creating more inclusive learning and teaching environments, where the diverse needs and strengths of learners are catered for. We invite you to join us to learn more about our Neurodiversity Community of Practice, the Aotearoa New Zealand Dyslexia-Friendly Quality Mark, and some exciting projects to promote digital literacy.
Watch the recording for the 'Initiatives for supporting diverse learners' webinar
Friday 29 – Parent and Caregivers’ webinar
2pm NZT
TikTok and Dr. Amanda Third: Empowering parents to engage with children about online safety & social media
During this year’s Netsafety Week, Netsafe is co-hosting a parents' webinar with TikTok for the very first time. This webinar focuses on online challenges on social media, and aims to empower parents with knowledge of how young people engage with online challenges and how technology can be used to support online safety.
The session is also joined by Dr. Amanda Third, from Western Sydney University’s Young and Resilient Research Centre, a world-leading expert on online safety issues. TikTok’s Safety Guide for Guardians will be distributed at this event.