Keeping Our Girls Safe Online: Taking Action Together
One of the enduring gifts of the Brigidine tradition is its call to cultivate both strength and gentleness in the young women in our care – strength to face the world with courage and conviction, and gentleness to treat others – and themselves – with dignity and compassion. These values help us navigate the challenging digital landscape in which we find ourselves, particularly in relation to the impact of social media on young women’s mental health, and the disturbing rise of technology-facilitated harm, including the use of artificial intelligence to generate deepfake content.
In recent months, Brigidine has taken several significant steps in response to social media and the mental health of our students, and I want to take this opportunity to share them with you, alongside important information about new laws that affect every family in our community.
The National Mental Health and Social Media Symposium
On 15 May, Brigidine College St Ives had the honour of hosting the inaugural National Mental Health and Social Media Symposium, bringing together more than 120 school leaders and wellbeing professionals from across Australia. It was a day of honest, evidence-informed conversation and a powerful reminder that the concerns we hold for our students are shared by school communities right across the country.
Our keynote speaker, clinical psychologist Dr Danielle Einstein, presented compelling research on the relationship between digital technology and the mental health of adolescents. The evidence is clear: when young people use social media without boundaries or intentionality, it can undermine emotional regulation, amplify anxiety and depression, and expose them to content that is harmful to their developing sense of self and identity. Seventy percent of young people reported encountering harmful content online in 2025 alone, including misogynistic material, content promoting eating disorders and violent imagery.
The Symposium was a day of action. The message that resonated most strongly was that schools, families and students must work together, not in isolation, to create a culture in which healthy digital habits are understood, expected and supported. Young people need to be partners in this work, not simply subjects of it. When students understand how platforms are designed to capture and hold their attention, and are empowered to make values-aligned choices, something genuinely shifts.
At Brigidine, the Symposium has deepened our commitment to three things:
- Clear and consistent expectations around device use on campus.
- More intentional parent education so that home and school are aligned.
- Ongoing listening to our students, who are often the most clear-eyed observers of how digital culture is shaping their lives.
Our Wellbeing Team, led by Mrs Sia Mastro, Director of Wellbeing, remain central to this work, and I am deeply grateful for the care and professionalism they bring to it every day.
New NSW Laws: Deepfakes and Image-Based Abuse
I want to draw your attention to important legislation that came into effect in New South Wales on 16 February 2026. The NSW Government amended the Crimes Act 1900 to criminalise the creation and distribution of sexually explicit deepfakes: AI-generated images, video or audio that realistically depict a real person without their consent.
Under these laws, it is now a criminal offence to:
- Produce or share sexually explicit deepfake content of an identifiable person without their consent.
- Threaten to produce or share such material, even if the content has not yet been created or distributed.
- Share this type of content regardless of whether the person sharing it originally created it.
Penalties under the NSW legislation can include up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of $11,000. These offences sit alongside Commonwealth laws, under which sharing non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes can attract a penalty of up to six years’ imprisonment, with an aggravated offence, where the person both created and distributed the material, carrying up to seven years.
These laws exist because deepfake technology is no longer a distant threat. It is being misused in school communities across Australia right now. Women and girls are overwhelmingly the targets. The eSafety Commissioner has reported that the number of deepfake reports to her office doubled in 2025, and she has been unequivocal: this is a current issue, not a future concern.
I want every Brigidine student to understand both the law and the human reality behind it. Creating or sharing a deepfake of a classmate, teacher, or any other person is not a prank. It is a form of abuse. It causes psychological harm, and it carries serious legal consequences. Our curriculum will continue to address these issues explicitly, and I encourage families to have these conversations at home as well.
The NSW Anti-Bullying Framework
In December 2025, the NSW Government released the NSW Anti-Bullying Framework; a landmark, evidence-based approach to bullying prevention that will be mandatory for all government, Catholic and independent schools from 2027. Developed under the guidance of Emeritus Professor Donna Cross OAM, the Framework is built on four components: Prevention, Response, Partnering and Implementation.
Key requirements include:
- Schools must have clear, publicly available anti-bullying policies aligned to the Framework.
- Urgent bullying cases must be responded to immediately, with most cases addressed within two school days.
- A triage process is mandatory, ensuring student safety is always the first priority.
- Schools must document their actions and demonstrate their bullying prevention strategies.
Brigidine is already well positioned in this area, with our existing Anti-Bullying Policy and restorative practice approach providing a strong foundation. Over the coming months we will review our documentation and ensure we are not only meeting but exceeding the Framework’s requirements.
Importantly, the Framework places a strong emphasis on community partnership. Schools cannot reduce the harm of bullying alone – it requires the active involvement of families. I ask all parents and carers to reinforce with their daughters the message we give every day at Brigidine: that how we treat others, online and offline, is a reflection of who we are.
Education as Our Most Powerful Tool
The most powerful protection we can give our students is education; equipping them with the knowledge, critical thinking and moral courage to navigate the digital world with integrity.
At Brigidine, we teach our girls to be strong and gentle. Those values are not at odds with the digital age – they are exactly what the digital age demands. Strong enough to stand up when they see someone being harmed online. Strong enough to refuse to share content that degrades another person. Gentle enough to consider the impact of their words and images on the real human beings behind the screen. Gentle enough to reach out to a friend who may be struggling.
Our students are not passive recipients of these lessons; they are agents of the culture we are building together. Our wellbeing programs, our digital citizenship curriculum, our counselling team and the conversations happening in every classroom are all part of this work. So too, are the conversations that happen around your kitchen table.
I warmly invite parents and carers to engage with us on these issues. If you have questions about the new laws, about our anti-bullying approach, or about supporting your daughter’s digital wellbeing at home, please do not hesitate to reach out. Our Wellbeing Team are available to provide support should you need it.
The Brigidine charism has always called us to see the dignity in every person and to act with both courage and compassion. In a world where technology can be used to harm, humiliate and isolate, that call has never been more urgent. I am proud to be part of a community that takes it seriously and I look forward to continuing this important work alongside you.
Mrs Kate Quinane
Principal
