In an Australian first, young Queenslanders will converge on Nathan's Queensland State Netball Centre next month to lead design of a new state government campaign to stop cyberbullying.
Minister for Youth Di Farmer said applications to be part of CONVO2019 were now open to young Queenslanders state-wide aged 12 to 25.
"Bullying of any kind is never okay, and cyberbullying is a form of bullying which is particularly insidious," Ms Farmer said.
"The impact that cyberbullying can have on our young people is so damaging and so profound that the Premier took this issue to COAG in February, and secured the agreement of every state and territory that this needs to be on the national agenda.
"There's no one thing that will stop cyberbullying, so we have to do everything we can – and everyone has a role to play.
"That's why we're hosting this event, to bring together young Queenslanders, social media influencers and representatives from some of the world's biggest social media platforms to come up with creative solutions to prevent, reduce and respond to cyberbullying.
"On the day young people will hear from a range of speakers, but what this event is really about is hearing from young people.
"Young people have immense potential to be leaders in this space, to influence their peers and help end cyberbullying.
"So we want to hear from you – tell us why you want to be part of CONVO2019, and if you're one of the more than 100 young people chosen, you can help create an anti-cyberbullying campaign that we'll roll out state-wide in 2020."
Ms Farmer said the Palaszczuk Government had zero tolerance for bullying and cyberbullying and was committed to the safety, health and happiness of all young Queenslanders.
"In late 2018, the Queensland Anti-Cyberbullying Taskforce released its report, Adjust our settings: a community approach to address cyberbullying among children and young people in Queensland which made 29 recommendations," she said.
"We have committed to support or support in-principle all of these recommendations, and recommendation six was to initiate state-wide public awareness and education campaigns around cyberbullying, and CONVO2019 will help us achieve this."
There will be more than 100 places available for young people to take part and anyone wanting to apply can do so at www.qld.gov.au/convo2019.
Applications close 12pm on Friday 4 October 2019 and successful applicants will be notified in the week beginning Monday 7 October 2019.
