I attended because our family had a serious wake-up call last year, when our young son was impacted by an unsafe online environment, just prior to the death of Northern Territory teenager Dolly Everett. 

The influence of social media in our lives has raced away without the chance for society to catch up, but the collateral damage is now being realised.   

It is no surprise that the Office of the E-safety Commissioner is one of the fastest-growing federal government departments and that great effort is being made to address harmful online conduct and promote responsible use of social media.  

To help this along, most social institutions – sporting bodies, schools and workplaces – now have social media policies in place to help guide ethical online conduct.  

The moderators of social media platforms also play an important role, as do those who see poor conduct played out and have the ability to (politely) call it out. Most of all, individuals need to take responsibility for their own actions and to remember that comments need to be well thought out, especially on group forums.   

This is one of the many areas that the Office of the E-safety Commissioner covers in its presentations, which I highly recommend for anybody who uses social media and or has a child who does.     

I was sickened to read the story on the deaths of Benji and Ruby (‘Benji and Ruby left to die’, The Border Mail, October 26).

To think of those two little bodies lying face to face in their last days is horrifying. The sentence given to the owner is totally inadequate.

Launching  his party's campaign for the Victorian state election, Premier Daniel Andrews lamented that as the result of a silent epidemic of mental illness, almost two people a day in Victoria are suiciding.

Elsewhere Mr Andrews has previously stated: “We need to keep investing in prevention, keep breaking the stigma – because every death by suicide is preventable. In 2014 alone, we lost 646 Victorians to suicide – that’s twice as many lives as our road toll. And for every suicide, there are many more people deeply affected – family, friends, carers, colleagues and communities.”

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Mr Andrews said: “This is something we urgently need to change.”

Given his government in 2017 made it legal for doctors to provide lethal drugs to their patients in order to help them end their lives, his statements would appear to be truly bizarre.

Overseas experience indicates a correlation between the legalisation of assisted suicide and the overall suicide rate in the community. Because once suicide becomes legal, or – to use Mr Andrews’ words – we “keep breaking the stigma” – it is seen as an acceptable choice.

A "choice" Victorians have right now, is to stop this deadly legislation ever taking hold, by voting the delusional Daniel Andrews out of office on November 24.