Makes Sense Aotearoa

Makes Sense Aotearoa Advocating for child protection from illegal sexual content online.

It was a pleasure to be invited to a panel event at last night sponsored by and .tinetti focussed on parenting today ...
17/02/2026

It was a pleasure to be invited to a panel event at last night sponsored by and .tinetti focussed on parenting today in this digital era.

It’s brilliant to see and coming together to address the clear gaps we have in policy regarding online harm to children while also highlighting the need to support whanau.

Strong healthy connected families = strong healthy connected communities 💪

Panel discussion was hosted by the legend
Dr Claire Achmad,
- Dr Hiran Thabrew, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Paediatrician, Associate Professor, Child
and Adolescent Mental Health, University of Auckland
- Tamati Shepherd-Wipiiti, CEO, Ngāti Hine Health Trust
- Jenna McWilliam, Executive Director Triple P Internation

This week we met with Minister of Internal Affairs who is responsible for digital safety, to help prevent New Zealander...
12/12/2025

This week we met with Minister of Internal Affairs who is responsible for digital safety, to help prevent New Zealanders from online harm in relation to child sexual exploitation, violent extremist content and unsolicited commercial electronic messages.
We thanked her for agreeing to adopt the .watch.foundation block list to prevent access to child sexual abuse material which is currently blocking approx 80,000 searches a month.

We spoke about our co-authored report and our recommendations for platforms to have a duty of care to children if they are engaging with them online. We spoke about AI and the in creating harms in this space, which again has no regulation.

We would love to see preventative measures implemented to prevent harm to children and hope that our coalition government can work together with other parties to achieve this
.therapy

It was an absolute privilege to spend time this week with the Children’s Commissioner Claire Achmad, and policy advisor ...
12/12/2025

It was an absolute privilege to spend time this week with the Children’s Commissioner Claire Achmad, and policy advisor and child’s rights guru Andy Jamieson at .

We loved hearing about their work to create social change to protect our tamariki in their advocacy work.

We were able to share some insights and recommendations for systems change based on our co-authored report and discuss the urgent need to protect kids from sexual harm online.

If you haven’t seen it, follow and their campaign this summer which raises awareness of the need to look out for kids who may be experiencing harm over the holiday period.

🩷 .therapy

Curious about New Zealand’s policy and legislative approach to online safety? Here’s a brief overview ⬆️ Simply put 👉We ...
12/12/2025

Curious about New Zealand’s policy and legislative approach to online safety?

Here’s a brief overview ⬆️

Simply put 👉We don’t have a law that lays out expectations or rules for online platforms and how they engage with children in NZ (eg search engines, gaming sites, social media, AI, p**n sites, YouTube)- it’s a free for all.

The exception is for extreme illegal content - but without a regulator takedowns can be difficult to enforce.

Our kids are EXTREMELY vulnerable online in NZ and research shows they are being harmed increasingly through content, conduct, contact and contract risks.

Without regulation it is 100% on us as parents to navigate it and protect them 😬

We’re calling for regulation and a commissioner to lead the charge… but not so that parents get a free pass.
Even with regulation we will always need to work to protect our kids with filtering, boundaries/limits, keeping screens out of bedrooms and having ongoing conversations.

But we aren’t tech experts, and most parents don’t know all the intricacies of where the harm actually lies and if they do it’s very difficult to prevent it … but platforms do and they can do something about it. And they should!

They need to play their part (as do parents) and this is where regulation comes into it. If online spaces allow access to children they have to safeguard it from content, conduct, contact and contract harms - just like businesses have to do in the offline world.

Regulation
Child protection makes sense!

Tag your local MP into the comments



.therapy

Curious about New Zealand’s policy and legislative approach to online safety? Here’s a brief overview ⬆️ Simply put 👉We ...
12/12/2025

Curious about New Zealand’s policy and legislative approach to online safety?

Here’s a brief overview ⬆️

Simply put 👉We don’t have a law that lays out expectations or rules for online platforms and how they engage with children in NZ (eg search engines, gaming sites, social media, AI, p**n sites, YouTube)- it’s a free for all.

The exception is for extreme illegal content - but without a regulator takedowns can be difficult to enforce.

Our kids are EXTREMELY vulnerable online in NZ and research shows they are being harmed increasingly through content, conduct, contact and contract risks.

Without regulation it is 100% on us as parents to navigate it and protect them 😬

We’re calling for regulation… but not so that parents get a free pass.
Even with regulation we will always need to work to protect our kids with filtering, boundaries/limits, keeping screens out of bedrooms and having ongoing conversations.

But we aren’t tech experts, and most parents don’t where the harm actually lies and if they do it’s very difficult to prevent it … but platforms do and they can do something about it. And they should!

They need to play their part (as do parents) and this is where regulation comes into it. If online spaces allow access to children they have to safeguard it - just like businesses have to do in the offline world.

Regulation


.therapy

Today breakfast looked a little bit different. We joined with members of Parliament across political parties in a room f...
10/12/2025

Today breakfast looked a little bit different.

We joined with members of Parliament across political parties in a room filled with books…. books that depict the real harm our kids face online every single day.

Supporting the Worst Children’s Library at the Parliamentary library in the Beehive was a positive occasion for us.

After 3 years focussed on advocating for systemic change in our approach to online safety for children, where it’s often us speaking and compelling action, it was refreshing to have MPs sharing their concerns and commitment to change. It was a real privilege to attend and hear of a shared desire to see policy change regarding child safety online.

This wasn’t a marketing campaign, noone was plugging a product. It was an installation totally focussed on showcasing the real research on online harm to our most vulnerable in a creative way, alongside the bipartisan political appetite to do something about it.

Thank you for your work to help showcase this harm in a tangible way, I know it’s gruelling and gritty stuff. And thank you Helen White and for making this happen
.robertson

:)

Lovely to bump into these legends .nz at the Beehive today! Launching in 2026 .nz offers a new way to report sexual harm...
03/12/2025

Lovely to bump into these legends .nz at the Beehive today! Launching in 2026 .nz offers a new way to report sexual harm in Aotearoa.

Tika are New Zealand’s first legal charity boldly taking action against sexual harm providing a new, safe and supported pathway for people to seek justice together.

This initiative offers real collaborative support for victims and strengthens prosecutors against offenders. 👏👏 👏👏

Follow, share, help spread the word on this amazing organisation! .therapy

Last week we had the privilege of supporting Lakes DHB Paediatrician at a meeting with the Minister of Health to discu...
02/12/2025

Last week we had the privilege of supporting Lakes DHB Paediatrician at a meeting with the Minister of Health to discuss the urgent need for support in the health sector with growing sexual harm of young people, often initiated through grooming on social media.

is a practitioner and an active voice in the medical profession calling for policy change to prevent harm to our kids.

We have given the Minister or recent report The Digital Sexual Landscape to much overviews the seriousness of sexual harm to kids online.

If you care about seeing change, feel free to email your local MP our report (link in bio) urging them to drive strategic and bipartisan whole of society change to prevent sexual harm online.

Today we attended the launch of “Addressing Sexual Violence in New Zealand” - a new report by , funded by the Clare F...
02/12/2025

Today we attended the launch of “Addressing Sexual Violence in New Zealand” - a new report by , funded by the Clare Foundation.

The report highlights a number of areas in which New Zealand’s laws and policies could be improved to close gaps with best practice.

Sexual violence is one of the most pervasive and damaging forms of offending in New Zealand with nearly one in four adults (24%) reporting having experienced sexual assault in their lifetime, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Again, NZ demands urgent systemic approach for change….to prevent sexual harm for our people, mostly women and children.

The report identifies four key areas for practical, meaningful, and lasting change:

Closing the gaps in the justice system to reduce underreporting of sexual violence and increase the number of cases continuing to trial and a verdict;

Updating the definition of consent in law to an affirmative ‘yes means yes’ consent model;

Addressing the harm caused by sexually-explicit deepfakes;
and

Eradicating the practice of ‘virginity testing’ in New Zealand.

The report is accompanied by detailed literature reviews and analyses… link below.

Brilliant work by the expert researchers involved, please share this report with your local MP and Ministers to help drive change!

11/11/2025

The online world is an integral part of life for most young New Zealanders, but our young people are also exposed to an increasing amount of harmful material and behaviour online. Moderated by journalist Michael Morrah, our panel of advocates will talk about what they are seeing in their research and lived experience and discuss potential solutions for keeping young people safe online

Join us Friday 14 November for this insightful discussion. Link in comments.

30/09/2025

Jo Robertson spoke to Paddy Gower Has Issues about character AI- an important and shocking issue our kids are living with - not regulated and causing real harm.

“I’m a teacher in NZ and have had so many kids around age 13 talking in class today about the video they have seen seen ...
11/09/2025

“I’m a teacher in NZ and have had so many kids around age 13 talking in class today about the video they have seen seen of the USA congressman murdered today. They’ve seen it on TikTok”.

has reported that 2 hours after Charlie Kirk’s assassination there were more than 11 million views of the graphic shooting on and Telegram.

This is traumatic. This is not safe content for our kids to watch.

Parents, please check out website for advice on how to talk to your kids to find out if they’ve seen it and how to support them to process this horrific video. They need to know we know what’s happened and that we are there to support them. These convos are crucial.

Regulation on social media and content platforms is also crucial. This again highlights the lack of guardrails against violent harmful material which our kids can instantly see if they have smartphones and social media.

We’re calling for an online children’s commissioner and an Online Children’s Safety Act. Child protection

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