In Gear | Rotary in Southern New Zealand Issue 1 | Page 14

Cyberspace will be a safer place to venture
into for thousands of Southlanders thanks
to the Rotary Club of Invercargill East and
one of New Zealand’s leading internet
safety and security experts.
The “Cyber EQ-IQ Project”, run by
Nelson-based John Parsons, kicked off
in Southland last month with the first of
numerous sessions that will total 60 days
this year, plus 100 days annually for 2017
and 2018.

changing the household rules around
gaming and the internet, kids were taken
out of inappropriate chatrooms, and
hundreds of girls were able to share
that they’d faced pressure to provide
sexualised images.

John is no stranger to the south – or
“But it wasn’t just the victims who were
Karen Purdue
Rotary; immediate-past district governor
reached and helped. Eight perpetrators
for 9980 Karen Purdue was instrumental
of bullying came forward after attending
in bringing him to Southland three years ago, after
the sessions.”
Rotary was approached by Invercargill social worker
Such were John’s efforts and impact, he was awarded
Nikki Burns.
a Paul Harris Fellow for his services to cyber safety and
“Nikki saw a great need in the community for education
security, a rare honour for a non-Rotarian.
around cyber safety, and reached out to Rotary for
Now, Karen says, the Rotary Club of Invercargill East,
help,” Karen says.
led by her husband, Fraser Purdue, has provided
The concept was quite unique within New Zealand – no
more funds to enable John and Rotary to continue
one had undertaken a regional project on anywhere
their mission in the south to educate and empower
near this scale. Rotary’s five Invercargill clubs stepped
school
children,
seniors,
up with critical funding for a pilot programme, and also
businesses and community
put their collective vocational training skills to good
organisations in the everuse, introducing Nikki to other major funders, as well
changing digital era.
as helping her establish the Poppycock Trust, which
John, who delivers
initially delivered the programme.
cyber
safety
and
By last year, the programme had reached more than
security training to
16,000 Southlanders through 25 primary schools, 10
the
New
Zealand
high schools and 25 community organisations.
Police, as well as other
government departments,
As well as the outstanding participation rates, what
the health and education
was also significant were the behavioural changes –
sectors, together with private
and potential tragedies averted.
enterprise, carefully tailors each presentation to the
audience.
“Two young people were identified as being groomed

CYBER
SAFETY

online by a predator – this programme put a stop to
that,” Karen says.
“Hundreds of students deleted strangers from their
social network sites, dozens of parents reported

Topics include online grooming, “sexting”, cyberbullying, managing online reputations, learning to
repel and report unwanted online advances and
online dating. For businesses, he looks at the key

Page 14 | In Gear - Rotary in Southern New Zealand - District 9980 | www.rotarydistrict9980.org