Hawke said that unless social networking websites show more responsibility, Parliament may be forced to impose regulations so there are effective measures taken to protect children and deal with online bullying.

He told Computerworld Australia that the options it is considering would include age verification laws which require social networking websites to verify the age of their users.

"There has also been the question of an internet ombudsman as an option for people to have the ability to raise these problems with a central portal," he said.

"We're also encouraging social networking sites to open offices in Australia or at least have an arm which can be dealt with by Australians as a way of preventing regulatory response."

According to Hawke, Facebook is the only company to have appointed a representative in Australia.