Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences Against Children) Bill 2010, which will strengthen the existing child sex tourism offence regime and make amendments to child sex offences committed outside Australia. I welcome the fact that the bill also introduces new offences for steps leading up to the actual sexual activity with a child. The coalition has previously called for a strengthening of the current system.

Sexual offences against children are an extremely serious and growing problem that affects children themselves as well as their families in Australia and in every country in the world. The Child Wise website reports that over the past two decades trafficking in human beings has reached epidemic proportions and that no country is immune, estimating that one-third of the world’s human trafficking takes place in Asia and that 30 per cent of the victims are children. Sex trafficking is one of the largest forms, with the majority of victims being young women between the ages of 12 and 18. The site also notes that between 50 and 80 per cent of the children rescued from brothels in parts of South-East Asia are infected with HIV.

Accurate statistics and the full extent of child sex trafficking are impossible to calculate because it is an illicit trade. The United Nations in 2003 estimated that 1.2 million children are trafficked annually around the world and that one million children—the majority of whom are girls—become part of the commercial sex trade every year. Some are as young as five years old. I also note that World Vision states that an estimated two million children are enslaved in the global commercial sex trade. The physical and mental effects on the child involved can and do last a lifetime. They are wounded physically and emotionally and, as I said earlier, many have HIV and AIDS. Depending on their background and nationality, many will experience rejection by their families as well as their communities, in addition to abject fear, immeasurable shame and absolute despair.

The coalition is committed to strengthening the existing child sex tourism offence regime. In 2005 the coalition government enacted a range of offences directed at the use of a carriage service, such as the internet or a mobile phone, used for the exploitation of children. But the challenge for the Australian Federal Police, the state police and various law enforcement agencies is that the rapidly and constantly advancing technologies, the anonymity, the speed and the international coverage of the internet and the involvement of organised crime groups are now providing unprecedented opportunities for child sex offenders and online grooming of children by sexual predators. This bill will see the introduction of new offences for using a postal service for child sex related activity, increasing the coverage of offences for using a carriage service for sexual activity with a child or for child pornography or child abuse material, and a new scheme to provide for the forfeiture of child pornography and child abuse material and items containing such material.

In 1994 new Commonwealth offences were enacted to target Australians who engaged in the sexual abuse of children overseas. The events have extraterritorial application which, of course, means that Australian citizens, residents and bodies corporate can be prosecuted even if they commit these offences whilst overseas. To put it simply, as the Australian Federal Police states very clearly:

It is a crime for Australian Citizens or Permanent Residents to engage in, facilitate or benefit from sexual activity with children (under 16 years of age) whilst overseas. These offences carry penalties of up to 17 years imprisonment for individuals and up to $500,000 in fines for companies.

Such offences have provisions applying that enable offences committed overseas to be investigated and prosecuted within Australia itself. The Australian Federal Police actively monitors and prosecutes child sex tourists, often resulting in significant jail sentences. Through the Bali Process the AFP also provides training to law enforcement agencies within the region to help combat child sex tourism and related offences. I saw this very appropriate quote on the World Vision website:

Abuse a child in this country; go to jail in yours.

Possessing, producing or distributing child pornography material or child abuse material within Australia, or unlawfully importing such material into Australia, is currently a criminal offence by Commonwealth, state and Territory offences. However, these existing child pornography and child abuse material offences do not have extraterritorial effects with many countries not having effective laws that prohibit child pornography and child abuse material or lack the capacity to actually enforce them. This means that an Australian could travel overseas and make or purchase child pornography or child abuse material and escape punishment even though the very same behaviour, if committed in Australia or through the internet, would be a serious criminal offence. Part 1 will introduce new offences for possessing, controlling, producing, distributing or obtaining child pornography or child abuse material outside Australia.

My involvement with the member for Riverina in the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications inquiry into cybercrime has highlighted for the member for Riverina, me and others on the committee, the very serious and growing role the cyber environment is providing for sexual predators, for cyber bullying and for cyber tourism offenders. A study conducted last year by AVG found that Australia had the highest incidence of cybercrime in the world, with more than 39 per cent of Australian users having experienced cybercrime compared to 32 per cent in Italy and 28 per cent in the US. To ensure that internet related child sexual exploitation is comprehensively covered in the light of such rapidly changing technology and the anonymity that the internet provides, this bill will make a range of amendments to ensure that the Commonwealth carriage service offence regime reflects modern offending, such as offending on mobile phones and the internet. These enable the more recent practice of ‘live’ internet child abuse and child sex tourism.

A 2004 study entitled Broken promises, shattered dreams: a profile of child trafficking found that a disproportionate number of these young people come from an ethnic minority background. Forty-five per cent of trafficking victims have never been to school or only partially completed primary school. Most of the girls who make up the 60 per cent of trafficking victims come from rural areas in their countries. One issue, however, is what impact these provisions have right across Australia. In my regional and rural electorate of Forrest, children constantly use the internet as a source of communication, particularly with friends and relatives who often live either close by in metropolitan areas or anywhere where they have friends. Furthermore, regional areas tend to have, in some instances, a more relaxed social atmosphere. At times you can be quite trusting of members of the local community with your children. You rely on this often in a sporting environment. I am concerned, really, that the combination of children in regional areas in a trusting environment and their constant use of the internet for social interaction may well lead them to becoming a target for predatory online sex offenders.

Whilst awareness and recognition of child pornography has increased over the past two decades, this emotive issue is, unfortunately, far too common in Australia and worldwide. I am aware that some Australians do travel overseas to sexually exploit children, as do other international travellers who are totally focussed on simply taking advantage of prostituted children. As stated by World Vision, some engage in actual sex tourism, expecting the anonymity I referred to earlier, the low-cost prostitution, the easily accessible children and the potential immunity from prosecution. I commend and acknowledge the role of the Australian Federal Police and the state police. I want to thank dedicated people like Mike Hickey from the High Tech Crime Operations section of the AFP and Detective Sergeant Jamie McDonald from the technology crime investigation section of the Western Australian Police.

The AFP annual report of 2008-09 states that 150 people were arrested that year with several operations led by High Tech Crime Operations. Operation Centurion led to the arrest of 138 Australians as result of a referral from the Croatian police via Interpol. Another 22 Australians were arrested during Operation Resistance, which began with a referral from Brazilian authorities and which resulted in the seizure of more than 15,000 videos and 500,000 images of child abuse. The AFP also collaborated with the High Tech Crime Operations area of Child Sex Tourism to facilitate a workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with law enforcement counterparts in the human trafficking arena. The AFP’s work to combat transnational and online child sexual exploitation with international agencies such as Interpol, the FBI and the UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre is strengthened through membership of the Virtual Global Taskforce. Collaboration with these international partners has seen the AFP identify and charge numerous offenders for child sexual exploitation and child sex tourism offences.

In my state of WA, the AFP works very closely with and has co-located with the Western Australian police to form a joint online child exploitation team. They work collaboratively on Commonwealth and state child protection investigations, and it works well. Their efforts protect our trusting children and those who are most vulnerable in society. No matter where they are in the world, they are all our children and it should matter to every one of us. They protect the most vulnerable, and I think their wider federal and international efforts should be respected and valued right throughout our communities and within this parliament. Quite often they provide the unseen intervention and they work continuously in an environment where at times they frustratingly witness the sustained abuse of children. I acknowledge and thank them for their dedication.

This bill has been referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, which is due to report on 15 March this year. The coalition believes very strongly that protecting children from all forms of predatory sexual offenders and exploitation through child pornography should continue to be a priority for every government.

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