Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I'm pleased to follow the member for Ryan after his contribution and to support him in this motion. It is an important motion in the House. We on this side of the House are pleased to support it and to echo many of the sentiments expressed by the member from Ryan. We don't agree on everything, and the member for Ryan and I have sparred on a few different occasions, but on this we are absolutely united. I acknowledge him as the driving force in establishing this friendship group. I was pleased to support and help him and to co-chair, but I acknowledge his leadership and initiation of this important parliamentary friendship group. I hope that the need for it dissolves quickly, but I fear that is not going to be the case. I hope that as long as there is a need this friendship group established by the member for Ryan stands in this place as a counter to some of the horrific crimes and exploitation that we see of young Australians, some of our most vulnerable Australians.

When I received the call from the member from Ryan to be a part of this and to co-chair this organisation, it was of course an immediate yes, and it was of course an immediate call to action to be a part of and to help support our incredible front-line law enforcement officers. We had our first meeting on 8 December 2020. We were briefed by Assistant Commissioner Gale and Detective Acting Sergeant Laidler. They came into the parliament and gave a briefing on Operation Arkstone and all of the different facets of that operation. They were going into some detail about the level of infiltration of some of these circles that the Australian Federal Police does and that their members do on a daily basis. You could see that even though this is their job, even though they are in some ways hardened by this work and they are two fierce, strong Australian women serving in the Australian Federal Police, there is no doubt—and this was clear in their presentation—that for them and their colleagues turning up to work each and every day and being confronted by the sorts of material and images that they are trying to combat takes its toll. It does. It would take its toll on anyone. Personally, I couldn't imagine being in their shoes, having to get up and go through the daily grind of working in this space, but they do it because they know it's so important. For every child where they intercept and prevent something that will change the child's life for the worse, they are doing incredible work. They are literally saving lives each and every day.

I join the member for Ryan in saying that we don't just thank them for their work for the Australian Federal Police and for the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation but are also in fierce admiration of their work. We are in fierce admiration of the men and women who get up every single day to insert themselves in some of the most dark and predatory behaviours in our country in order to save and improve the welfare and the living experiences of our youngest and most vulnerable Australians. For that we say a deep thank you. In this place, I'm very pleased to follow the member for Ryan in acknowledging them.

The only other bit I would like to say is that one thing that I've certainly come to appreciate and pick up as part of the experience of the friendship group is that it's often not strangers. There is obviously an online presence where there is predatory behaviour by people the young person doesn't know, but, as is so often the case, these crimes are committed by people who are known to the young person. I'm the father of a beautiful little girl, but I also used to work in a classroom, I used to work in child care and I used to work in kindergartens. It was great work and it was a lot of fun, but you also have a real sense of the responsibility and the duty of care that you have in those places. This is, unfortunately, work that must go on. I commend the member for Ryan for his leadership and initiative, and we on this side of the House stand in 100 per cent support of the government's actions in this space.

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