Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week, a 61-year-old Victorian male was charged by the Australian Federal Police for allegedly paying to watch live-streamed child sex abuse. A 42-year-old woman was arrested in the Philippines for her alleged role as a facilitator. As a result of the investigation, nine children were removed from harm. Last month, a 26-year-old Sydney male was arrested in his Lane Cove home as part of the AFP-led investigation called Operation Arkstone. He is facing child abuse material offences. Since beginning in February last year, Operation Arkstone has resulted in 17 arrests, 843 charges laid and 46 child victims removed from harm. Also last month, a 35-year-old male was arrested in Zetland, New South Wales, and charged with five counts of possessing child abuse material and one count of accessing child abuse material.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a media report that actually shocked me. For years, proud parents of school children would take snaps of their little ones on their first day of school and post them on social media, yet, in this media report, the AFP were advising parents not to make these photos publicly available, because it might put the child at risk of being groomed by one of the child predators. This was not just a precautionary warning. The AFP had actually seen instances of online grooming in which the predator used information from a parent's photo to get to the child.

We are living in a world in which four out of five children aged four years are using the internet. According to recent research, 30 per cent of these four-year-olds have their own phone or tablet. Fifty per cent of children under the age of 12 have their own personal device and 50 per cent of all children have access to at least three different devices. Remarkably, the same research suggested that many parents were perhaps a little apathetic when it came to their children's online activities. Just three per cent of parents or carers listed online grooming as a concern, 16 per cent sought out information about online child exploitation, and 20 per cent of parents and carers are not comfortable talking to their children about online child sexual exploitation.

Sadly, we are living in a world now where our children have to be wary of online sexual predators. It is unacceptable to me and, I'm sure, to every other parent in this country. That's why the Australian government is investing millions of dollars every year to combat online child exploitation. In March 2018, the government and the AFP established the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. The centre is committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse and is at the centre of a collaborative national approach to combatting organised child abuse. In the 2019-20 financial year, the centre made 161 arrests and removed 134 children from harm. This is a fantastic result, yet sadly the number of reports of child sexual exploitation is increasing. The following year there were more than 21,000 reports made—an increase of around 7,000.

After the Lane Cove arrest last month, AFP Detective Superintendent Ben McQuillan said this:

"Our investigators have been combing through every image, video and communication since Operation Arkstone began, to find and bring to justice those who carelessly abuse and forever traumatise our children,"…

After the arrest in Zetland, AFP Detective Sergeant Jarryd Dunbar said this:

"Online offenders may believe they are anonymous but they are not. It doesn't matter where they live, the AFP together with our partners across Australia and around the world are keeping a watch on every corner to protect our children,"…

The message is clear: the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, in partnership with other agencies and task forces, with the support of the federal government, will track down and arrest anyone involved in the abuse and exploitation of children.

The more we can educate our kids about stranger danger online, the more savvy they will be and the less likely they will be at risk. I was somewhat heartened during a visit last week to Tullawong State School in my electorate of Longman when I spoke to students about Safer Internet Day. Quite of a few of the young students, particularly those who play games like Roblox online with their friends, were savvy about not interacting with strangers online. One boy even said that he would check with his friends to make sure that the person in the game was actually who they claimed to be. It's a start. The much-needed growth in awareness and education is beginning to come through, but it is not fast enough. Let's all do our part to educate our kids and grandkids when it comes to e-safety. For more information and helpful tips on how to protect your children and grandchildren from this scourge on our society, please go to esafety.gov.au.

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