Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the steps that the Morrison government is taking to protect Australian children from exploitation and abuse? Has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted this effort?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and recognise the fact that he has served our country in uniform for almost 20 years; he has been protecting Australians for a long time.

The work of the Australian Federal Police has continued through the COVID pandemic. We have been working with them very closely in the Home Affairs portfolio to make sure that we can protect children, and keep kids safe online in particular. It is the reality that many paedophiles have been targeting our children online as they are spending more time at home studying, talking to their friends, messaging, visiting websites et cetera. The work of the Australian Federal Police, AUSTRAC and others is quite remarkable in this regard. I want to pay tribute to the officers involved and I want to send a very clear message to those online or, indeed, in the real world thinking they can harm children in our country or elsewhere: the Australian Federal Police, working with AUSTRAC and others, are detecting more and more people online who are depraved and deserve to be caught, and they will be punished.

Our recent success in relation to Operation Arc Stone has been quite remarkable. We now know that a number of arrest warrants have been executed and that nine men in three states have been charged, and at least 14 children have been saved from further harm. Forty charges have been laid against the alleged offenders, and investigations remain ongoing. I can confirm to the House that a 57-year-old male—from The Shire, regrettably, Prime Minister—was arrested yesterday in relation to serious allegations. If people think they can act online in an anonymous way, they are sadly mistaken.

Many of these depraved individuals are on the dark web. They are communicating and they are remitting money to other parts of the world—the Philippines, Thailand et cetera. Through very sophisticated means, we are now able to understand a lot of what is going on but not all of it. If people are hiding behind the dark web and using encrypted devices, in some cases it makes it impossible for the police and the intelligence agencies to determine who these people are. The government has been determined for a long time, under the Prime Minister's leadership, to reform laws wherever needed so that our policing agencies can protect children. If we're unable to act and unable to discover the messages, the ordering of services, which is what takes place in many of these transactions, we can't save those children here and abroad. I've made it an absolute priority for this portfolio. I am determined to make sure we can protect Australian children, and I know we're supported in that task by all Australians.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—Just briefly, before I ask my question, can I associate Labor with the comments of the minister. Child sex crime is something that is beyond comprehension, and it is something that should be stamped out. We will assist in any way possible, and we congratulate the government on those recent arrests.