Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Johnston, the Minister for Justice and Customs. Will the minister update the Senate on the recent success that Australian law enforcement agencies have had in fighting against the online abuse and exploitation of innocent children?

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Adams for her question and acknowledge her longstanding commitment to law enforcement, particularly in rural and regional Western Australia. The Howard government is totally committed to being a world leader in the global fight to eradicate the abhorrent practices associated with the sexual exploitation of children. As part of this commitment, the Australian Federal Police have been very active partners in the much-publicised Virtual Global Taskforce, an alliance between local and international law enforcement agencies which aims to make the internet a safer place for children. This taskforce, which was formed in 2003, includes amongst its members the Australian Federal Police, the Australian High Tech Crime Centre, the United Kingdom Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, the US Department of Homeland Security, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Italian national police and Interpol. The Australian Federal Police have collaborated with their international partners in this alliance to create a strong deterrent to online predators who engage in this type of child abuse.

Let this be a clear message: no form of child abuse will be tolerated in Australia or anywhere in the world. Our global online presence as part of this task force is actively policing the internet community 24/7. I can confirm that the Australian Federal Police has been an active partner in the international operation to crack the transnational paedophile ring which exploited and abused innocent children. This operation was code named Operation Lobate and began its investigations in December 2006, when the AFP’s Online Child Sex Exploitation Team was contacted by the United Kingdom’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre to conduct a joint investigation of users of a known paedophile chat room as part of a virtual global task force. Three Australian Federal Police agents were deployed to the United Kingdom in early 2007 to work alongside their international partners. I pause to say that I am very proud of the technical skill and professional ability of these AFP officers. Their expertise and skills are in demand to participate with these very important international law enforcement agencies. They have worked very successfully, as I say, alongside their international partners to help crack an insidious paedophile ring.

As part of the undercover operations, our agents worked as part of the team that actually took over the website, and gathered information on some 700 people around the world who were accessing this website. The Australian federal agents operated in real time and were instrumental in investigating the activities of Australians who were subsequently arrested in relation to their accessing of images relating to the exploitation and abuse of children. In Australia, Operation Lobate has led to the execution of five warrants, the arrest of four people and the conviction of one person on child pornography offences. This carries on from operation WinMX of March 2006, during which the AFP executed search warrants on four people throughout Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. I want to finish by again underlining that the Australian Federal Police bring to law enforcement a very technically skilled and professional degree of capability which is sought after throughout the world. I want to congratulate them and I believe the parliament can be very proud of them.