Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Not just is this legislation, the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020, important; it is absolutely necessary. The world we live in today is so very different to the world we lived in two years ago or three years ago. The difficulties enforcement agencies face because of technology continue to increase and to get more difficult. To the people who question the need for this type of legislation I'll say two things. If you do not want this legislation because you are blissfully ignorant of what is happening around you in your communities—in schools and on the streets—then you need to educate yourself. Or if you are against this type of legislation, then you're using it for nefarious purposes and you are the type of person that the enforcement agencies are looking at.

The member for Goldstein is always very eloquent and very well prepared, but I'm at odds with one thing that he said—that the production of child exploitation material more often comes from overseas than from here. I apologise if I have misquoted him. All you need to do is go to any courthouse, in any state, on any day of the week, and you will find people charged with the production of child exploitation material in Australia. This isn't unique to overseas. We saw that recently. In my backyard a childcare school was caught up in Operation Arkstone, where two men were charged with sexual assault of 12 minors as well as producing child exploitation material. That is in our own backyard—my own backyard. So I would urge anybody listening to or reading this to not think that this is something out of a movie and to not think that this is only in the realms of the underworld. This is in your backyard.

This is exactly why we need legislation like this, despite the delicate balance with civil liberties. Your civil liberties are not impinged if you're doing the right thing. Do we say, 'I don't want legislation such as this tightened because of something that I hold precious, even though I'll never use it,' over protecting a 12-month-old baby from being sexually assaulted and exploited? I think the answer is fairly clear.

The dark web increasingly frequently hosts large-scale, complex, anonymous platforms and services to facilitate serious crimes. We all know that. It's not only sexual abuse of children but drugs, firearms and extremist content. Of particular concern is the hosting, sharing and distribution of child abuse material that is increasingly occurring on the dark web, where the true IP address, location and jurisdiction of both users and service are hidden or encrypted.

Currently, the powers afforded to law enforcement are focused on gathering evidence from criminal offences and prosecuting offences, and they're targeted at the individual crime through the investigation of particular people or a computer connected with that specific offence. The problem herein is that this restriction to the individual act or the individual device becomes increasingly insufficient to respond to the threat posed by the cyberenabled crime. Without the support of powers to enable the identification of potential offenders and understand the scope of their offending, investigations are often constrained from the outset. It's trite to say that criminals operating online are almost always unknown, inaccessible or too numerous to reasonably pursue for prosecution. That's why these offences generally go unnoticed and unpunished, and it is exactly why these measures put before the parliament today are absolutely necessary.

The assistance and access act, introduced in 2018, was one plank of the government's action to address the challenges that technology like encryption posed to law enforcement. That legislation established a framework for agencies to seek technical assistance from the technology industry and the introduction of computer access warrant powers for law enforcement. But, again, it's becoming more and more difficult with the advancement of technology.

I referred to Operation Arkstone. With these powers, Operation Arkstone has been one of the most significant child protection investigations by the AFP to date, due to its scale of offending and its reach across Australia. Yes, it was overseas, but this was in our own backyard. At the most extreme end, some of the offenders allegedly inflicted acts of sexual abuse on Australian children ranging in age from 16 months to 15 years. It was recorded and put online. This is depraved, evil material and is exactly why we should have this type of legislation and exactly why it takes precedence over civil liberties.

Another operation, Operation Ironside, which we saw recently, was a huge success. During Operation Ironside there were 696 search warrants executed, 290 offenders charged and 728 charges laid. There were 4,784 kilograms of drugs seized, and we know what drugs do to our communities. In my electorate, in Coffs Harbour or Kempsey or Port Macquarie, you see the ice on the street every day and you see the effects it has on our own people. There's never black and white; there's always grey in between. There are very different reasons why people use drugs. But, if the drugs aren't there, they can't be used. We need to give police the powers to investigate and to decrypt.

This bill seeks to introduce three key powers that will significantly assist the AFP and ACIC in the fight against such cyber-enabled serious crimes as were uncovered by Operation Arkstone and Operation Ironside. Firstly, network activity warrants will enable the AFP and the ACIC to collect intelligence on the most harmful criminal networks operating online, including on the dark web, using anonymising technologies, rather than being limited to reactive deployment in relation to nominated and specific criminal offending. Secondly, data disruption warrants will enable the AFP and ACIC to disrupt serious criminality online by authorising the AFP and the ACIC to modify data belonging to individuals suspected of criminal activity, in order to frustrate the commission of serious offences. Importantly, this measure will be particularly effective in disrupting the distribution of child exploitation material. Finally, an account takeover power will enable the AFP and ACIC to take control of an individual person's online account in order to effectively gather evidence about criminal activity. This is to be used in conjunction with other investigatory powers. It is important to note the government has prepared amendments that strengthen the conditions of oversight and transparency for when and how these important new powers can be used. They cannot be used without significant justification.

In conclusion, as a former investigator myself, I commend this government's continued response to countering all forms of criminal activity that seek to harm the most vulnerable within our community. I welcome the changes that this bill will bring to the effectiveness of our law enforcement agencies.

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