Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the time I have left to speak on the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill, in continuation, I would like to reiterate some of the points I made when I first spoke. The first point is that Labor are committed to ensuring that children are safe online and elsewhere, but we also recognise the hard work of the Xenophon Team in bringing this bill to the House and progressing it. We also recognise the work of Sonya Ryan and the Carly Ryan Foundation for their tireless campaign over a decade to bring in this legislation.

This Criminal Code amendment—or Carly's law, as it is termed—will introduce an offence to criminalise acts done using a carriage service to prepare or plan to cause harm, procure, or engage in sexual activity with a person under the age of 16. This expressly includes a person misrepresenting their age online as part of a plan to cause harm to another person under 16 years of age. We believe that the police should be allowed to intervene earlier in suspected grooming cases by broadening the range of preparatory conduct that is covered by offences in the Criminal Code. Law enforcement agencies can only be most effective if they are given the power to apply for a warrant to intercept communications to support their investigations—and I think we are in agreement on that. We are also becoming tougher on adults who use carriage services by introducing this as a new offence. The maximum penalty will now be increased to 10 years, and these harsher penalties are, sadly, required to reduce the 11,000 alarming child exploitation referrals received by the Australian Federal Police in 2015.

I came across some very disturbing and frightening statistics, and those statistics are that there are around 750,000 child sex predators online at any one time. That is absolutely frightening to any parent, and indeed any decent Australian citizen. One study found that 24 per cent of minors who agreed to meet with someone who they thought was a child actually turned out to be an adult. These are scary statistics. As I mentioned previously in the debate, it is difficult for those of our generation—I say 'our generation' fondly—to really understand the online world and just how hard-wired young people are. In fact, it was a Microsoft executive who referred to young people as AORTAs—always online and real-time available. That encapsulates just how hard-wired young people are and how important the online world is for them. But it also underscores the need for us to grow and develop our understanding of the online world and of human interaction with the online world, and particularly of young people's interaction with the online world in order to keep our laws up to date and in order to ensure that we are not just reactionary but proactive in ensuring that we protect minors online. That it is actually what Carly's law does.

As I mentioned before, it is difficult if not impossible to regulate the internet. For that reason I argued that we need to turn our attention to regulating behaviour, because that is what we can control—we cannot control what goes on the internet. We can play an endless came of a whack-a-mole, where we can call on internet and social media companies to remove offending material online as soon as it occurs, we can put in filters and do all sorts of things, but we simply cannot, with the depth and breadth of the internet and whatever goes on it, including on the dark web, regulate that. We need to turn our attention to regulating human behaviour at that online interface as much as we can, not just for predators who are there for the purposes of child sex abuse but predators who are there for a range of abusive behaviours, including preying on young vulnerable people to radicalise them into violent extremism.

I come back to the point of education and what we are doing to educate our young people about how to protect themselves online. It is all very well to talk to parents and have resources for parents, but there is a lot of work to be done in preparing young children for the online world that they will inevitably come face-to-face with. I watch the young child of one of my dear friends. Little Anastacia is almost two, but she can get onto an iPad, she can find Peppa Pig and she can watch Peppa Pig on that iPad. I watch young children and their hand-eye coordination skills. The way they can flick through an iPad and the way they can manipulate media technologies is quite startling to me, as somebody of our generation, Mr Deputy Speaker Buchholtz.

We can legislate as much as possible, and legislate we must. It is absolutely necessary that we have laws in place that adequately punish and serve as a deterrent to the people who would seek to do our children harm and who would seek to sexually exploit our children online. That is absolutely necessary. But it is only one part of the puzzle. The other part of the parcel is the responsibility that we all have as parents, members of the community, and educators—that we pass on to our children behaviours that also keep them safe online. We need to ensure that our children are protected, not just from those who would seek to do them harm but also so that they have, inbuilt within them, resilience and protective behaviours when online as much as they have protective behaviours when offline. I remember a time when there used to be something called 'stranger danger'. Remember when we used to say to our kids, 'Stranger danger' and there were ads on television about stranger danger? We used to tell young people, 'Don't take lollies from strangers,' and 'Don't talk to strangers,' and 'If a stranger does this, run to the nearest safe adult you can find.' Perhaps we need to start thinking about stranger danger online and really educate our young people, particularly in the vulnerable teenage years, about stranger danger online. It is just way too easy for people with malicious intent to hide behind a screen and lie online about their intentions. I welcome Carly's Law as one way of addressing that.

John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a recent weekend, my wife and I had the opportunity to catch up with a group of friends for dinner. All of our group share the common bond of having come to know one another over the last decade or more during the years in which our children attended kindergarten, preschool, primary school and secondary school together. As parents, we have known all of these children as toddlers, small children and teenagers, and I suspect that for all of us it has been our most important and sacred role—to guide and protect those we have been blessed with in their studies, their careers and adulthood. Our network of friends facilitated much of that. We looked out for one another, we did our best to monitor friendship groups and we insisted we meet our kids' friends and their parents, arranged parties and prepared them as best we could for the pressures and challenges of the teenage years. I am proud to say that they are a fine group of young people doing their own thing, and I am sure we are all most proud of this group of young people.

There are some in society who would seek to circumvent such family and community groups' protection of children by attacking and taking advantage of them via online means. Such behaviour is disgraceful, reprehensible, foul and un-Australian. It has absolutely no place in our society whatsoever. That is why the bill we are debating this evening, as part of the Turnbull government's efforts to protect vulnerable children online, is so very important. Its genesis as the tragic death of Carly Ryan, a 15-year-old girl who was lured to her demise by a man in his 50s posing online as another teenager, is sobering indeed.

Over the last decade, we have seen child sex offences rightfully strengthened and expanded, including those directed at the use of carriage services such as the internet and mobile phones for the sexual exploitation of children. This bill goes further, amending the Criminal Code in order to introduce a new offence relating to online acts to prepare or plan to cause harm to a child, to engage in sexual activity with a child, or to procure a child for that reason. As such, it focuses solely on the intention of such a perpetrator without having to identify a specific child victim or prove communication with a specific child victim, and regardless of whether a perpetrator is targeting an actual child—as could be the case with a police officer, for example, assuming the identity of a fictitious child in order to expose such perpetrators. Such harms can be considered to be psychological or physical, such as unconsciousness, pain and disfigurement. Procurement can be considered to be encouraging, enticing, recruiting and inducing a child to engage in a sexual activity. The bill is intended to achieve all of this in a way that recognises trivial issues and allows for judgements to be made about what conduct might be acceptable or incidental to social interaction or to life in our community. Consequential amendments are also to be made to ensure existing law enforcement powers are available to combat all Commonwealth child-related offences.

As the government steps up efforts to provide greater protection for Australian children online, it is timely for our whole community to recognise our responsibility to be at the front line of protecting our vulnerable children from abhorrent activities anywhere, any time, in person, in public and of course online, as this bill addresses. As parents, as legislators, as education services, as community groups and as members, we all have a role to play in maintaining a watchful eye over children and minors in our society.

There are few news items that can stop our society in its tracks as do revelations of vile acts against our children. What future do we as a society have if we are not doing our utmost to protect vulnerable children? We are often sickened by news of those who are attacked, and, in more tragic cases, of those who we lose forever at the hands of perpetrators who must simply be dealt with. We must strive to prevent such actions before they can cause heartache. We also hear so much about the lifelong impacts on victims who can carry their physical and psychological scars for life. I urge parents to get involved in their children's use of technology in a bid to prevent cyberbullying before it occurs, as well as to protect them from online predators, as is the objective of this bill. Our children's safety online is vital, and I am so pleased that the government shares the concern of my own community back in the electorate of Groom that the internet, through social media, is being used by predators to target our most vulnerable.

What we are doing in this bill is taking steps to strengthen existing laws while introducing a new offence criminalising acts online in preparation for doing, or planning to do, harm to a minor. The amendments broaden the scope to capture offences which could result in physical harm or harm to someone's mental health. A preparatory act may, for example, include a person using social media to lie about their age or an event in an attempt to lure a child into a meeting.

While we debate this bill about protecting minors online, I also want to make mention of the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner's range of classroom resources, as has been discussed in this House; their outreach programs; and a service dedicated to investigating serious cyberbullying cases, including a youth program called Rewrite Your Story. I certainly encourage all parents to check the resources of the eSafety Commissioner and start the conversation to ensure our children are cybersmart and cybersafe.

I call on all parents to play a role in protecting children online by having ongoing conversations with their children about their various online activities. For small children, we can put in place online safeguards and parental control settings—filters and products that block certain content. We should also talk to older children about the risks of sharing information, and particularly photos, with people that they do not know. For teenagers, their online life is an important part of their social identity. We know you cannot just switch off the computer and expect that the online comments and risks will go away. We must talk to our children about cyberbullying and these online predators.

Australians can be assured that the government recognises children are amongst the most vulnerable in our society, and they need and deserve our care and protection. There are few crimes, as I have said, that are more vile than child sex offences, and this Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill is one that I therefore commend very, very strongly.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Groom for his contribution. I call the most honourable and enthusiastic member for Canberra.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker Buchholz—charmer! The sentiment and purpose behind the amendments outlined in this Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill are significant. They respond directly to our innate need to protect our vulnerable young people from existing and emerging risks to their safety. While this bill responds will to our primal protective nature, we also need to ensure that this emotive response is balanced with the rule of law, so I am looking forward to hearing the outcome of the inquiry the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee has conducted into the bill and the amendments, and I understand it is due to report today.

This is not the first time that a bill like this one has been introduced in parliament; this is actually the fifth time. In previous iterations the bill was too broad, it did not demonstrate the necessary element of intent or it did not improve on existing provisions contained in the Criminal Code. I really admire the tenacity it has taken to progress this bill to where it is today.

I admire it because a young girl named Carly Ryan is the reason this bill and the previous iterations were introduced. Ten years ago, 47-year-old Gary Francis Newman posed online as an 18-year-old named Brandon, who paid attention to 15-year-old Carly Ryan. He convinced Carly to meet with him. After she rejected his advances, Newman became irate. Carly suffered a horrible death. She was assaulted and drowned at Port Elliot in Adelaide. When the police found Newman, he was allegedly logged in as Brandon, once again chatting to another girl online. Newman was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a 29-year non-parole period. It is Carly's tragic story that highlights the risk to our young people of exploring the world on the internet. It has resulted in this bill. It highlights the need for measures to prevent other young people from possibly meeting the same tragic fate.

Up until now our focus has been on promoting education and awareness of internet safety and responsibility, as was suggested by the previous member. This bill is the first time in many years that a government has pursued a legislative enforcement option to address online predators. Our Criminal Code needs to continually adapt to the technological environment and community expectations as they evolve over time, and the evolving online environment is no exception. What this bill proposes is that any person who prepares to harm a child using the internet should be just as accountable for their actions as a person who succeeds in committing a crime. This bill provides a pre-emptive measure. It will ensure police have the ability to investigate behaviour that could lead to the harm and sexual exploitation of children.

Schedule 1 of this bill amends the Criminal Code by including a new offence for adults who use a carriage service to prepare or plan to cause harm, engage in sexual activity with, or procure for sexual activity someone under the age of 16. It attracts a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, which is less than other preparatory child sex offences—procurement has 15 years and grooming has 12 years. Unlike previous versions of this bill, the new offence targets preparatory behaviour where the offender has not proceeded far enough for the conduct to be captured under the existing offences. In fact, the offender may not have actually communicated with the victim. That is the key point of difference with this bill—it considers behaviour that could lead to harm or sexual exploitation of children. It does not necessarily apply after the event has happened. In doing so, it sends a very clear message to the community that the use of technology to harm children will not be tolerated.

Just the other week I met with a group who brought an issue to my attention that absolutely sickens me to my core: 'cybersex trafficking'. It is a form of cyberabuse that involves offenders commissioning the abuse of children in developing countries on a pay-per-view basis. For example, somebody jumps on a social media platform like Skype and pays a trafficker via a wire transfer to view—via webcam footage transmitted over the internet—a child engaging in sexually explicit acts or posing for sexually explicit photos or videos. The cost of the show to the viewer increases with the level of abuse required by the viewer. Most of the victims in this type of cyberabuse are under the age of 12. We are talking about something absolutely horrific here. It is absolutely appalling to hear of the horror faced everyday by these children in developing countries.

But this is not just happening in a faraway land—something that we can put to the back of our minds and forget about. Australians are making the wire transfers for this absolute abomination on these children. This is happening, probably tonight, in our Australian communities. Earlier this year, Sydney paedophile Bryan Beattie was charged with ordering sex offences over the internet for as little as $12 per session. During the court hearings, Beattie reportedly rationalised his behaviour—how you can rationalise that I do not know—by saying he thought the children looked 'happy', and that he was not the person physically abusing the children. He also said he thought these children were receiving financial benefits due to his viewings. It is reported that NSW Police sex crime detectives also found over 300 images and videos of child abuse on Beattie's laptop and external hard drive. It is not a giant leap to see how someone involved in cybersex trafficking could also build a fake social media profile with the purpose of grooming and meeting with children, just like Carly Ryan's killer did.

Carly Ryan's story and the story of cybersex trafficking has only reinforced in my mind the need to strengthen laws around online predatory behaviour. Our laws must keep up with the evolving technological world. I recognise there are different points of view in how this is to be achieved.

The Law Council of Australia have raised concerns about this bill, and it is their view, along with that of the Australian Federal Police, that the existing laws are sufficient. The Law Council notes:

… the proposed offence is much broader in scope than the ones proposed in previous Bills. The focus of the previous Bills was upon misrepresentation of age, whereas the Bill would criminalise a broader range of conduct …

In 2015, the Australian Federal Police gave evidence that they did not consider the new law to be necessary because they believed existing laws, which had been updated to keep up with the online world, already provided police with the powers they needed to intervene before a sexual offence took place. To respond to the Law Council's point, the previous bills were introduced at different points in time and responded to the one event—the tragic event involving a 15-year-old girl named Carly Ryan. Unfortunately, the online world is a lot blacker, a lot darker, a lot more appalling than we thought. The growth of cybersex trafficking in Australia is just one example, and this bill attempts to address that. Technology changes, and with it we see changes in use. Whether the AFP hold the same view now, two years on, would be interesting to know, because in February 2015 the AFP reported receiving 5,617 referrals of online sexual exploitation in the 12 months prior, an increase of 54 per cent from the period before. I wonder what those figures were like over the last two reporting periods.

I know that International Justice Mission Australia has some drafting ideas on how to strengthen existing provisions in the Criminal Code in relation to cybersex-trafficking offences, so there may be other ways that the intent of this bill could be captured and drafted. That is why I am looking forward to seeing the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee report on this bill.

Labor is committed to ensuring that all Australians feel safe online, and it recognises that parents should be able to feel safe that their children will not meet the same tragic fate as Carly Ryan. This bill will ensure that online predators can be prevented from harming children, whether the child is in Australia or overseas. It puts an additional enforcement safeguard in place so that Australian parents can have peace of mind, knowing that their children are being kept safe.

Before I conclude my speech, like the previous speaker, the member for Groom, I want to touch on the earlier bill, the Enhancing Online Safety for Children Amendment Bill. I spoke about this when we were discussing the actual legislation, but we are two years down the road since Labor first introduced a bill to criminalise the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, known as revenge porn, and unfortunately the government is no further ahead. Labor first introduced its bill on 12 October 2015, shortly after the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee established an inquiry into the issue. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions expressed concern that there were limitations on existing Commonwealth laws to adequately deal with revenge porn conduct. The DPP submission to the inquiry acknowledged existing Commonwealth laws covered only part of revenge porn conduct.

So, what happened next? Unfortunately, the government refused to support Labor's bill, and the Minister for Women wrote to the opposition in January 2016, indicating that the government would instead wait for advice from COAG. This was a month before the Senate inquiry report was published. It was published in February 2016 and it called for Commonwealth legislation to create offences in relation to revenge porn. The COAG Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence against Women and their Children, chaired by Ken Lay—also comprising 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty; and the head of Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety, Heather Nancarrow—released its report in April 2016, recommending:

All Commonwealth, state and territory governments should introduce legislation that reinforces perpetrator accountability by removing uncertainty and explicitly making it illegal to use technology to distribute intimate material without consent.

The Minister for Women advised Labor that one reason she did not support Labor's bill was that the COAG advisory panel had yet to advise on the issue. But, once the panel actually gave its report, recommending that revenge porn be criminalised, the government failed to act.

Labor reintroduced the bill in October 2016, and, in parallel, some states and territories—and many of us in this chamber would have heard about that—have begun to criminalise this conduct at the state or territory level. But even now there is still no overarching Commonwealth law that can provide a consistent baseline of protection across the nation, the whole country, so that we do not have inconsistencies from state to state.

The Turnbull government will make the excuse that in November 2016 COAG agreed to develop principles for harmonising revenge porn laws, but they have made no commitment to introduce or support Commonwealth legislation that applies right across the nation that, in a way, standardises legislation to criminalise this egregious behaviour. Labor on the other hand went to the federal election promising Commonwealth legislation to criminalise revenge porn within the first 100 days of being elected.

I just want to go back to the enhancing online safety for children legislation. We welcome the expansion of the Children's eSafety Commissioner's role to adults as well as children. It is sensible that the commissioner's website contain resources on revenge porn, as was mentioned by the previous member, and that the new complaints mechanism be handled by the commissioner's office. Unfortunately, rebadging the office and creating a complaints mechanism is not enough, however, nor is trying to change attitudes about pornography.

The images and videos used against victims of revenge porn are not pornography; they are largely images and videos created with the subject's consent. By sharing them without consent, or threatening to do so, the perpetrator is abusing the trust that had been given to them by the victim. The victim should never be blamed for that abuse of trust. Labor will continue to fight for the criminalisation of revenge porn, including the creation of appropriate Commonwealth offences.

Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As part of a generation that grew up with the introduction and transition of the internet from dial-up to broadband and now the NBN, I have seen the internet become a major part of our lives—how we live, how we work and how we play. But like so many other innovations it has the potential to be used for both positive and dubious means. Something which my wife and I face, and will continually face as our young daughter grows up, is how to ensure that our daughter can grow and develop independence in an environment that is safe and secure, where she can learn from mistakes and explore new ideas without putting herself in danger.

Children are among the most vulnerable members of our community, and they have a right to expect from us the care and protection they need. I implore all in this chamber to support the passage of the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017 to prevent a repeat of what happened, for example, to 15-year-old Carly Ryan 10 years ago. We have seen the very public and widespread impact and devastation that these monsters and perverts leave on children in our communities. Our children deserve better from us, and we must deliver it.

This bill builds upon the critical work that has come before, and I thank Senator Xenophon for his work in this important area. It introduces an offence to criminalise acts to prepare or plan to cause harm to, procure, or engage in sexual activity with, a person under the age of 16. The legislation is focused on the use of a carriage service, including social media. This is especially important, as technology often develops at a faster rate than the law.

Our duty as a government is to protect our people, especially the most vulnerable, including our children. To prey on children is possibly one of the most horrific prospects, and this bill seeks to prevent that. We will secure through this legislation the necessary amendments to ensure that existing law enforcement powers are available to combat all Commonwealth child sex-related offences. This includes a requirement to prove an intention to plan the offence, not the intention only to commit the ultimate offence, nor require the targeting of a specific child victim. We are stopping perpetrators before the harm even reaches the child. Currently the Criminal Code does not cover this sort of behaviour.

As a dad it is so important to me that we have legislation like this. It is a parent's worst nightmare to find that at home, where we should be safe, we do not have the safety that we have worked so hard to build up and that it might be reached, for example, by a monster whose intentions toward your child are sinister and potentially murderous. I know it would be a great comfort to many families to know that this bill would pass through this House without a dissenting vote.

Most schools—indeed, I believe all schools in my electorate—have very strong policies about cybersafety for their students. Perhaps two of the most encouraging responses I have seen to approaching cybersafety in Dunkley are by Frankston High School and Mount Erin College, which have hosted cybersafety nights and issued special edition newsletters focusing on cybersafety, although I am sure there are many other schools in the electorate whose initiatives I have not yet seen.

Productive relationships between parents and schools go a long way towards keeping our children safe, and it is our responsibility as the government to ensure that we complement their efforts and deter and respond to threats towards children, especially online. The government is committed to ensuring that the advancement of technology does not leave people unduly unprotected, and this legislation makes it clear that these threats to our children are unacceptable and will be countered in every way possible. I recommend this bill to the House with the utmost enthusiasm and hope to see it passed unanimously for the sake of our children.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017. I am thankful also for the opportunity to confront an issue about which as a parent I have in retrospect possibly been a little too laissez-faire. I have three sons, good sons but spirited and with a thirst for all that life has to offer, one that my wife and I as parents encourage. That quizzical, inquiring and adventurous mind is a great thing. Life is to be lived, and the inquisitive nature of children is something to treasure. Another distinctive characteristic of children is their innocence and level of trust—things also to be protected.

I spoke recently in the Federation Chamber about the risks to children that arise as a result of easy access to online pornography. I have been visited by a constituent in my electorate, Liz Walker from Porn Harms Kids. Liz came to my electorate office and emphasised the dangers that access to online pornography poses to Australian children. She outlined the research and opened my eyes a little bit. Needless to say, I went home and spoke to my eldest son and he was 10 steps ahead of me. He was way ahead of me. He had already been shown a lot of what Liz was talking about at school, believe it or not, by other students through wi-fi access. I then spoke in the chamber and I mentioned the correlation between the consumption of violent, sexually explicit material, of which there is plenty, and the normalising of sexual aggression. I asked, 'How do we keep our children safe given the ease of access to the internet everywhere—at home, school and public wi-fi hotspots?' At any moment it seems our children can be just one click away from harm.

The answer is that we here and at home do whatever we can. We listen to those at the coalface, and we respond, just like we are today, with tangible measures to minimise the potential for harm. We work with our children. As suggested by the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner, we need to teach our children that not everyone they meet online can be trusted, even if they seem nice and friendly. It is unfortunate but necessary because, to be perfectly frank, there are creeps that devote their entire lives to getting around all those things that we do to keep our kids safe. They are experts in depravity.

The minister in his second reading speech recognised the work of Sonya Ryan in the drafting of this legislation. The bill is a testament to Sonya, who has worked tirelessly for change since her 15-year-old daughter Carly was murdered a decade ago by an online predator posing as a teenage boy. Through you, Mr Deputy Speaker Buchholz, I say: I am so sorry, Sonya. It is impossible to bring back to life those like your beautiful daughter Carly who have lost their lives at the hands of the most cowardly predators. I wish I could change that. We cannot. But we can change in response.

The bill we are discussing today adds a new level of child protection to that which currently exists. It guards children against internet predators by allowing intervention by law enforcement agencies sooner, well prior to harm being done. With a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, the amendment ensures that the serious offence of engaging in conduct to prepare or to plan to cause harm to, procure or engage in sexual activity with a child is matched by appropriate punishment—if there is such a thing. The bill introduces an offence that focuses on predators' use of online forums and platforms like social media and messaging applications for exploitive purposes. It addresses emerging technology and trends. It brings up to date the framework that offers protection, with the new offence targeting a broader range of preparatory behaviour than that which is captured by existing offences. It addresses the advantage that the anonymity of the internet offers to child predators, which they use to forge relationships with children. This is something that we recognise is a first step these deviants use to little child victims for sexual abuse and other forms of harm. The bill further complements the government's ongoing work to counter the online sexual exploitation of children, including through the Australian Federal Police's ThinkUKnow program which educates students, parents and teachers about dangers online.

I am proud to support efforts to protect children using the internet and to be here to speak on this bill. Technology is a changeable landscape. We must all keep pace, especially when it comes to protecting Australian children. I think all those who work in this space—police, health workers, community organisations, foster carers and public servants. It is tough stuff. But I would say to mums and dads, to grandparents and carers: have a conversation with your children and monitor their online usage.

Lastly, I want to say sorry and thank you to those children who have supported online incidents. We know that it is not easy, but in doing so you help to protect the youngest Australians—from toddlers to teens. You are our eyes and ears until we figure out a way to offer you watertight protection. Watch this space. We are working on it. This bill is the next step.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I want to take this opportunity today to make a few additional comments about the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017. This bill comes with a long history. In the year of the 10th anniversary of the murder of Carly Ryan, I am pleased that this bill is finally in a form that can be passed by this parliament. Labor is particularly pleased that the offence provision in this bill will enable police to investigate and intervene earlier during an investigation before any abuse of children occurs and will capture a broader range of preparatory conduct than existing procurement and grooming offences in the Criminal Code.

The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee has reported on the bill this afternoon after a number of hearings at which the committee heard from multiple submitters about the operation of this bill, including the Law Council of Australia, the Attorney-General's Department, the Australian Federal police and, of course, Sonya Ryan, of the Carly Ryan Foundation, who has been such a strong and powerful advocate for this reform of the law. The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee has recommended that the bill be passed without amendment.

Labor has always been clear that we support the intent of this bill. We will always ensure that our laws work to keep children safe and that our police and prosecutors have the powers and the resources they need in order to prevent harm occurring in the first place and to hold perpetrators accountable. No-one in this place disputes the importance of protecting children. That is why I was shocked that the Minister for Justice would, in comments to The Adelaide Advertiser, accuse Labor of failing to support this legislation and of 'turning a blind eye to the vile grooming of online predators'. These comments are deeply offensive and they are blatantly untrue. The Minister for Justice should have known the falsity of his comments at the time he made them.

Labor did not delay this bill. The government, well into its second term and 3½ years after it was first elected, introduced the bill to the House on 30 March this year. Since then, the government could have brought the bill back on for debate in this House during any parliamentary sitting week but clearly decided it was not particularly urgent. Labor has no control over how the government schedules its parliamentary business, and the Minister for Justice knows that. The bill was not brought back on again for debate for 60 days, not until 30 May. Debate continued in the Federation Chamber on 31 May until the government again chose to suspend debate. And then we see these despicable comments from the Minister for Justice in news reports, three days later, falsely claiming that Labor had delayed the bill.

The government has had multiple opportunities to pass the bill through the House but has delayed the bill of its own accord. To accuse Labor of delaying or failing to support it or 'turning a blind eye to online predators' not only is deeply offensive but also ignores how parliamentary processes work. Committees examine new laws, particularly new criminal laws, to ensure that they are robust and effective and that they will not have unintended consequences. The scrutiny of new legislation by Australia's elected representatives as well as by legal experts, community groups and interested members of the public often leads to improvements to legislation that ensure that those laws are strong and effective.

When I referred in my earlier remarks to concerns raised by the Law Council of Australia I did so only because Labor's wish is that this bill be as strong and as effective as it can possibly be. The bill has gone through the proper parliamentary processes, just as all bills do. It was sent to a Senate committee for proper scrutiny, just as many bills are and just as the previous versions of this bill, introduced in 2010, have been. The Senate committee has reported and has recommended that the bill be passed without amendment. It is up to the government when it wants to bring the bill on in the other place. I hope it will be brought on without further delay. I believe that the bill is scheduled to be debated in the other place later this week, and Labor will be supporting it when it is. I commend the bill to the House.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There can never be too much that we can do to protect our children, and the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017 will add another layer to laws aimed at protecting children under the age of 16 from online predators. Carly's Law, a law that has evolved out of tragedy, will target online predators planning to cause harm to or to procure or engage in sexual activity in a child. It will also target those who misrepresent their age, with offenders facing 10 years imprisonment. The proposed legislation is the legacy of a decade-long campaign by a mother whose 15-year-old daughter, Carly Ryan, was murdered by a man posing as a teenager online.

In South Australia, where this tragic event took place, and right across the rest of Australia, every parent felt the pain of Carly's mother, Sonya, when her daughter was murdered by a sick deviant. It was 10 years ago, in 2007, that the gorgeous 15-year-old fell in love with a young musician called Brandon. They corresponded online, sharing intimate thoughts and dreams. But Brandon was not who he said he was. He was not an 18-year-old musician; he was a 47-year-old sexual predator who cruelly deceived Carly and tricked her into meeting him. He raped and brutally murdered her. He discarded her battered body on the beach. He took a beautiful young life, destroyed a family, and forever broke her mother's heart. Within 11 days, police found Garry Newman in Victoria. They found him at his computer, logged on as Brandon Kane and talking with a 14-year-old girl in Western Australia. He had 200 fake internet IDs.

This brutal and sadistic paedophile, with the ability to charm his way into the hearts of vulnerable young girls is not alone in trawling the internet for young victims. It is the responsibility of parents and governments to protect children from perverts like Garry Newman, whose grossly depraved plan to deceive, seduce and murder Carly was born out of his own perversions. Carly had her whole life in front of her, an impressionable 15-year-old child whose dreams, goals and future were stolen by a love interest who was a lie—not the young man of her dreams, but an overweight, balding, middle-aged paedophile with sex and murder on his mind. What terrifies many parents is that Carly only did what millions of other kids around the world do for hours on every single day—they use social media to meet new people and make new friends. There are so many ways that young people can access the internet—mobile phones, game consoles, tablets—there is now unprecedented access for those who wish to do harm, develop relationships and exploit vulnerable children. With accessibility of email, social networking, chat rooms and instant messaging, children are exposed as never before. Online predators are frighteningly clever, often posing as another young person to gain trust, and, frighteningly, they can contact children in almost any online venue.

Parents have always been the first order of care for their children and that is increasingly so today, as new and unfamiliar risks enter our children's lives—risks that parents do not have direct experience in dealing with. That is why the coalition government established the Children's eSafety Commissioner in 2015 to increase awareness and to provide extra information to parents. It is vital that parents understand when, where and what their children are accessing online. It is vital that parents are equipped to deal with daily advances in technology and the constant adaption of the predators, that parents are always vigilant and that they have the tools to educate their children in the dangers that lurk beyond the screen.

However, the government also recognises that parental vigilance on its own is not enough and that laws need to be changed to respond to this evolving menace. The protecting minors online bill that is before us today is a clear demonstration that this parliament has nil tolerance of that type of predation. Australian children must be safe to grow, explore and develop. The government has a duty to ensure that, with ever-evolving technology and expanding possibilities of communication, Commonwealth laws deter would-be offenders and provide a sound basis for prosecution. The iCyberSafe.com website is there to help protect kids and cites some of the facts about internet predators. At any one time in the online environment there could be up to 750,000 online child sexual predators. These predators are online around the clock looking for targets. Surveys show that one in five of our kids will receive sexual advances while online, but less than 25 per cent of them will inform a parent or an adult. Seventy-five per cent of children are willing to share personal information with a stranger on the internet—exactly what the predators are looking for. Sixty-four per cent of the teens surveyed admitted that they did things online that they would not want their parents to know about. Approximately 19 per cent of teens say they have considered meeting someone offline that they have only known online. Approximately nine per cent of teens state that they have actually met an offline stranger who they previously only knew through an online contact. Teens spend an average of six hours a day using media, which is more than any other activity.

Following Carly's death, her mother founded the Carly Ryan Foundation, devoted to promoting internet safety and supporting victims. The passage of this legislation is a testament to Sonya Ryan's relentless efforts to protect children from online predators. She has taken her unimaginable grief head on, risen above her suffering and turned the greatest tragedy possible—the murder of her child—into a relentless crusade. Sonya has dedicated her life to driving the cause of cyber safety through the Carly Ryan Foundation. Her selfless and tireless push for internet safety earned her the honour of being named South Australia's Australian of the Year in 2013.

Now we have before us this legislation which will further strengthen our weaponry against those who wish to prey upon our children and do them harm. The new law will criminalise acts that plan to cause harm to, procure or engage in sexual activity with a person under the age of 16. The new law allows for the law enforcement agencies to act pre-emptively, most importantly, before the offence is committed. An offence will have been committed if someone uses a carriage service—that is, the internet—to prepare or plan to cause harm, procure or engage in sexual activity with a person under the age of 16. The legislation also implements provisions to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect, negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse. The bill promotes the rights of children to be protected from physical or mental violence, sexual exploitation and abuse. It deserves the full support of this parliament. The legislation is presented in Carly's memory and in recognition of the bravery of her mother, Sonya, to try and ensure that this tragedy will never happen again. I am proud to stand in this chamber and support the bill.

Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017. This is obviously a very important bill. It is interesting when paedophiles go to the extreme effort of disguising themselves to basically coax younger people. In this case it comes from the sad and tragic death of Carly Ryan, a 15-year-old who was murdered by a 50-year-old man. I thank her mother, Sonya, for establishing the Carly Ryan Foundation and for all the great work she has done.

I go back to my days in the police force. I remember, in one of my early days as a recruit, the instructor showed us a photofit. On the photofit it had various faces, and we were asked to identify who was the rapist, who was the paedophile and who was the murderer. Everyone pretty much selected their three. In actual fact it was revealed that all were in some way a rapist, murderer or paedophile. I heard members refer to paedophiles as monsters, and they are. But when you see them they come across as everyday people who have this sick obsession. That is the danger for parents and young people. You will find that a paedophile will in many cases become the parent's best friend, because he knows that if you get the parents on side you can get access to the child.

So many young people use the internet, and they obviously want to communicate and meet new people. The family home is a very safe place indeed, unless your son or daughter is on the internet talking to someone or communicating with a person you believe is another child. The parent could walk past their bedroom and see the photo of a young male or a young girl and think that they are just communicating with someone from school or sport. But I do say to parents, always ask your child how they know that person. Is it a friend from school? If it is not someone they have ever identified before, have a danger flag go up. Yes, I am overprotective, but as a former police officer my first aim is to be protective.

Paedophiles realise that if they go in as their own identity, meaning a 50-year-old male talking or communicating with a 13-year-old or 15-year-old, obviously the communication will pretty much stop there. If they put themselves up as someone who a young person will relate to—we hear that the most creative fake internet or Facebook posts are actually of Justin Bieber. Why? Because the person who is creating that pseudonym would know that that is a way they can easily make contact with a young person.

These laws are very, very important. I congratulate the Minister for Justice for the work he has done. It creates new offences which will apply to a broader range of circumstances than the Commonwealth laws currently have. It will target existing grooming and procuring laws and acts leading up to sexual activity with a child and will require the participator to be identified. With the new laws, as the person is creating their new character, the police do not have to wait until an offence has been committed. It is a bit different in law enforcement when you come to, for example, drug trafficking. You can basically wait until the buy-bust goes down and you can arrest all those involved. Police obviously cannot and do not want to do that when it comes to sexual offences or paedophiles. Currently they pretty much have to wait until the communication has started. This is stopped and it allows the police to intervene at a much earlier stage—as soon as they are able to identify that a person is basically creating a fake identity to target or procure a young person and groom them. Police can actually act. To me that is very worthwhile.

The penalty is significant: 10 years jail. To me, that is a good penalty. Obviously I would like to see mandatory life imprisonment, but that would probably extend this too far. In the last financial year, 33 defendants were charged with offences against children under section 474.26 of the Criminal Code, which criminalises using a carriage service to procure a minor. Obviously, this is occurring all the time. Twenty-three defendants were convicted and 17 were sentenced to immediate imprisonment. I congratulate the law enforcement officers who identify and investigate paedophile activity. When I was in the police force, it was an area I did not want to go into. In many cases they have to watch very sickening offences, and identifying victims is also exceptionally troubling for them. This all comes back to the sad and tragic death of 15-year-old Carly Ryan, as I mentioned before. We thank her mother, Sonya, so much for what she has done—for going out and pushing rather than sitting back and saying, 'Hey, it's too difficult.' She has gone on the front foot and, on behalf of all members of parliament and all the Australian community, I congratulate Sonya for the incredible work she has done.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank all the honourable members who have contributed to this debate, particularly the member for La Trobe whose comments I just listened to. This bill introduces tough new offences for adults who use a carriage service to prepare or plan to cause harm to a child, engage in sexual activity with a child or procure a child to engage in sexual activity. Importantly, these new offences will cover adults who misrepresent their age online as part of a plan to harm a child. This offence will complement existing online child sex offences for preparatory conduct, including grooming or procuring a child for sexual activity. The bill takes this protection one step further: ensuring that those who use a carriage service to plan or prepare to harm children are also captured by the criminal justice system. The evolving nature of the internet and the anonymous nature of the internet unfortunately provide unprecedented opportunities for online predators to harm and exploit children. The offence proposed in this bill carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, and this serves as a very significant deterrent to predators who would seek to harm our children. This offence will allow law enforcement to take action against online predators sooner and with far greater consequence. The bill also continues the government's proactive approach to legislative amendment in light of rapid technological change.

The bill was referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report. The committee has literally moments ago reported on this bill and recommended that the bill be passed with no amendments. I welcome the committee's having reached that conclusion, although it did seem to me to be a rather drawn-out process for a bill that I would consider to be a complete and utter no-brainer. I would have thought that this was a bill that was very easy for anyone in this House—indeed, for anyone in the other place—to support. Although the committee process insisted on having public hearings—I am not sure why—it continued to delay the passage of this bill in a way that I do not think was particularly helpful. I think that this bill is very easy to support, sends a clear message to the community that we will not tolerate behaviour that will harm our children, offers our children greater protection and continues to serve as a strong deterrent to predators. I thank honourable members for their contributions to this bill, I commend it to the House, and I would hope that it passes expeditiously.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.