Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight the parents of Australia and, in particular, the parents of the Ryan electorate are sleeping more soundly. Because of the three years worth of work of the Morrison coalition government, we now have mandatory sentences for child sex offenders. It's been three years of Labor opposition and their backflips and tactical games, but this is because of the hard work of the Morrison government. In particular, I want to congratulate the Attorney-General and my fellow Queenslander Minister Dutton for shepherding these important reforms through both the House and now the Senate. Because of their efforts, the Morrison government has been able to put front and centre the protection of children and our most vulnerable children at that.

We have invested more than any government before us in tackling child sexual exploitation. Under the guidance of the Minister for Home Affairs, we've established Australia's eSafety Commissioner, which is providing parents with a broad range of online safety programs and resources. Minister Dutton has established the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, which is successfully driving the national response to counter the exploitation of children, leading to a significant increase in arrests. This focus and spending has been so vital for Australian families. As a dad, it is hard to comprehend just how disgustingly prevalent the risk of this abhorrent exploitation is. Each year the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation receives almost 18,000 reports of child sexual exploitation. Each report can contain hundreds or thousands of explicit videos and images.

One child suffering sexual abuse is one too many in this country, and yet current data shows 7.7 per cent of Australians will have experienced childhood sexual abuse before the age of 15. Child abuse causes lifelong mental and physical harm to the victim, and the financial cost of child abuse and neglect in Australia is over $9 billion per year. Unfortunately, during the COVID pandemic, as we have spent more time at home and online, the eSafety Commissioner has seen a 300 per cent increase in reports from some forms of online child exploitation reporting. The ACCCE reports a 123 per cent increase in child exploitation cases compared to just last year. In the last few weeks, we've seen that the AFP has made major arrests in our community, including nine men across three states, laying 40 charges relating to a sophisticated child abuse network operating in Australian suburbs that was putting child exploitation material online.

The new mandatory sentencing legislation will now act as a strong deterrent of this most abhorrent behaviour. Last year, current sentencing outcomes meant 39 per cent of convicted Commonwealth child sex offenders did not spend a single day in jail. This is just so wildly out of step with community expectations, it is hard to imagine how it has gone on this long. It's taken us as a government three years of hard work to get past Labor's political games and backflips, but it's now so important that we're here, because, instead of that situation where 39 per cent didn't spend a single day in jail, now a jail term is the starting point for all of these federally convicted child sex offenders. Maximum penalties will also be increased to better reflect the gravity of these types of crimes, including a new life term for the worst offenders. The bill creates a new maximum penalty of life for the most serious Commonwealth offences and a presumption against bail to keep offenders in custody while they face trial.

This is a tremendous outcome for Australian parents. As parents, we now need to look to our own families, because we can do more. While parents talk to their kids often about stranger danger, only three per cent of parents list online grooming as a concern. Children are allowed access to the internet at a young age but are not given the tools to understand the dangers. Four out of five children aged four are using the internet, and almost one-third of these four-year-olds have access to their own device. By age 12, 50 per cent of kids have access to their own internet enabled device, yet 70 per cent of parents allow children aged 12 to use the internet anywhere in the house, including where they are alone. Parents, it's time to talk to your kids about how prevalent this is and to make sure they are armed with the tools to prevent it.

Congratulations to the A-G and particularly Minister Dutton for three years of hard work to get this together. Because of your efforts, the parents of Australia will sleep better tonight.