Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I think what is very important here is to deal with the broad issue. What this government has done firstly is to release a consultative paper dealing with the proposed reforms and has invited public comment in respect of that. If Senator Fielding wants to participate in the process, I would encourage him to provide public comment in relation to how we can best address some of these heinous crimes that are committed in our community, particularly those against children.

The proposed reforms that this government is looking at are, as I have indicated, those areas of new offences for sexual activity committed online, because there is an online environment and we understand the concerns that people have in relation to this environment. We are also looking at how you deal with new aggravated offences where the offender is in a position of trust or the victim has a cognitive impairment. It is also important to ensure that, where new aggregated offences exist, targeting online— (Time expired)