Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Hinch, for the question. The government is absolutely committed to the protection of all Australians from the horrors of sexual assault and abuse. The violent and repulsive abuse of children in particular is, sadly, becoming more prevalent and has been further compounded by the evolution of technology. It's estimated that, every seven minutes, a webpage shows a child being sexually assaulted.

That's why the government has—I should note—provided $68.6 million in the 2018-19 budget to create the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. What this seeks to do is bring together the expertise of the AFP, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, AUSTRAC, the office of the cybercoordinator, the Australian Border Force, the Australian Institute of Criminology and other areas of the Department of Home Affairs so that we have that capacity focused.

The coalition government is also proud to have passed Carly's Law, which makes it a crime for an adult to use a carriage service to commit an act in preparation or planning to cause harm to or engage in or procure sexual activity with a minor. Further, in a world first, the government has banned registered sex offenders from travelling overseas or holding an Australian passport—something Senator Hinch has been a strong advocate for. But we must do more. Let me assure Senator Hinch that the government is committed to further strengthening measures to protect children from known sex offenders, including considering the merits of a publicly-accessible national child sex offender registration scheme.