Internet child sex abuse offences Bill tabled

25 June 2004

Legislation targeting odious sex crimes against children perpetrated via the Internet has been introduced in the Senate.

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2004, will make use of the Internet to access, transmit or make available child pornography punishable by ten years jail.

Possession, production or supply of child pornography for the purpose of sending it over the Internet will attract a similar penalty.

The procuring or "grooming" of children under 16 for sex, where adults exploit the anonymity of cyberspace to lure children into a web of depravity, will attract even heavier penalties of up to 15 years jail.

Law enforcement agencies estimate that around 85 per cent of child pornography seized in Australia is distributed via the Internet.

The new offences will strike at the heart of the repulsive trade in material depicting the sexual abuse of children and will also enable consistent prosecution of offenders Australia-wide under federal law.

These offences send a clear message to those who might engage in such perverse conduct and will also allow the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to proactively police the Internet by assuming the identity of a fictitious child and interact with potential predatory adults.

This type of operation by the AFP will facilitate the arrest of predatory adults before they have the opportunity to sexually abuse a real child.

The introduction of this legislation demonstrates the Government will take a tough and uncompromising approach to protecting Australia's children from child sexual abuse.

The new offences targeting child sex abuse are part of a package of new and revised telecommunications-related offences that address a range of issues that have arisen in today's telecommunications environment.

Another new offence contained in the package deals with improper use of emergency service 000 numbers, targeting people who make hoax calls, abusive calls and repetitive nuisance calls to these numbers. Such behaviour will be punished by three years jail.

Thirteen million calls are made each year to the emergency triple zero call service, however it is estimated that less than 10 per cent of these actually relate to an emergency.

New offences to tackle "rebirthing" of stolen mobile phones are included with the criminalisation of tampering or modifying mobile phone unique identification numbers known as International Mobile Equipment Identification, or IMEI numbers.

Credit card skimming and Internet banking fraud, including "phishing" - where online criminals use apparently legitimate e-mails to trick people into divulging banking details - are also targeted with new federal offences contained in this Bill.

The Bill also includes new federal offences targeting those who contaminate goods intending to cause public alarm or anxiety or economic loss.

The offences extend to persons who threaten to contaminate goods, or falsely claim to have contaminated goods, recognising the very real anxiety or loss that may occur, whether the contamination is real, fictitious or threatened.

These offences will complement existing State and Territory offences and will give the Government a valuable tool to prosecute offences that have a national or widespread effect, or in some cases, an overseas aspect.

The CrimesLegislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2004 shows the Government is taking a proactive approach to ensuring that federal criminal law can meet the challenges presented by a rapidly changing technological environment.

Media Contact:

Carina Tan-Van Baren (Mr Williams) (02) 6277 7480/ (0439) 425 373
Simon Troeth (Senator Ellison) (02) 6277 7260/ (0439) 300 335