Carly’s law to stop online predators passes Federal Parliament
PREDATORS who plan to use the Internet to lure children into meeting them, or who lie about their age, will face up to 10 years’ jail under tough new crimes dubbed ‘Carly’s Law’.
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PREDATORS who plan to use the Internet to lure children into meeting them, or who lie about their age, will face up to 10 years’ jail under tough new crimes dubbed ‘Carly’s Law’.
The new laws were passed by Federal Parliament this afternoon and will allow police to charge adults who prepare for — or plan to — cause harm or engage in sexual activity using social media and other online forums.
Today’s vote was a victory for Sonya Ryan, whose daughter Carly was murdered in Adelaide in 2007 when, at the age of 15, she met up with a 47-year-old paedophile who had pretended to be 20 years old.
Ms Ryan, along side Senator Nick Xenophon, have campaigned for almost 10 years for tough new penalties for paedophiles which could prosecuted before a child was harmed.
In 2013, Senator Xenophon introduced ‘Carly’s Law’ into the Senate, and after extensive negotiations with the government, and this year changes were agreed with the government to ensure it could become a reality.
NXT Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore said the significance of new law could not be overstated.
“The new law will make it easier for police to intervene sooner and for online predators to be prosecuted,” she said.
“This fills the gap in the current Criminal Code and allows police to intervene earlier when a predator is planning or preparing to cause harm to a child, including when they are lying about their age.
“I cannot envisage a legitimate purpose for somebody over 18 to have a lie about their age online to a child.
“Having a law that reflects the unacceptability of that behaviour is an important thing to have on our statute books.”
After initially flagging some concerns with the drafting of the law, Labor supported it without amendment but the Greens still held reservations.
“Labor has always been clear that we support the intent of this bill,” SA Senator Don Farrell said.
“I am pleased that the bill has now finally in a form that can be passed by this Parliament.
“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 to prevent harm occurring in the first place.”
Greens Senator Nick McKim said the party shared concerns of the Law Council of Australia and Australian Lawyers Alliance that the law would penalise a person for “broad intentions which they may never have acted upon”.
He said it criminalises activities which may have no potential to cause harm.
“I also want to place on the record our concerns that communication with a young person is not required under the offence, which this Act would create,” he said.
“The person under 16 referred to in this bill does not need to be a specific individual and the offence may in fact be able to be proved where a child has not even communicated with or even identified.”