Spies to use coercive powers to help catch depraved sex predators under new super-ministry

AUSTRALIA’S top spies will use secret coercive powers to target depraved sex predators, in one of the first big moves under the Turnbull Government’s new Home Affairs super-ministry.

AUSTRALIA’S top spies will use secret coercive powers to target depraved sex predators, in one of the first big moves under the Turnbull Government’s new Home Affairs super-ministry.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said tracking the repulsive criminals before they could claim fresh victims was one of his “principal objectives” for the new Home Affairs department. Mr Dutton will be in charge of the new super security agency which is expected to be up and running by the end of the year.

“We can save the lives of children here and overseas. We can have a much bigger impact than we are at the moment in crushing these syndicates, both their cyber footprint as well as their physical presence,” Mr Dutton said.

 

 

 

 

“It’s trying to destroy the syndicates and international players who are involved, not just here, but in other countries as well where they’re grooming victims, where they’re putting together material to post online. It is looking at different ways in which the agencies can collaborate more effectively.”

One activity the new Home Affairs departmentwill target is pay-per-view live child porn, where grubby criminals in countries such as Thailand and the Philippines charge paedophiles to watch live-stream footage of children being abused using encrypted technology on the dark web.

Recent efforts have netted the likes of Bryan Beattie and Matthew Graham, and allegedly Peter Scully but the new Home Affairs will help move such investigations along faster. And there are so many more.

 

 

Robin Dyers is serving an 11-year sentence after raping a high school student and several university students.

 

Mr Dutton said intelligence agencies such as Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) could fight the underground paedophile rings and prevent child abduction and trading of victims.

“We need to use that technology against these individuals, we need to expose them,” he said. “The use of technology now is crucial in this space. It means that the ACIC resources with their compulsory hearings could be a way in which we could leverage the AFP (Federal Police) and it would mean that the cyber expertise within the ASD could be used to destroy some of these networks online.

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Matthew David Graham, dubbed the "world's worst paedophile".

Australian national Gerard Peter Scully is on trial in the Philippines for numerous crimes against children. Picture: AFP

“It’s using more effectively the resources of Austrac, following money.”

Mr Dutton said victims of such networks carried the damage over a lifetime.

“A sexual offence against an eight-year-old girl or 14-year-old girl is something that scars that individual for life,” he said.

“That’s why I do want to see it as a principal objective of the Home Affairs portfolio because there is a lot of work that we can build on that’s being undertaken by the AFP now, to use the resources of the other agencies to help expose sexual predators before they claim their next victim.”

Bryan Beattie was jailed for 10 years for directing and watching the sexual abuse of children.

Sex predators with dual citizenship also have nowhere to hide as Mr Dutton uses every power he has to turf them out of the country to keep Australians safe.

There have been just 33 citizenship cancellations since 1949, and 17 of these have been in the past three years.

Mr Dutton said his team monitored high-profile cases and was quick to strip dual citizens of their right to call Australia home.

“I’ve taken a deliberate decision to look at these cases particularly where there’s been an act of violence and sexually based crime committed against an Australian citizen,” he said.

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said tracking criminals before they could claim fresh victims was one of his “principal objectives”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has talked tough about the new super department. Picture: Gary Ramage

There were no citizenship cancellations under the Rudd or Gillard governments.

“It’s a case of taking a proactive approach and making sure that we can preserve Australian citizenship for those who do the right thing,” Mr Dutton said.

South African-born rapist Robin Gerald Dyers, 46, who moved to Australia in 1996 is among them. He is in prison for a series of brutal attacks and will be turfed as soon as he has finished his sentence.

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Robin Dyers remains behind bars. Picture: ABC

Mr Dutton said targeting sex predators had been a priority since he was a Queensland police officer working with the sexual offence unit.

“The vast majority of migrants who become citizens are law-abiding wonderful people and the 1 per cent, where they’re committing these sorts of crimes, we shouldn’t hesitate in applying the law and cancelling their visa or citizenship if they’ve obtained it through fraudulent means,” he said.