Inside Arkstone: National strategy to combat rising child abuse threat
The threat of child abusers is more present and complex than ever before, with a 10-year national plan being developed to combat the rising danger. See the shocking statistics as advocates call for urgent action.
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The child predator threat is more pressing and complex than ever before, police and advocates warn, as the online age presents a new avenue for offenders.
Exclusive figures from AFP’s Australian Center To Counter Child Exploitation reveal there were 33,000 child exploitation reports made in 2021, up 35 per cent from the previous year and double that of 2019.
It comes as federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has begun work on a national child abuse prevention campaign as part of a 10-year strategy to combat the horrific crime.
Alison Geale, chief executive of national child protection organisation Bravehearts, called child sex offending “a national threat”.
“It’s the worst two evils: abusing and exploiting,” she said.
It comes as the AFP warns that predators are taking advantage of encryption to disseminate recorded child abuse to paedophiles online.
AFP recently completed Operation Arkstone, Australia’s largest online child abuse probe
During the two-and-a-half-year investigation, police arrested 26 men and saved 56 children across the country.
Many of those men disturbingly held trusting positions in the community such as child care workers, disability staff and teaching assistants. Some of them recorded themselves abusing children and sent those videos via chat platforms such as Snapchat in exchange for more depraved material. Others received, viewed and sent on the horrific content to others, continuing the heinous cycle.
Ms Geale said while no child abuse crime was worse than any other, the men sentenced as part of Operation Arkstone were two-pronged in their cruelty as it involved the abuse of children and online exploitation.
“Traditionally, if there was a close contact offence, that may be kept secret, but these people were actually distributing it,” she said.
“Offenders are getting more and more advanced with technology. We are way behind them. Not only are they soccer coaches grooming people face-to-face, but they’re taking advantage of advancing technology and are ahead of the game.”
Research presented to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse found 20 per cent of Australian children had been sexually abused.
According to research by Bravehearts, the Sydney Cricket Ground could be filled 16 times over with Australian children who have been or will be sexually abused. And further research shows more and more children are being exploited online.
In 2021, the AFP began criminal proceedings against 233 people charged with 2032 child exploitation offences.
Figures show the violation often starts with unwanted contact, with an 2021 eSafety Commissioner report finding four in 10 Australian teens had been contacted by a stranger or received inappropriate or unwanted contact online in the past six months.
An Australian Institute of Criminology report found those who disseminate child exploitation material online were typically male, white, single, aged between 35 and 45, and more likely to be better educated and work in professional occupations.
A groundbreaking 10-year national strategy to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse was announced in October, with the Attorney-General allocating $308 million.
As part of that strategy, he has begun meeting stakeholders to work on a “national awareness raising campaign on child sexual abuse”.
“As Attorney-General I have already begun consulting with stakeholders who do vital work in raising public awareness, preventing abuse, and stopping offenders,” he said.
He said the research stage included speaking with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, child protection experts and advocates, and members of the general community.
“The outcomes of the research will inform the development of advertising and public communication activities, which may include TV and radio advertisements,” he said.
“(The campaign) will improve understanding of child sexual abuse, promote behavioural and cultural change to prevent child sexual abuse, help people to recognise and respond to warning signs, and encourage people to access help and support.
Ms Geale said a national public campaign was an urgent need and stressed such an initiative should highlight the “complex, convoluted and evolving crimes” of child abuse and online exploitation, which required parents to “get skilled on this national threat”.
Having recently returned from an international conference about crimes against children, Ms Geale said the growing use of technology in child abuse offences hit her “like a tsunami”.
“Schools and governments should be giving parents and caregivers resources to learn what child abuse is, what grooming is, how it can be done online, that it can be sextorted, contact offending or both,” she said.
“By normalising these discussions we are not normalising the crime. We’ve scared parents out of having these conversations and we need to reverse that.
“We don’t want to frighten parents, but the reality is, no child from any socio-economic background is immune to this. We can’t just sit and hope it doesn’t happen to our kids.”
Sextortion is the threat to expose a sexual image in order to make a person do something or for other reasons. Grooming describes the preparatory stage of child sexual abuse and exploitation, often done to gain the trust of the child or family.
The Victims of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL) cautioned against “victim blaming” in any public education measure.
“The message of telling parents to ‘watch what their children are doing online’ can be a preventive measure, but it also shifts the focus away from addressing the source of the problem – predators who prey on children,” VOCAL CEO Kerrie Thompson said.
The AFP has its own national education campaign, presenting speeches in schools on child exploitation, unwanted contact, online grooming, image-based abuse and sexual extortion.
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