Australia needs national strategy to tackle child sexual abuse, leading criminologist says

A more collaborative national approach is urgently needed to address gaps in the country’s fight against child sexual exploitation, according to a leading criminologist.

Australia is “late to the party” recognising the severity of child sexual exploitation and the level of threat the country faces, UNSW criminologist Michael Salter says.

EXCLUSIVE

A national co-ordinating agency should be established that is agile enough to counter threats of sexual exploitation and abuse of children as they arise, and to strengthen existing efforts by Australian governments and agencies, according to a leading criminologist.

“We need to understand child sexual exploitation as a threat to national security,” UNSW associate professor Michael Salter said.

“We have a global, online infrastructure that is awash with child sexual abuse material, we have social media platforms that have been invaded by organised crime syndicates from overseas and we are facing an immediate threat to child wellbeing in this country.

“We have fantastic agencies in terms of the eSafety Commissioner and the Australian Federal Police and state and territory police. They’re doing an amazing job and it’s still not enough.”

Dr Salter said Australia had been “late to the party” recognising the severity of child sexual exploitation and the level of threat the country faces.

Young people who are sexually exploited online are hesitant to tell their parents or police, UNSW criminologist Michael Salter says.

While the 10-year national strategy to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse announced in October with an initial first phase allocation of $308m was a hallmark document and the first of its kind in Australia, there were still significant gaps in Australia’s capability.

“It’s not enough for us to say we have a national strategy and an action plan to implement that strategy,” Dr Salter said.

“We need to be able to move very quickly as the threat moves.

“There are certainly gaps in our response … there is an opportunity here for us to create a national collaborative agency or organisation that is able to address these challenges.”

Dr Salter was speaking before the launch of CommonProtect, a substantial audit of how legal systems in 21 Commonwealth countries are responding to child sexual exploitation and abuse, held in Sydney last week.

Clayton Utz special counsel Mariam Azzo.

The two-year project, funded by UK not-for-profit It’s a Penalty and led by Clayton Utz special counsel Mariam Azzo, also took into account qualitative evidence from participating researchers.

“The lack of political will came up everywhere,” Ms Azzo said. “These are people who have gone to the governments, to ministers who talk about how much they’re doing in the media. But much more needs to be done.”

Ms Azzo said it was not only governments that should step up, but corporates, among others. “The #MeToo movement has been impactful and transformative, but sadly seems to exclude any substantial emphasis on the alarming amount of sexual abuse inflicted on our most vulnerable defenceless population, children,” she said.

“We’ve got the biggest brains ever – think about Elon Musk – and we’re talking about sending people to Mars. But apparently we can’t come up with some kind of technology that can break the dark net and shut down all these disgusting websites that are making fortunes.”

Ms Azzo said Australia’s legislative framework was broadly fit for purpose although the report noted some lack of uniformity between states regarding elements such as definitions of offences and penalties. It also recommended a national sex offender register rather than the current state-based agencies.

Ms Azzo said her concern was that not enough children were coming forward when they encountered difficulties.

Dr Salter said this was a critical barrier to overcome.

“When kids are in trouble online, they are extremely hesitant to even tell their parents and often going to police is the last thing on their on their minds,” he said.

“How do we connect with kids who are in trouble and deliver the wraparound support services that might provide a kind of a soft entry into a law enforcement response?”