Greens activist Jonathan Peter Doig arrested over alleged child sex abuse offences

Jonathan Doig, who ran in the Sydney seat of Cook against Scott Morrison, will face court over three child sex abuse offences.

Jonathan Peter Doig will appear in Sydney’s Central Local Court on Wednesday.

Former Greens candidate Jonathan Doig has been suspended from The Greens party’s NSW branch after he was charged with three child sex abuse offences.

Mr Doig, who ran in the southern Sydney seat of Cook against Scott Morrison last year, was arrested at his Gymea Bay home by AFP officers on Tuesday afternoon following a lengthy investigation.

Mr Doig will appear in Sydney’s Central Local Court on Wednesday accused of allegedly paying more than $120,000 over 10 years for child sex-abuse material, including the live-streaming of child abuse from The Philippines.

The 57-year-old was charged with procuring a child to engage in sexual activity outside Australia, using a carriage service to solicit child-abuse material and possessing child-abuse material obtained or accessed through a carriage service. The alleged offences carry maximum sentences of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Greens NSW on Wednesday said Mr Doig was suspended from the party immediately and was banned from any interaction or access with the Greens.

“The Greens deplore and condemn child sexual abuse and exploitation, and again commit to believing and supporting victims and survivors,” the statement reads.

“We acknowledge the work of state and federal investigators and appreciate the professionalism of their work on behalf of victims.

“Mr Doig’s membership has been immediately suspended. He has been excluded from all interaction with, and access to, the Greens party.

“We note the matter is before the courts and will not make further comment to avoid prejudicing the proceedings.”

In a statement released on Wednesday, the AFP said financial intelligence provided by AUSTRAC had revealed “details of a payment from a NSW resident to a known child exploitation facilitator in the Philippines”.

“The NSW Child Protection Operations Team launched an investigation based on this information and executed a search warrant,” the AFP statement said.

“During the search, police seized a number of electronic devices including mobile phone, two laptops and a hard drive. Forensic examination of the devices is ongoing.”

An AFP spokesman confirmed a Sydney man had been arrested at his home as part of an ongoing investigation.

Police will allege the child sex-abuse offences were committed over a 10-year period and included possession of child-abuse material and soliciting child-abuse material via payments made to individuals overseas, known to be involved in producing live-streaming of child sex-abuse.

Mr Doig, who posted on Facebook in April about donations he made to support food relief in Manila, allegedly made financial transactions to beneficiaries, including minors.

The arrest of the former Greens candidate, who has posed in social media photos with Greens MPs, comes as law-enforcement agencies push for greater powers to detect sex offenders using encryption to hide in the dark web.

Greens candidate Jonathan Doig, second from left, with Greens councillor Dominic WY Kanak, left, former federal Greens leader Richard di Natale and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi

Mr Doig, who has lived at his Gymea Bay home since 1999, is a perennial Greens candidate running in state and federal elections.

In a profile published before last year’s NSW election, the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader said Mr Doig’s grandfather had served two terms as the Liberal MP for Burwood.

The UNSW City Futures Research Centre lists Mr Doig as a software engineer, who has worked in spatial systems for almost 30 years.

The Australian attempted to contact Mr Doig.

The arrest came after The Australian last month revealed the AFP, Department of Home Affairs and Britain’s National Crime Agency had partnered with anti-child trafficking officers in Manila to bust a child sex-abuse racket and rescue three children who had been used for live-streaming of child rape.

The international sting was sparked after an Australian man was detained by Australian Border Force officers, having returned from The Philippines.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw has previously warned that traffic across the dark web was on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with local child-grooming attempts through the internet.

Jonathan Doig, left, with former Green Scott Ludlam at an Extinction Rebellion protest in Sydney in October last year.

In February, Mr Kershaw said he was prepared to name and shame tech giants that blocked authorities from identifying criminals on the dark web to prevent the rape and torture of children.

Companies, including Apple and Facebook, are moving towards end-to-end encryption, making it more difficult for security agencies to track criminal behaviour.

“If I’m feeling as though certain companies are not co-operating, we will actually end up outing them and probably damaging their reputation,” Mr Kershaw told the National Press Club. “That’s one of the techniques law enforcement has used before, to say ‘if you’re a company that’s going to be obstructionist with law enforcement and not help us out when it comes to protecting our children, then, again, all bets are off’.”

The Morrison government is considering providing security agencies with new powers to ¬access end-to-end encrypted content in the fight against online child sex-abuse networks if tech companies fail to co-operate with investigations.

In April, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said tech companies had to “step up” in combating “pedophiles and terrorists” hiding behind the use of encryption.

Security agencies this year identified 256 Australians suspected of paying more than $1.3m for live-streamed child abuse and rape from The Philippines over the past decade. The Australian is not linking Mr Doig’s alleged offences with other child sex-abuse cases and investigations linked to The Philippines.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess this week said there had been a rise in online crime and scolded tech companies for pushing back against governments in relation to “abhorrent” behaviour.

The Greens have been vocal critics of Coalition attempts to strengthen encryption powers for national security agencies, which were aimed at targeting criminals, including pedophiles, who were using the dark web in a bid to avoid detection.

In December 2018, following the passing of the Telecommunications (Assistance and Access) Bill, Greens digital rights spokesman Jordon Steele-John criticised the legislation as a “threat to online safety, security and privacy of every single Australian”.