Accused pedophile Green Jonathan Doig ‘paid for daily access to girl victim’

Former Greens candidate Jonathan Doig is accused of receiving 352 images and videos of a 13-year-old Filipino schoolgirl.

‘Abhorrent’: Serial Greens candidate Jonathan Doig, freed on bail, outside Sutherland Police Station. Picture: Nikki Short

Former Greens candidate Jonathan Doig has been accused of receiving 352 images and videos of a 13-year-old Filipino schoolgirl and allegedly paying more than $120,000 to 97 individuals and groups over the past decade seeking child abuse material.

The climate activist, suspended by the NSW Greens after The Australian revealed he had been arrested at his southern Sydney home and charged with three child abuse offences, was granted bail in the Central Local Court on Wednesday and forced to surrender his passport.

Federal prosecutor Sandra Lo opposed bail for Mr Doig, who ran against Scott Morrison in Cook at last year’s election and appeared in court via video link, arguing he posed an “unacceptable risk” to the community.

In granting bail for the 57-year-old, magistrate Margaret Quinn noted the charges, including the live-streaming of child abuse from The Philippines, were “abhorrent”.

Mr Doig, who will report to police three times a week and live at his Gymea Bay home with his wife and 16-year-old daughter, stared at the floor in his cell at the ­Sutherland Police Station as the court heard details of his alleged offences.

Following a lengthy investi­gation, Australian Federal Police officers charged Mr Doig on Tuesday 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.

Ms Lo said alleged communications between Mr Doig, a software engineer with almost 30 years’ experience, and his alleged Filipino victim began in December 2019 and continued “daily” until his arrest.

“He spoke daily with a child of 13 years and received 352 images, some constituting child abuse materials. He has exhibited an act of sexual proclivity to children which has been facilitated by the internet,” Ms Lo told the court. “There are no conditions which would adequately mitigate these risks.”

Ms Lo said 97 different people or groups located in The Philippines had financially benefited from Mr Doig’s alleged use of child abuse material between 2010 and 2020. She said there had been “over 400 transactions” allegedly traced back to Mr Doig and he had an “ongoing sexual ­interest in children”.

Defence barrister Greg Stanton said Mr Doig would be monitored in a “constant and diligent fashion” while at home and the ­offences carried an “objective gravity”.

Mr Stanton said Mr Doig’s wife had allowed him to return home and she would monitor his conduct. He is not to be left un­accompanied with a child under 16 and is banned from using the internet or electronic devices.

Ms Lo said Mr Doig had also ­received a school report from his alleged victim and she was often “dressed in a school ­uniform”.

The court heard police allegedly detected a further five conversations between Mr Doig and “young girls” in The Philippines over the course of his alleged offending, which allegedly spanned 10 years, and that “more victims were anticipated”.

“A further five chats with young girls believed to be underage were almost daily and carried on for two years, and there were images exchanged,” Ms Lo said.

She added that police were still trying to locate further child abuse material on Mr Doig’s devices but investigators had encountered an “element of encryption” that indicated more offensive ­images and videos could still be discovered.

Mr Doig was rushed out of a back entrance at Sutherland Police Station late on Wednesday, in the same navy blue zip-up jumper and black jeans he was wearing at the time of his arrest. The Australian understands the Extinction Rebellion activist was a key figure in the Stop Adani movement and has run in local, state and federal elections for the Greens.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said the party stood with “survivors of child sexual abuse” and condemned “in the strongest possible terms those who would seek to harm children”.

“Upon hearing of the alle­gations, the Greens took action to ensure the former candidate’s membership was suspended pending court proceedings,” Mr Bandt told The Australian.

A UNSW spokeswoman said the university was “currently reviewing the employment of Jonathan Doig”, who is a software engineer with the university’s City Futures Research Centre.

“UNSW is co-operating with the AFP and is unable to comment further, given this is a police investigation,” she said.

Mr Doig will next appear at Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on August 4.

Additional reporting: Richard Ferguson