Report summary

Child exploitation is a horrific crime. It targets some of society's most vulnerable and inflicts severe trauma. Though it is not easy to discuss, this crime demands our attention and action.

There have been positive developments in recent years, most notably the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. That inquiry was followed by other valuable work, such as the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 and the Australian Child Maltreatment Study released in April 2023.

Being the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, the committee's inquiry focussed on challenges and opportunities for law enforcement's response to this crime. This includes whether law enforcement has appropriate powers, whether officers are well supported, whether criminal justice legislation is operating effectively, and whether technology companies provide proper support to law enforcement investigations.

Though child exploitation manifests in many forms, much of the evidence in this inquiry focussed on the proliferation of child abuse material online. Accordingly, a central focus of the committee's inquiry was law enforcement's capability to respond to online crimes, including live online child sexual abuse, sexual coercion and extortion, and the use of anonymising technologies to disseminate abuse material.

One of the committee's key concerns is how the rapidly changing technological landscape may facilitate child exploitation, and whether major technology companies are adequately responding to this crime. To take just one example, the increasing ubiquity of end-to-end encryption has the worrying potential to make it easier for offenders to contact children and share child abuse material, with law enforcement unable to effectively detect and investigate the offending.

The evidence in this inquiry shows that child exploitation and online child abuse material are vast scourges across our society. However, authorities are taking this crime seriously and prioritising efforts to combat it. These efforts include the work of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, led by the Australian Federal Police, and initiatives of the eSafety Commissioner.

The committee makes 15 recommendations to improve law enforcement's response to this crime. The report examines key issues as follows.

Chapter 1 provides administrative and other details about the inquiry.

Chapter 2 discusses the vast scale of the problem facing law enforcement. This includes data about the volume of online child abuse material, the increasing severity of offending, and different forms and features of offending. Importantly, the evidence shows that these crimes are not just an overseas problem. Australians are some of most prolific consumers of child abuse material. There are offenders in Australia and the crime harms children in Australia.

Chapter 3 examines Australia's criminal justice framework. It provides background about existing legislation, then considers evidence about the adequacy of the offence framework and the appropriateness of sentences and penalties. It informs recommendations about monitoring the criminal offence framework, collecting data on sentencing, and the provision of certain impact statements to courts.

Chapter 4 considers a range of issues affecting law enforcement's work, including statutory powers, coordination and information sharing, the wellbeing and training of officers, and collaboration with foreign law enforcement and non-government organisations. The chapter also provides background about key existing agencies and processes. It informs several recommendations including with respect to law enforcement coordination, information sharing, and support for officers.

Chapter 5 examines the technological side of this crime and the adequacy of technology companies' responses to it. It discusses a range of issues including end-to-end encryption, age restrictions on social media, potential obligations for technology companies, and action by the eSafety Commissioner. The length of this chapter reflects the committee's serious concerns about this issue and the large volume of evidence it received. It informs a range of recommendations including about continued work by the eSafety Commissioner, potential age assurance or age verification, and locally based technology company staff.

Chapter 6 considers issues relating to offending and public awareness. This includes the link between online and contact offending and options for offender prevention, as well as education of the public about child exploitation risks. It informs recommendations including about further research, public awareness campaigns, and online game classification.

Chapter 7 provides the committee's views on key issues as well as the committee's 15 recommendations and its rationale for them.

The committee is optimistic that these recommendations will make a useful contribution to law enforcement's response to child exploitation. The committee also intends this report, and the wider body of evidence underpinning it, to be a valuable resource for those interested addressing in these matters.

The committee thanks all those who contributed to this inquiry. The committee benefited greatly from their expertise and experience as it worked through these difficult issues and formulated its recommendations.