Bills

Statutes Amendment (Child Exploitation and Encrypted Material) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 27 November 2018.)

Ms LUETHEN (King) (17:26): I support the Statutes Amendment (Child Exploitation and Encrypted Material) Bill because I will do everything I can on behalf of my community and government to act now to ensure that we stop the abuse of children. The exploitation of children for sexual purposes, in which children are used as commodities for the sexual pleasure of adults, is particularly heinous.

I have been heartened to hear that one thing many of us agree on across this house is the need to act together to deter, stop, prosecute, penalise and put away people who are abusing children in this state. Together, we can and must crack down on people who administer, distribute or play any part in producing child exploitation material.

The exploitation of children has been facilitated and enhanced by the availability of the internet. It was reported by the SBS that, in Australia and around the world, rates of live stream child abuse via webcam, video footage and image capture are growing. The Australian Federal Police received 11,000 online child exploitation reports in 2015.

In 2016, Matthew Graham was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for distributing child exploitation material. Between 2012 and 2014, Graham administered online websites and forums. He shared hundreds of thousands of images, including videos of the torture and rape of a young child in the Philippines and in one instance encouraged the rape and murder of a child in Russia. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation described Graham's network as one of the largest and most extreme in the world.

In 2015, Shannon McCoole was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment on charges relating to his role as the head administrator of a global online network with 45,000 members. In the McCoole case, the sentencing judge drew attention to the challenges posed by secretive computer networks and websites created for the specific purpose of distributing exploitative material. Studies show offenders are routinely caught with thousands of images each. A coordinated and powerful response is necessary if we are to protect children.

We must pause and note once again that evidence from the Australian Institute of Criminology tells us that intrafamilial sexual exploitation of children has been and remains a major problem. The reality of exploitation by offenders who are known to their child victims runs counter to the perceived danger presented by strangers. The focus on the danger presented by strangers appears to have been part of a collective denial of the reality of exploitation committed by those entrusted with the care of children.

According to Bourke and Hernandez, exposure to child pornography, and the cultural and technological context in which it is exchanged, has an insidiously harmful effect on offenders. They asserted that this material normalises child adult sexuality, dehumanises children and desensitises the offender to the harmful consequences of child victimisation. They argue that these effects are further exacerbated by the offender's immersion in cyber communities of similarly socially marginalised and sexually deviant individuals. Online communities not only serve as online trading posts for illicit material but they also provide social validation and a sense of belonging and support.

In grooming offending, sex offenders may use adult pornography or child exploitation material to lower children's inhibitions against engaging in sexual behaviour. The authors found that offenders often show pornography to children, especially adult-child sexual depictions, to make the adult-child sexual activity appear normal and desensitise the child to the behaviour. Sex offenders may also use pornography to instruct children in how to behave, pose or re-enact scenes. The potentially perpetual availability of digital recordings of abuse is a form of recurrent abuse of the child victim concerned.

Demand for child exploitation material creates a market for exchange, which the internet facilitates. This demand for new material drives child victimisation. It is likely that—or at least for some offenders who have not previously committed contact offences—exposure to child exploitation material may make it more probable that they will commit contact offences. The internet may provide a path from child exploitation material offending to contact offending through online grooming and the engagement of children.

I support the bill because our laws need to keep pace with technology, which is why there are specific provisions that will allow investigators to seek approval from the court to compel people to provide information to access encrypted material. That can include the provision of passwords, fingerprints, facial scans or retinal scans—whatever enables authorities to access a device that may contain evidence of a serious offence. These are significant changes to the law that will ensure authorities have the power they need and can take the appropriate action to help stop these online predators.

Our Attorney-General has said that a failure to comply with the order could result in up to five years' imprisonment. The new bill includes specific offences to ensure that offenders who manage or promote websites featuring child exploitation material can be prosecuted. Under the laws, it will also be illegal to provide information that would help someone avoid apprehension for an offence involving child exploitation material. These laws will ensure that people who administer or host websites that deal with sickening material can be prosecuted, even if they are not technically in possession of it.

To summarise why we are doing this, South Australia's existing child exploitation material laws do not adequately capture persons who administer, establish, operate or promote these websites and online networks. Persons can do this without necessarily possessing child pornography. Police have also identified the increasing difficulties gaining access to encrypted material. Currently, authorities cannot compel a person to provide their passwords or access to encrypted materials. We are doing this because aiding or facilitating the possession of child pornography perpetuates child abuse. The Marshall government is taking the necessary action to crack down on anyone involved in this evil industry by ensuring that our laws are fit for purpose.

In closing, this bill introduces a number of specific offences designed to criminalised the creation, promotion and use of child exploitation material websites. It also introduces new investigative powers and procedures to assist police in the detection of child exploitation material, made increasingly difficult by technological advances and sophisticated encryption programs.

The bill specifically creates three additional offences to address concerns around a person impeding an investigation by tampering with data. It provides broader protections to victims of child exploitation material. It requires the Commissioner of Police to provide an annual report to the Attorney-General detailing the number of applications, whether they were granted, urgent applications, the types of offences, description of devices and the charges laid. It requires the ICAC to provide an annual report to the Attorney-General detailing the same, and it provides for statutory review of this entire bill.

Although the full extent and nature of the sexual exploitation of children is only beginning to be recognised, it is a problem of global significance that requires strong and effective responses. The extent to which the viewing of child exploitation material is linked to involvement in producing such material, sharing it and using it to groom and then assault children is a very grave concern. I commend the Marshall Liberal government and the Attorney-General for this bill to protect our state's most vulnerable people.