Skip to content
Crime, Government Federal

Government cracks down on child sexual exploitation online

IJM Australia 2 mins read

 

International Justice Mission (IJM) Australia congratulates the Communications Minister for strengthening Australia’s Basic Online Safety Expectations (BOSE) to better protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse.

Commencing today, the BOSE Amendment Determination includes new provisions that require tech companies operating in Australia to design products and services with child safety in mind before rolling them out in the Australian market.

IJM Australia Country Director, David Braga, stated, “IJM applauds the Minister for including a new requirement for digital service providers operating in Australia to undertake child safety risk assessments and ensure that identified risks are appropriately mitigated.”

“The additional requirement for service providers to invest in systems, tools and processes to improve the prevention and detection of unlawful material or activity on services is much needed.

“Tech companies are best placed to develop tools to improve prevention and detection efforts, especially for more tricky forms of exploitation to detect such as the livestreaming of child sexual abuse,” Mr Braga stated.

IJM welcomes the additional expectation that service providers will take reasonable steps to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in the design and operation of any service that is likely to be accessed by children but notes this new expectation should be expanded.

“IJM is hopeful that an expanded focus of the best interest of the child will include children who are involuntarily exposed to digital services, as part of the Government’s response to the Online Safety Act review currently underway,” said Mr Braga.

“This would further protect children around the world who are exposed to products and services like webcams, streaming services, messaging platforms and social media for the purposes of online sexual exploitation at the direction of Australian offenders,” said Mr Braga.

IJM also welcomes the additional requirement for tech companies to share information to prevent and address illegal material or activity on their platforms, such as livestreamed child sexual abuse, and urges the Government to expand this requirement for tech companies to also collaborate with law enforcement agencies.

“IJM further encourages the Government to create a set of standard obligations for tech companies to swiftly provide robust digital evidence to law enforcement agencies during investigations of suspected child sexual abuse,” Mr Braga stated.

“Overall, the BOSE Amendment Determination marks a significant improvement in the protection of children around the world from online sexual exploitation by Australian offenders. IJM congratulates the Australian Government and Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland, on this important milestone.” Mr Braga said.


Contact details:

Briony Camp bcamp@ijm.org.au 0468 308 696

Media

More from this category

  • CharitiesAidWelfare, Government Federal
  • 07/02/2025
  • 15:06
Community Housing Industry Association

CHIA welcomes allocation of grants to improve veteran housing

CHIA welcomes allocation of grants to improve veteran housing The Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) has welcomed the allocation of $30 million in federal government funding to address veteran housing and homelessness. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs today announced 13 grants have been awarded to 10 ex-service organisations and veteran-aware Community Housing Providers as part of the Veterans’ Acute Housing Program. Part of this money is being funded by the Housing Australia Future Fund, and will include $24 million in capital works to bolster the availability of crisis and transitional housing, while another $6 million will go towards addressing risk…

  • Government Federal
  • 06/02/2025
  • 15:51
Catholic Health Australia

Catholic Health Australia welcomes the federal government’s $1.7bn funding of public hospitals

Comments attributable to Jason Kara, Catholic Health Australia CEO:Catholic Health Australia welcomes the federal government’s $1.7bn funding of public hospitals.The single-year funding deal will create the space for Government to properly negotiate the next 5-year national health reform agreement.This is new investment in our national health system and the funding will directly support people in need across the entire health system. We congratulate the Government on this step.In the years ahead, it's importantthat the Commonwealth, States and Territories, and other key health stakeholders get that national agreement right. As a first principle, we must be cognisant of shifting clinical practices…

  • Education Training, Government Federal
  • 06/02/2025
  • 08:18
Parliament of Australia

From Classroom to Community: Strengthening civics education

Recommendations for strengthened and standardised civics education for Australian students have been made by theJoint Standing Committee on Electoral Mattersin its report,From Classroom to Community: Civics education and political participation in Australia. CommitteeChair,Senator the Hon Carol Brown said ‘Australia’s system of compulsory voting means that all Australians need to be informed to participate in our democracy and elections. This is particularly important at a time where democracies around the world, including Australia, are facing rising disengagement, distrust, and misinformation and disinformation in a complex online information environment. ‘The Committee heard clear evidence that the quality of formal civics education varies…

Media Outreach made fast, easy, simple.

Feature your press release on Medianet's News Hub every time you distribute with Medianet. Pay per release or save with a subscription.