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SUMMARY AND LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

The information presented to the Committee can be summarised as follows.

• Most sexual offences against children are committed by their relatives and neighbours who are not paedophiles in the strict sense of the term and who do not operate in any organised or networked way.
• While very small paedophile-support groups operated openly in Australia in the 1980s, there is no evidence that they currently do so.
• There is no evidence to suggest that organised paedophile groups have ever resembled what are traditionally thought of as "organised crime" groups in size, aims, structures, methods, longevity and so forth. Many paedophiles offend in isolation. To the extent that two or more paedophiles group together to commit offences, the numbers involved have almost invariably been very small and the groupings very much ad hoc and on a peer-to-peer basis.
• More commonly, where there are contacts between paedophile offenders, they consist of loose informal networks of peer-to-peer contacts.
• There is no evidence of any commercial production of illegal child pornography in Australia. Most of the current illegal material that undoubtedly is possessed by many paedophiles appears to be made by them, obtained by informal trading of home-made material amongst paedophiles assisted by informal networking, or obtained from overseas.
• There is no evidence of any current organised promotion or arrangement of tours by Australian paedophiles to overseas destinations known to be attractive to them. However, informal networking among paedophiles may assist some tourists going overseas to commit paedophile offences. (para. 3.85)

The Committee RECOMMENDS that:

(i) the Minister for Justice raise with the Australasian Police Ministers' Council the issue of how the improved flow of information on paedophile offenders and suspects between Australian law enforcement agencies can best be achieved, and in particular:

• whether enhancing the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence's database is the most appropriate avenue along which to proceed; and
• whether formal agreements between relevant law enforcement agencies on information sharing should be put in place. (para. 4.14)

(ii) the Minister for Justice take up with the Australasian Police Ministers' Council the need to ensure as a matter of priority that all Australian law enforcement agencies act collectively to equip themselves with the necessary training, the access to specialist expertise, and the access to specialised software and hardware tools needed to keep them abreast of actual and potential use of computers by paedophiles for the purposes of record-keeping, networking and accessing child pornography. (para. 4.44)

(iii) the Minister for Justice take steps to ensure that Australian law enforcement agencies contribute to and draw on the expertise and software tools of overseas law enforcement agencies. (para. 4.46)

(iv) the Minister for Justice explore the possibility of establishing a single, well-publicised, e-mail address accessible through the Internet to which computer users can report any indications they come across of computer distribution of child pornography. (para. 4.49)

(v) the Government takes steps to improve the arrangements between the Thai Police and the Australian Federal Police with a view to improving the detection and prosecution of Australian child sex tourists. (para. 4.59)

(vi) the Government take steps to ensure that all its personnel working overseas in countries believed to be attractive to visiting Australian paedophiles are made aware that any information that they happen to come across about the illegal activities of such paedophiles should be reported to the Australian Federal Police. The Committee further recommends that similar steps be taken in relation to the personnel of non-government aid and other organisations funded in whole or in part by the Australian Government. (para. 4.60)

(vii) the Government seek treaty relationships with the Cambodian and other South-East Asian Governments to assist in the detection and obtaining of evidence to enable the prosecution of Australians committing child-sex offences in those countries. (para. 4.62)

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