The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) has released the results of its market research into community awareness of online child sexual exploitation, revealing just 21 per cent of parents believe online abuse could happen to their child.
Led by the Australian Federal Police, the ACCCE represents a commitment to tackling online child exploitation by employing a collaborative national approach.
Manager of the ACCCE, Marina Simoncini said the research was an important step in understanding the current landscape in Australia in order to develop effective evidence-based prevention initiatives.
“Education and prevention plays a critical role to counter the ever-increasing number of child exploitation reports received each year,” Ms Simoncini said.
“Law enforcement can’t be everywhere at once and the ThinkUKnow program, working together with the ACCCE, represents a holistic approach to fighting this crime,” she said.
“By working closely with our partners across the Australian community, we aim to help parents and carers, and children, understand what to look out for, in the hope that we can reduce the amount of offences against children.”
Ms Simoncini said that despite around 17,000 reports of online child sexual exploitation being reported to the ACCCE in 2019, the Australian-first research found the majority of parents didn’t think it could happen to them.
She said the research also showed the issue of online child sexual exploitation remains stigmatised, with 21 per cent of parents or carers feeling online child sexual exploitation is too “repulsive” or “sickening” to think about.
“Further findings highlighted that current preventative measures are reactive and inconsistent, with a need to provide effective education and awareness materials to families,” Ms Simoncini said.
She said the ThinkUKnow program was in its 11th year and was Australia’s first and only nationally-delivered, law enforcement-led online child safety program.
