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During these school holidays, children will spend more time online, potentially unsupervised.

This will expose them to distressing, harmful and violent content, inappropriate and unwanted contact, or online grooming and sextortion to produce child abuse material.

Education is the key to winning the battle, according to the crime agencies that have partnered this Summer to produce the “Child Online Safety Fact Sheet”.

It can be found at esafety.gov.au/parents/resources.

Crime Stoppers (NSW), the NSW Police Force, the eSafety Commissioner, and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), which is led by the Australian Federal Police, are taking a coordinated approach to safeguarding children.

They are doing this by ensuring parents, carers and educators understand and manage the challenges.

Detective Superintendent Jayne Doherty is the Commander of the NSW Police Sex Crimes Squad and Child Exploitation Internet Unit.

She believes society has to change the way it looks at children’s use of the internet.

“The internet is just like the real world. There are places your children can go by themselves and places you should go with your child,” she said.

“No matter what, you should always know who your kids are speaking to online and ensure they are prepared for what they may encounter and who to turn to if something bad happens.

“Crime Stoppers CEO Peter Price, warns that there are no boundaries when it comes to sexual offenders online and there is no single demographic targeted.

“What is common is children being alone online and not having the knowledge or maturity to understand or manage the online space.”

“Our priority for our most vulnerable will always be prevention.”

eSafety Deputy Commissioner Toby Dagg said that, “helping children navigate the online world is probably the most important thing parents and carers can do.”

eSafety recently released nationally representative data of Australian children aged between eight and twelve-years-old. It reveals:

– 84 percent have used social media and messaging services since the beginning of the year.

– 93 percent of twelve-year-olds used social media before reaching the current official age for social media entry.

– 80 percent of children with a current social media or messaging account had help in setting it up.

– Of these, 90 percent said they had assistance from a parent or carer.

ACCCE and Human Exploitation Commander Helen Schneider said the holiday season was often busy for parents and carers, but “having open and honest conversations can help your child understand the risks and confide in a trusted adult if they are faced with unsafe situations online.

“When something happens, young people should seek help as soon as possible and know that, with help, they can make it stop.”

If it does happen there are three key steps:

1. Collect evidence. Get screenshots or photos of the conversation/s. Record details such as profiles, usernames and URLs.

2. Block the user and report it on the platform where the contact occurred.

3. Report it as soon as possible to ACCCE. Details can be found at accce.gov.au/report

Case studies

The consequences of not prioritising prevention are painfully real. Documented case studies include:

– A 13-year-old female was playing an online game and was talking to a person in the in-game chat. The person manipulated the girl to continue talking on another platform and then tricked her into performing acts with no clothes on. Source: Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

– A 15-year-old male joined a video call on a messaging app from someone they thought was a person their own age. The boy was tricked into sending images of himself with no clothes on, and the other person started to blackmail the boy for money, threatening to share the images with his family. Source: Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

– A 12-year-old child received a request on Instagram to follow an unknown person who posed as an 18-year-old. This person groomed the child over a three-week period and asked for information such as their age and address. The child shared self-generated child sexual exploitation material, which was then posted across a platform’s public group chat dedicated to displaying such material. eSafety reported the material to the platform, the material was removed, and the group chat was suspended for violating the platform’s Terms of Service. Source: eSafety.

By Sue STEPHENSON