With Justice Minister Chris Ellison saying it was important for the Internet not to become “a pipeline of depravity,” Australia’s Parliament has passed a packet of laws enabling Australian law enforcement to trap pedophiles using the Net to groom or lure children for sex.
"The grooming offenses will enable the Australian Federal Police to interact with and arrest Internet predators before they abuse children and before they use Internet chatrooms to expand their evil web," said Ellison in an August 31 statement, shortly after the laws were passed.
Under these laws, adults found using the Net to lure children under 16 years old for sex face as long as 15 years in prison, while using the Internet to obtain or send child porn will mean up to ten years in prison. Australian authorities believe that 80 percent of the child porn seized in the country is distributed online.
"It is vital,” Ellison’s statement continued, “that as our children become more technically adept, they are protected from those who use the Internet and mobile phones for predatory and abusive ends."
