News Centre

As part of National Child Protection Week 2024, the AFP is launching a series of media releases focusing on child protection, which will include crime trends, profiles on operational areas working to keep children safe and tips for parents and carers to help protect children online.

Every year National Child Protection Week aims to promote a safe and supported life for every child, now and into the future, and this year’s theme is ‘every conversation matters’.

The theme aims to encourage the community to engage in important conversations around child protection, promote the value of conversations in keeping children safe, and aims to educate and equip parents and carers with the resources to support children to safely navigate the online world.

The media releases will highlight the concerning increase in reports to the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) about child sexual exploitation and abuse, profile the vital work of the Victim Identification Unit; and cover the ongoing threat of sextortion to young Australians, among other child protection issues facing the community.

Some of the media releases will contain a hightail link for grabs for radio and TV, and images for print.

For media interviews, please email: media@afp.gov.au.

More information on National Child Protection Week and how to get involved can be found at the National Association for Prevention of Child abuse and Neglect website.

The AFP and its partners are committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse and the ACCCE is driving a collaborative national approach to combatting child abuse.

The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supporting investigations into online child sexual exploitation and developing prevention strategies focused on creating a safer online environment.

Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE. If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately on 000.

If you or someone you know is impacted by child sexual abuse and online exploitation, support services are available.

Research conducted by the ACCCE in 2020 revealed only about half of parents talked to their children about online safety. Advice and support for parents and carers about how they can help protect children online can be found at the ThinkUKnow website, an AFP-led education program designed to prevent online child sexual exploitation.

For more information on the role of the ACCCE, what is online child sexual exploitation and how to report it visit the ACCCE website.

Note to media

Use of term 'CHILD ABUSE' MATERIAL not ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims.

Use of the phrase ‘child pornography’ is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• • • indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and
    • conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.