Australian Government must fast-track digital duty of care legislation to better protect children online
International Justice Mission Australia
29 June 2026
The Parliamentary Friends Against Sexual Abuse and Exploitation will today host a flagship event in Parliament House Canberra aimed at raising awareness of the prevalence of child sexual abuse, and the policy settings needed to effectively deter these crimes.
IJM Australia CEO David Braga will join a panel at the event with other stakeholders and specifically discuss challenges around the livestreaming of child sexual abuse and the urgent need for stronger laws.
Mr Braga said the Australian Government must expedite its digital duty of care legislation that would require tech companies to proactively detect, disrupt and prevent livestreamed child sexual abuse on their platforms and smart devices.
“Livestreamed child sexual abuse is one of the fastest growing and least detected forms of child abuse globally,” Mr Braga said.
“Australia’s Online Safety Act is not fit-for-purpose. Most tech companies are not preventing offenders from using everyday apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to access and direct the live sexual abuse of children in their video call services - often in countries like the Philippines.
“Big tech companies have significant influence but aren’t above the law. If they are unwilling to voluntarily crack down on livestreamed abuse, then they must be compelled to do so under legislation.
“Apple now offers a service blocking nude imagery for children on several of its own apps including FaceTime and iMessage. Although the new features don’t extend far enough to protect children from being sexually exploited on adult accounts, it demonstrates that tools are available to address these challenges.”
The eSafety Commissioner’s transparency reporting regime has uncovered that most tech companies are still not detecting and disrupting live online child sexual exploitation and abuse despite years of warnings, world-leading industry regulations, and technology that already exists to do so all while preserving user privacy.
“The Government has shown its willingness to be a world-leader with the social media age verification laws,” Mr Braga said.
“The recent announcement to boost the eSafety Commissioner’s powers and increase penalties for non-compliance continues to emphasise the responsibility technology platforms must take for the social harms on their products and their services.
“It’s time to deliver on the next tranche of reforms, which includes a digital duty of care.
“This isn’t a new proposal. The independent report following the review of the Online Safety Act in February 2025 recommended a digital duty of care, which the Australian Government committed to in November 2024.
“The UK Government announced plans earlier this month for big tech companies like Apple and Google to activate built-in features or implement technical solutions on smartphones and tablets to detect and block nude images for children.
“We acknowledge the Australian Government has committed to introducing legislation for a digital duty of care, but this must be prioritised. Australia should be a world leader in this space as well.
“We thank Senators Kerrynne Liddle and Varun Ghosh for hosting this important event and their commitment to combating online harm.
“These issues are above politics and should be approached in a bipartisan manner. Today is a great example of that and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with all sides of politics to ensure children are afforded safety and protection.”
IJM’s Scale of Harm study found that, in 2022, 1 in 100 Filipino children were trafficked to produce new child sexual abuse material. Data from the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council shows that Australia consistently ranks as the #2 or #3 purchaser of this content. The deployment of AI classifiers trained to detect and then block child sexual abuse material would stop this illegal content from being able to be seen on Australian devices.
Other panellists today include Professor Michael Salter (UNSW), Georgia Naldrett (Jesuit Social Services), Danielle Kelly (ICMEC Australia) and Youth Advocate Amelia Ayris.
Media contact – William Sparling [email protected] 0416 628 276