Mr  J. BULL (Sunbury) — It is a pleasure to see the member for Essendon in the chair.|
I rise to contribute to the debate on the Crimes Amendment (Child Pornography and Other Matters) Bill 2015. Essentially this bill is about toughening up on those who deal in, access, distribute and share child pornography images. It is not a pleasure to be speaking on this bill. As other members have noted, in an ideal world members would not like to be debating it. All members in this house realise that these evil, despicable acts have no place in society, and they are the ultimate betrayal of children. However, the reality is that there are some who commit these very serious acts. As a society, as a state and as a Parliament, we need to be able to deal with these matters as they arise.

As I have noted, the bill toughens up on the offences of administering, dealing or assisting in relation to child pornography. In Victoria, the Crimes Act 1958 defines child pornography as ‘a film, photograph, publication or computer game that describes or depicts a person who is, or appears to be’ a person aged under 18 years ‘engaging in sexual activity or depicted in an indecent sexual manner or context’. Examples of child pornography include depictions of a naked child or a child in a sexual pose. These are very serious and very disturbing matters that we are dealing with.

In Victoria there are currently four child pornography offences, and these relate to the production of child pornography, the procurement of a minor for child pornography, possession of child pornography and the publication or transmission of child pornography. Essentially the purposes of this bill are: to introduce three new child pornography offences that deal with administering a child pornography website, to increase the maximum penalty for possessing child pornography to 10 years imprisonment, to provide the use of random sample evidence in proceedings for a child pornography offence and lastly to give magistrates the power to issue a search warrant that allows police to direct a person to assist in accessing the data on a computer.

This is yet another example of the Parliament’s role in responding to advances and leaps in technology, especially over the last 10 years. I remember that when I was in grade 6 at Sunbury Heights Primary School a class of 25 students shared one computer. It was set up at the back of the room and people would take turns going down to use it. It was not one of the original Apple Macintosh computers, but it was one of the early models. We would go down there in pairs, and we would have an hour’s use of the computer. It would be fantastic. We would play some games and look at some educational material. It was very exciting. At that time it would have been hard to imagine that in 2015 we would have mobile devices, laptops, computers, satellite navigation technology and access to the internet — all of these things that are available at the touch of a button.

What we see through that is that this greater access to data and this greater access to the internet is a fantastic thing for the majority of people who do the right thing and who follow the law. We only need to look at the educational and health settings and look at all forms of public and private employment to see that great advances in technology have brought us a long way. To those who commit cybercrime, we know that the negative side to this greater access to information is that people can access these pornographic images wherever and whenever they like. As a result, we know that these images are being distributed, accessed and used in a number of very nasty ways. Obviously the Parliament has to deal with these things.

I am very proud to speak on this bill, but it is certainly not a bill that brings members any pleasure. It is one that in many respects we wish we did not have to have, but that is the reality. With those comments I commend the bill to the house.