Quick exit

A snapshot of the First Commonwealth Action Plan’s themes and measures

This content was initially created in 2022. Some information may no longer be current including titles of Ministers and Commonwealth Government Departments. You can find a list of current appointments on the Directory website.

The language we use has also changed from the initial terminology in the National Strategy. For a full list of the terminology we use, see our Glossary of terms page.

Theme 1: Awareness raising, education and building child safe cultures

Measures:

  1. Support strategic communication of the National Strategy and its outcomes
  2. Implement and promote the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework
  3. Improve child safeguarding in sport
  4. Prevent online harms and promote safe online practices for children and young people
  5. Deliver an annual digital industry summit to create new solutions for online harms
  6. Raise public awareness of the important role of the digital industry in combatting online harms

Theme 2: Supporting and empowering victims and survivors

Measures:

  1. Develop Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing approaches
  2. Expand the national specialist trauma-informed legal service
  3. Set up an online chat service to deliver free legal assistance services to children and young people experiencing or at risk of harm (including sexual abuse)
  4. Develop options to improve civil remedies for victims of Commonwealth child sexual abuse 
    offences
  5. Improve how sexual assault services work together through Primary Health Networks
  6. Make sure support services for victims and survivors in immigration detention remain available

Theme 3: Enhancing national approaches to children with harmful sexual behaviours

All actions for this theme fall under the First National Action Plan

Theme 4: Offender prevention and intervention

Measures:

  1. Strengthen Commonwealth child sexual abuse offences
  2. Conduct a scoping study and pilot service to prevent child sexual abuse re-offending
  3. Stop child abuse material and offenders at the Australian border
  4. Improve ways to find unknown child sex offenders at the border
  5. Strengthen financial intelligence efforts to disrupt the cash flow behind child sexual abuse
  6. Build in-roads with United States-based digital industry stakeholders and decision-makers
  7. Drive domestic engagement with industry on online harms
  8. Expand Australian Federal Police international operations
  9. Strengthen law and justice frameworks in the Indo-Pacific and South-East Asia regions
  10. Create a network of ThinkUKnow community officers
  11. Enhance child protection investigation in the Northern Territory
  12. Develop a technology detection dog program
  13. Strengthen Australia’s partnership with INTERPOL and United States Homeland Security 
    Investigations. Participate in the International Child Sexual Exploitation database
  14. Improve national ability to triage online child sexual abuse reports through the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation
  15. Look at options for an Australian Federal Police law enforcement database of online child sexual 
    abuse offenders
  16. Set up dedicated strike surge teams
  17. Enhance national technological capabilities concerning child sexual abuse
  18. Enhance the Commonwealth’s capacity to prosecute perpetrators

Theme 5: Improving the evidence base

Measures:

  1.  Use statistics to understand the nature and scale of Australians committing child sexual abuse offences
  2. Complete a survey of adult offenders
  3. Link data to help prevent and disrupt livestreamed child sexual abuse

Table of contents

First Commonwealth Action Plan to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2024

If you or a child are in immediate danger, call Triple Zero (000).

Information on reporting child safety concerns can be found on our Make a report page.

Get support

The information on this website may bring up strong feelings and questions for many people. There are many services available to assist you. A detailed list of support services is available on our Get support page.

Footer

Australian Government Logo

National Office for Child Safety (NOCS)

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Custodians of Australia and pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We acknowledge their ongoing connection to land, sea and communities throughout Australia, and their contributions to the lives of all Australians. We pay respect to the Ngunnawal people and other people and families with connections to the Australian Capital Territory where the National Office is based.

Accessibility | Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy | Security | Sitemap