First charges laid under Carly’s Law

In an Australian first, police have used Carly’s Law to arrest and charge a South Australian man with planning to abuse children.

This is a milestone moment in our ongoing work to give young Australians greater protection in the online world, and comes just two months after we passed this important law.

Carly’s Law shows zero tolerance to adults who prey on the most vulnerable in our community, our children. It gives police the power to act before a predator has the chance to harm a child.

The 35-year-old man from the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide allegedly lied about his age and gender to groom children for sexual activity.

The man has been charged with one count of using a carriage service to prepare or plan to cause harm to, engage in sexual activity with, or procure for sexual activity, persons under 16 years of age.

He was charged by police from the South Australian Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team yesterday, and was already in custody having been charged on July 25 with 12 other offences related to child exploitation.

He will appear in court today.  If convicted, he will face up to 10 years imprisonment for the Carly’s Law offence alone.

This Government passed Carly’s Law on 16 June 2017, arming police with more power to put online predators before the court to answer for their actions.

Carly’s Law is a result of the tireless efforts of Sonya Ryan, who advocated for this law since her 15 year old daughter Carly was murdered a decade ago by an online predator posing as a teenage boy.

Carly’s Law targets online predators preparing or planning to cause harm, to, procure or engage in sexual activity with a child. Importantly, it targets predators who misrepresent their age.

Carly’s Law continues the Coalition Government’s commitment to better protecting young Australians, including the passage of legislation to cancel the passports of convicted child sex offenders and the ongoing work of the Australian Federal Police’s ThinkUKnow program.