AUSTRALIA
Australian IT
Kate Legge
DECEMBER 30, 2004
AUSTRALIANS believe access to pornography is easier now, despite a crackdown on internet predators who exploit and abuse children.
A recent Newspoll conducted for The Australian found 81 per cent of adults believe it is now easier to access pornography compared with five to 10 years ago, as internet take-up rates continue to multiply.
These perceptions remain entrenched after a year of intense activity by police and governments to ban child pornography and penalise offenders.
Federal legislation introduced in August banned internet sex crimes perpetrated online and a nationwide crackdown on pornography, code-named Operation Auxin, targeted electronic trade in sexually explicit images.
Police, teachers, childcare workers, doctors and clergy were among those caught in Operation Auxin's net. By October, police had arrested 228 people, some possessing as many as 350,000 computer images of children, and involving a total of 2260 charges. Further warrants will be issued in the coming months.