Research insights on child sexual abuse material offending among Australian adults
2024-02-22 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | online, Hosted virtually by ICMEC Australia via Microsoft Teams.
While official reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) have grown rapidly in recent years, less is known about how commonly CSAM is viewed and by whom, due largely to the hidden nature of such offending.

ICMEC Australia’s February Monthly Brown Bag event features new insights from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC). Our presenter, Dr Rick Brown, will discuss the recent large-scale study by the AIC which explored the extent to which Australian adults intentionally viewed CSAM. Rick will also unpack the demographic factors that distinguished those who viewed the material and offer potential explanations and implications.

Registrations close on Tuesday, 20th February at 5pm (AEDT).

Dr Rick Brown is the Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, where he oversees the day-to-day work of the Institute. He has been a criminologist for over 30 years and has worked on a wide range of crime and justice research projects in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Australia. He has published over 80 government reports, book chapters and journal articles, and recently published his first book, with Routledge, Eliminating online child sexual abuse material. Rick is also on the editorial boards of several academic journals.

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Stop It Now! Australia: The power of child sexual abuse perpetrator prevention services
2024-05-08 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | online, Hosted virtually by ICMEC Australia via Microsoft Teams.
Discussions around child sexual exploitation (CSE) frequently revolve around identifying and responding to instances of abuse. However, what can we do to prevent perpetration?

In 2023, the University of NSW (UNSW), in partnership with Jesuit Social Services, released the first national representative study, Identifying and understanding child sexual offending behaviour and attitudes among Australian men. The study found around one in six (15.1%) Australian men reported sexual feelings towards children. Of these, 29.6% of them wanted help for these feelings, representing a shocking 4.5% of Australian men.

This month’s Brown Bag will focus on the importance of secondary prevention efforts in the fight to end child sexual abuse. Presented by Georgia Naldrett and Dee Nicholas from Stop It Now! Australia (an initiative of Jesuit Social Services), the session will provide a brief history of perpetration prevention, findings from their 2023 perpetration prevalence study with UNSW, and how they relate to Stop It Now!’s work. Georgia and Dee will also explore emerging trends from the perpetrator prevalence study and working with perpetrators via the Stop It Now! Australia helpline, including what we know about their online behaviour (e.g. use of cryptocurrency, pornography use etc.).

Registrations close on Monday, 27th May at 12pm (AEST).

About Stop It Now!

Stop it Now! is a program that offers an anonymous helpline, chat and web resources for people concerned about their own sexual thoughts and behaviours towards children, or for people concerned about the thoughts or behaviours of others. ICMEC Australia recently partnered with Jesuit Social Services to support the expansion and development of this prevention program in Australia.

Your Speakers

Georgia Naldrett is the Stop It Now! Australia Manager within The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services. Within this role she applies her psychological and practice knowledge of sexual offending and child protection to aid in the prevention of child sexual abuse, including leading the Stop It Now! helpline. Georgia is a psychology graduate with a BSc (hons) in Psychology and a MSc in Forensic Psychology from the UK. She has been employed in a variety of psychology roles where she developed her learning and application of rehabilitation and prevention, including previously working at The Lucy Faithfull Foundation in the UK.

Dee Nicholas is the Senior Practitioner at Stop It Now! Australia, where she uses her academic and practice experience and knowledge of offender rehabilitation and prevention to provide support, advice and psychoeducation to prevent child sexual abuse. She holds a BSc in Psychology and a MSc in Forensic Psychology from Newcastle University, UK. Dee has previously worked at Stop It Now! UK where she gained extensive knowledge of child protection and sexual offending, and has worked in a variety of forensic and clinical settings.

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A holistic human rights approach to fighting child sexual exploitation in a financial institution
2024-06-27 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | online, Hosted virtually by ICMEC Australia via Microsoft Teams.
Within financial institutions, the financial crime team usually plays a leading role in fighting child sexual exploitation. However, due to this crime type's complexity and ever-evolving nature, a more holistic approach to child safeguarding and protection across financial organisations is needed. This approach creates greater meaningful change, not just within the company, but for the benefit of its customers and our broader society.

This month’s Brown Bag will showcase how Westpac Group has adopted a human rights lens above and beyond their financial crime work to proactively address child exploitation. Westpac’s efforts are led by a core mission to prevent exploitation from occurring in the first place. Their work focuses on strengthening human rights due diligence using a Safety by Design approach and raising awareness in collaboration with other partners and businesses.

Presented by Dr Kavitha Suthanthiraraj and Natasha Menezes from Westpac Group’s Human Rights and Social Programs team, the session will cover how Westpac used a human rights approach in designing the Safer Children, Safer Communities program, publishing their first Child Safeguarding Position Statement in 2021 (a first for an Australian bank), and how they continue to embed their child safeguarding commitments as part of their broader human rights program.

Please join us for this valuable session to hear Westpac Group share innovative strategies and tangible solutions to assist your organisation in its fight against CSE.

About Westpac’s Safer Children, Safer Communities program

The Safer Children, Safer Communities program involves a series of actions and investments designed to make a meaningful impact on child safety and protection. The program is delivered in Australia and across the Asia Pacific.

For more information on Westpac’s Safer Children, Safer Communities program, please visit their website.

Your Speakers

Dr Kavitha Suthanthiraraj, Head of ESG, Human Rights and Social Programs at Westpac, has over 20 years of experience in strategy, policy and sustainability roles across corporates, international non-profits, and academic institutions. Joining Westpac in June 2020, Kavitha established and led the Safer Children, Safer Communities work program, and currently heads up a portfolio of human rights and social programs, including modern slavery reporting. With a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Kavitha has published articles and reports across a range of human rights issues and has worked on several policy and advocacy initiatives during her career.

Natasha Menezes, Executive Manager of Social Programs at Westpac, has over 10 years’ experience in sustainability, human rights, and policy areas across consulting, corporates, and the not-for-profit sector. In 2021, Natasha led the development of Westpac’s Child Safeguarding Position Statement and is currently focused on driving a cross-industry child safeguarding business coalition to share Westpac’s learnings with other Australian businesses. Her career spans a range of human-rights-focused work, climate change, sustainability strategy, modern slavery, and sustainability reporting.

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This session will not be recorded, so please join us live to ensure you don’t miss out on this valuable webinar.

Using internet-based open sources – intelligence or information: it depends
2024-07-25 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | online, Hosted virtually by ICMEC Australia via Microsoft Teams.
July’s Monthly Brown Bag session will be presented by Warren Bulmer, Head of Data Products at ICMEC Australia. Warren will draw on his law enforcement experience to provide tools that can enhance the work organisations do in detecting, investigating, and reporting child sexual exploitation, particularly in online environments.

People today cannot help but leave a digital trail wherever they navigate on the Internet or use any technology with their devices. Where that data is stored, how it is accessed or found, and what it can reveal manifests into hundreds of variables. Equally, those variables determine the tools and methodologies needed to search for and analyse Internet-based information, as well as facilitate the assessment of the levels of privacy expected or, in many cases, misunderstood by the person who owns the information.

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) has become a mainstream buzzword, but in reality, most researchers, journalists and investigators are just collecting information, which is called OSINF. It becomes intelligence when processes or structures are applied to the collection of information, such as ethics, authentication or verification, analysis, reporting, and dissemination. This session will focus on tips, tricks, and tools to find information about online identities or artefacts worthy of actioning into intelligence, depending on what purpose it serves.

Your Speaker

Warren Bulmer, Head of Data Products at ICMEC Australia, collaborates with industry to create innovative technological solutions to make the world a safer place for children. A retired Detective Constable with 30 years at the Toronto Police Service specialising in criminal investigations, Warren has extensive experience in fighting against child sexual exploitation and sharing this knowledge with other professionals. Warren has been an international instructor in computer and internet-facilitated crime, having lectured over 7,000 judges, prosecutors, and police from 39 different countries to date. He has also taught at the United Nations in Thailand; the Canadian Police College; the Ontario Police College; and at Humber College, where he instructed students in conducting online investigations and open-source intelligence techniques (OSINT). Warren also worked for the Australian Federal Police as a Product Manager for three years, where he helped build technical capabilities for the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE).

Register for this event

This session will not be recorded, so please join us live to ensure you don’t miss out on this valuable webinar.

Registrations for this event have closed.

Please contact us at event@icmec.org.au for further enquiries.

Connecting the dots - modern slavery, child exploitation, and preventing harm to customers
2024-08-29 00:30 - 13:30 UTC
Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is often viewed and managed in isolation, despite its deep interconnection with other human impact crimes, like modern slavery. This siloed approach can limit our effectiveness in addressing the full range of these interrelated issues.

As organisations increasingly focus on minimising the risks of modern slavery through efforts prompted by the Modern Slavery Act, there is a significant and urgent opportunity to extend this same vigilance to protecting customers, particularly children, from harm. Regulatory changes and evolving stakeholder expectations are also intensifying, with customer outcomes critical to maintaining a social licence to operate.

Our August Brown Bag will shed light on how organisations can leverage existing modern slavery efforts for broader harm minimisation. Drawing on lessons learned across industries, this session will discuss embedding safety principles in the design, development, and deployment of products and services. Featuring Sarah Minahan and Gemma Livingston, Directors of KPMG’s Human Rights and Social Impact services in Australia and New Zealand, the discussion will explore specialist insights, real-world case studies, and practical actions to help keep some of your most vulnerable customers - children - safe.

Your Speakers

Sarah Minahan, Director, Human Rights and Social Impact at KPMG, works with clients to embed human rights and modern slavery due diligence into their operations and supply chains. As KPMG’s Social ESG Lead in Financial Services, she has extensive experience in supporting managers in financial service institutions, as well as broader sectors such as energy, telecommunications, retail, and more. Sarah specialises in risk control design and implementation, stakeholder engagement, risk and social impact strategy, sustainability reporting, and impact measurement.

Gemma Livingston leads KPMG’s Human Rights and Social Impact offerings in New Zealand. Specialising in human rights due diligence, Gemma works with clients to identify and address human rights and modern slavery risks across their business operations and supply chains. With a background in commercial and criminal litigation and experience in the public, private, and community sectors in New Zealand and Australia, Gemma brings a wealth of knowledge to working with financial institutions to incorporate safety principles in areas like child exploitation, modern slavery, financial abuse, and more.

Register for this event

This session will not be recorded, so please join us live to ensure you don’t miss out on this valuable webinar.

Registrations for this event have closed.

Please contact us at event@icmec.org.au for further enquiries.

AI in the fight against child exploitation: Global perspectives and solutions
2024-09-19 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | online, Hosted virtually by ICMEC Australia via Microsoft Teams.
As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, it presents both challenges and opportunities in protecting children from exploitation. Our September Brown Bag will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be harnessed to enhance efforts in preventing and combatting online child sexual abuse by looking at a pioneering initiative led by the World Childhood Foundation.

Susanne Drakborg from the World Childhood Foundation will provide in-depth insights into their Stella Polaris project, which combines child rights with AI to create a coordinated, multi-layered approach to combatting child sexual abuse. By fostering collaboration between the technology sector, the judiciary, and child rights organisations, Stella Polaris aims to accelerate the development and implementation of AI solutions that can make meaningful impact in the fight against this heinous crime.

The session will discuss the importance of a global solution to a worldwide problem as we navigate child protection in the age of AI, what we can learn from the data-driven approaches of our international counterparts here in Australia, and what transparency, fairness, and innovation looks like when using AI to bolster child protection efforts. Susanne will share insights from successful AI solutions and offer practical suggestions for how you can be a part of the fight against online child sexual abuse, whether you work in child protection, law enforcement, technology, or policy-making.

Your Speaker

Susanne Drakborg, Senior Programs Manager at World Childhood Foundation, works globally to prevent child sexual abuse. Susanne has led the World Childhood Foundation’s Child Safety Online program for the past 17 years, and is the team lead for Stella Polaris – a hub exploring and supporting how Artificial Intelligence can help combat child sexual abuse. A lawyer by education and a multi-linguist, Ms Drakborg previously worked for the United Nations on HIV and AIDS issues and on civil-military coordination on behalf of the European Commission.

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Registrations for this event have now closed.

ICMEC Australia SaferAI for Children Summit
2024-10-29 09:00 - 17:00 UTC | KPMG Sydney, Level 38, Tower 3/300 Barangaroo Avenue, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Be a catalyst for change by joining us at the inaugural SaferAI for Children Summit. Engage in an important conversation about the manipulation of AI to harm children and explore ways to harness this technology for good.

The International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children Australia’s inaugural SaferAI for Children Summit is a one-day event dedicated to cross-industry innovation to navigate child protection in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, staying informed is crucial for crafting effective child protection responses. Unfortunately, the misuse of Generative AI by offenders to harm children is a growing concern. Offenders are increasingly manipulating GenAI tools to extend and amplify their abuse, resulting in illegal and harmful material. This issue demands urgent attention and action.

This discussion must extend beyond the harms of AI. This technology also holds significant potential to enhance our ability to protect children. ICMEC Australia’s SaferAI for Children Summit will explore the opportunities AI presents for child protection and emphasise the urgency for action in this space.

Child sexual abuse is undeniably one of society's most harmful crimes. It is our collective responsibility to do everything within our power to protect children from harm and prevent abuse. As the first summit of its kind in Australia, this event will be solutions-focused, highlighting the critical role AI plays in keeping our children safe.

Program

Speakers

This event is proudly supported by

If you are interested in becoming a supporter of this event, please contact Dannielle Kelly, Head of Capacity and Prevention, at dkelly@icmec.org.au

Event Details

Date: Tuesday 29 October 2024

Time: 8.45am - 4:00pm, followed by networking from 4:00pm - 5:00pm

This event is free of charge, noting the significance of this topic and ICMEC Australia's commitment to raising awareness of this critical issue.

This event will not be livestreamed. We ask that you only register if you are able to attend in-person in Sydney.

Who Should Attend?

This unique event is tailored to leaders from various sectors, including:

Law Enforcement - Gain insights into the role of other sectors to bolster investigations and results of cross-industry collaboration.

Artificial Intelligence and Tech Sector - Discover how innovation and technological solutions can contribute to a safer world for children.

Not-for-Profits - Connect with like-minded organisations and explore collaborative efforts.

Government - Understand policy implications and actionable strategies for integrating AI into child protection frameworks.

Academics - Dive into the latest research and future directions in AI and child protection.

Please note that due to limited spaces, registration is subject to approval.

What's on the Agenda?

Data-driven child protection: Balancing safety and privacy

AI’s influence on child sexual abuse: Victim-identification insights

The law enforcement perspective

From policy to practice

Corporate leadership & tech innovation in child protection

Bridging gaps and collaborating for impact

Who's Speaking?

His Excellency, Mr Gabriele VisentinEU Ambassador to AustraliaDelegation of the European Union to Australia

Ian McCartney APMActing CommissionerAustralian Federal Police

Adèle DesirsVictim Identification AnalystArgos, Queensland Police

Paul GriffithsChild Victim Identification ManagerQueensland Police Service

Dr Catriona WallaceFounderResponsible Metaverse Alliance

Toby DaggGeneral Manager, Regulatory OperationseSafety Commissioner

Ashley KatzDirector, Child Protection International PartnershipsAttorney-General's Department

Jeannie PatersonCo-Director, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital EthicsUniversity of Melbourne

Grace TameAdvocate and FounderGrace Tame Foundation

Colm GannonNon-Executive ChairICMEC Australia

Jon Rouse APMNon-Executive Board MemberICMEC Australia

Mark DicksonExecutive Manager, Financial CrimeWestpac

Ryan BlackDirector of Government Affairs, ANZMicrosoft

Simon Fogarty APMSergeant, Team Leader - Intelligence Team/Victim Identification TeamVictoria Police

Campbell WilsonCo-Director, AiLECS LabMonash University

Sean LittonPresident and CEOTechnology Coalition

Mia GarlickSenior Regional Director, PolicyMeta

Dr Rebecca PortnoffVice President, Data ScienceThorn

Dr Joel ScanlanSenior LecturerUniversity of Tasmania

Sue BradfordPartner - Audit, Assurance & Risk Consulting, ForensicKPMG Australia

Danielle KellyHead of Capacity and PreventionICMEC Australia

Timothy GoodrickDirector, ForensicKPMG Australia

Rosie CampoActing CEOICMEC Australia

Register for the Event

Registrations for this event have now closed.

Please contact us at event@icmec.org.au for further enquiries.

About ICMEC Australia

ICMEC Australia serves as a crucial advocate and resource in the fight against online child sexual exploitation (CSE). We are boldly confronting this issue when most would rather avoid it. Alongside our coalition of partners, we strive to proactively halt and prevent its occurrence.

At ICMEC Australia, we're turning the use of online technology to exploit children on its head. We support frontline workers in combatting child sexual abuse by leveraging technology and data-driven strategies to detect, report, prosecute, and prevent child exploitation.

Our mission is clear: to support and strengthen the professionals who detect, report, prosecute and prevent online CSE. As an independent not-for-profit organisation, we collaborate with various stakeholders, such as financial services and corporate entities, law enforcement, policymakers, academics, and NGOs, to develop strategies to protect children from harm.

ICMEC Australia Symposium 2024: Vigilant Disruption of Child Sexual Exploitation
2024-10-30 09:00 - 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Norton Rose Fulbright Office, Level 5, 60 Martin Place, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
We are proud to present our second symposium event in Sydney, the ICMEC Australia Symposium 2024: Vigilant Disruption of Child Sexual Exploitation.

This valuable in-person event is dedicated to combatting online-facilitated child sexual exploitation (CSE), uniting senior leaders from various sectors within the CSE response landscape.

At the forefront of discussions will be the urgent need for interdisciplinary collaboration in confronting this abhorrent crime. From organisations inadvertently entangled in CSE to those actively fighting it on the front lines, a collective response is imperative in tackling this ever-evolving threat.

The ICMEC Australia Symposium 2024 will invite leaders from sectors such as financial services, cryptocurrency, travel, telecommunications, and ISPs to come together with law enforcement and other key stakeholders from the public sector to explore how collaboration can strengthen public-private partnerships in fighting and preventing CSE.

The event will dive into practical knowledge attendees can leverage around identifying, detecting, reporting, and preventing CSE to strengthen their organisation’s fulfilment of regulatory and social obligations. Attendees will also walk away with a better understanding of how to navigate the steps forward; equipped with tools, resources, and connections to bolster the whole-of-system approach that is so desperately needed to fight this silent epidemic.

The audience

The Symposium is an invite-only event.

At ICMEC Australia, we highly value community engagement and embrace diverse perspectives. The event is designed for senior leaders in:

Corporate - from companies that are inadvertently affected by CSE, including

Financial crime

ESG (could include roles in social responsibility, risk management, and customer vulnerability)

Broader areas of financial services

Cryptocurrency

Travel

Telecommunications and ISPs

Law enforcement (high-ranking commissioned officers and specialist command officers)

Regulation

Academia

Government

Program

Speakers

Supporters

This event is proudly supported by the following organisations.

Major Supporter

Platinum Sponsor

Support the ICMEC Australia 2024 Symposium

If you are interested in becoming a supporter of this event, please contact us at event@icmec.org.au.

Event details

Date: Wednesday, 30 October, 2024

Time: 9:00am - 3:30pm Symposium, followed by networking from 3:30pm - 5:00pm

Featured speakers

More speakers will be announced soon.

Julie Inman GrantAustralian eSafety CommissionerOffice of the eSafety Commissioner

Jodie ArthurGeneral Manager of Financial CrimeWestpac and Group MLRO

Paul Jevtovic APM OAMChief Financial Crime Risk & Group MLRONational Australia Bank

Dr James CockayneNSW Anti-slavery CommissionerNSW Department of Communities and Justice

John FogartyExecutive General Manager, Financial Crime ComplianceCommonwealth Bank of Australia (Group MLRO)

Sue BradfordPartner - Audit, Assurance & Risk Consulting, ForensicKPMG Australia

Chris OwenPartner, ESG Group Chair, National Pro Bono Team LeaderNorton Rose Fulbright

Toby EvansHead of Economic CrimeAustralian Payments Network

Stefanie von WestphalenHead of Financial Crime Compliance/MLROING Bank Australia

Jeremy MollerRisk Advisory LawyerNorton Rose Fulbright

Colm GannonNon-Executive ChairICMEC Australia

Warren BulmerHead of Data ProductsICMEC Australia

Lynda McMillanHead of Payments RepresentationCommonwealth Bank of Australia

Timothy GoodrickDirector, ForensicKPMG Australia

Paul GriffithsChild Victim Identification ManagerQueensland Police Service

Scott RalphTeam Leader, Intelligence Fusion CellAustralian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE)

Jon Rouse APMNon-Executive Board MemberICMEC Australia

Dr Michael SalterDirectorChildlight UNSW

Christiane Gillespie-JonesDeputy CEOCommunications Alliance

Scott AtkinsAustralian Chair, Global Head of Restructuring, Head of Risk AdvisoryNorton Rose Fulbright Australia

Cheryl SeetoHead of Policy, AustraliaMeta

Marcus ElwingAML ManagerSwyftx

Craig RobertsonFinancial Crime and Compliance Expert (Asia Pacific)SymphonyAI

Register for the event

Registrations for this event have now closed.

Please contact us at event@icmec.org.au for further enquiries.

Op Blackwrist: Overcoming transaction laundering challenges
2025-02-26 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Op Blackwrist, led by INTERPOL, was an international cross-agency investigation prompted by the discovery of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a website which required a paid subscription.

The operation identified a network of offenders committing child sexual abuse, with some perpetrators travelling to Thailand to carry out the abuse. The heinous acts were then recorded and uploaded onto a website, where access to the material was commercialised and made available globally.

Tracking the consumption of the CSAM on the webpage posed a significant challenge to authorities, as access to the site and its content required a pay-per-view membership through an unregulated closed currency platform, TrueMoney.

Presented by ICMEC Australia’s new CEO Colm Gannon, who was an investigator on the case, our February Brown Bag will provide an overview of the operation. Colm’s presentation will focus on the challenges of closed currency platforms and how transaction laundering remains a key modus operandi for digital child trafficking in the commercialisation of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Your speaker

Colm Gannon, CEO of ICMEC Australia, is a seasoned professional with a strong commitment to child protection and extensive expertise in digital safety, cybercrime investigations, and software development. With 20 years in law enforcement, he has been involved in national and international investigations and prosecutions relating to online harms, child sexual exploitation, violent extremism, and harmful online communication.

Previously a Product Manager at Rigr AI involved in the software development process, policy development, and impact assessments, Colm’s wealth of experience positions him at the intersection of technology and child protection.

Event details

26 February 2025

Wednesday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEDT / Sydney

11:30am – 12:30pm AEST / Brisbane time

9:30am – 10:30am AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

This event has already taken place. Thankyou to everyone to who attended. If you missed it, you can watch the recording below.

Please note: This video contains sensitive content and is age-restricted. You will need to sign in to a YouTube account to watch.

WATCH RECORDING HERE

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Sextortion of adolescents: What recent research reveals
2025-03-26 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
In today’s digitally advanced society, children can access the online world with unparalleled ease. With a few clicks of a mouse or a swipe of a phone screen, they can virtually connect with friends from the comfort of their bedrooms – and people can connect with them too.

Sexual extortion, or sextortion, is a form of online blackmail in which someone tricks or coerces a person into sending sexual images of themselves, then threatens to share the photos if the person does not comply with their demands – usually for more images, payment, or sexual favours. This scam has rapidly become a critical child safety issue, with a recent Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) study reporting that one in ten Australian adolescents said that someone had sexually extorted them for money or more intimate material.

Our March Brown Bag, presented by Dr Heather Wolbers, Principal Research Analyst at AIC, will explore key findings from two new research reports examining adolescents’ experience of sextortion. The studies reveal the serious and varied short- and long-term effects of sextortion, highlighting the support needs of victim-survivors and the urgency of targeted approaches to reduce this crime.

Your speaker

Dr Heather Wolbers is a Principal Research Analyst in the Australian Institute of Criminology’s (AIC) Online Sexual Exploitation of Children Research Program. She has undertaken research within the fields of family and sexual violence, the online sexual exploitation of children, and serious and organised crime. Heather holds a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice (with Honours), a Bachelor of Forensic Science, and a PhD in Criminology from Griffith University

Event details

26 March 2025

Wednesday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEDT / Sydney

11:30am – 12:30pm AEST / Brisbane time

9:30am – 10:30am AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

This event has already taken place. Thankyou to everyone to who attended. If you missed it, you can watch the recording below.

Please note: This video contains sensitive content and is age-restricted. You will need to sign in to a YouTube account to watch.

WATCH RECORDING HERE

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Empowering every bank: Detecting and disrupting child sexual exploitation and abuse
2025-06-05 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Webinar series

Around 1 in 4 Australians have experienced sexual abuse as a child (Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2023) and with rapid technological advancements, perpetrators are always finding new ways to exploit financial services to harm children. This crisis demands action, and banks are uniquely positioned to lead the fight against child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA).

Join us for our new multi-part online event series, Empowering every bank: Detecting and disrupting child sexual exploitation and abuse, which will equip small and mid-sized banks with the knowledge and tools to prevent, detect, and report CSEA. These webinars aim to enhance your awareness and understanding of the crime type, offering financially relevant insights, case study examples, and actionable strategies to strengthen your organisation’s response.

This series focuses on the unique challenges faced by small and mid-sized banks, although professionals from other financial institutions are welcome to attend. Together, we can strengthen industry efforts, lead prevention and detection initiatives in the corporate sector, and protect society’s most vulnerable – our children.

Audience

This event series is designed for small and mid-sized banks. However, risk managers, compliance officers, anti-money laundering (AML) professionals, and key business decision makers from any financial institution are also welcome to register.

If you are unsure if these webinars are for you, feel free to contact us at event@icmec.org.au.

Event details

This series includes three sessions held virtually via Microsoft Teams.

Your Speakers

Bronwyn Mead Data and Intelligence Manager, Financial Crime and Cyber Resilience, Customer Owned Banking Association

Bronwyn has over 20 years of experience in the financial crime space. In addition to her operational experience with fraud, scams, and AML/CTF in the customer-owned banking sector, she is a Certified Fraud Examiner, and holds a Master of Fraud & Financial Crime. She is passionate about the value of the mutual sector, and keen to see uplift in the industry.

Her role at COBA is in data and intelligence, and she knows first-hand the challenges the sector faces in relation to financial crime, legacy systems, and capacity

Jessica Price Manager AML Operations, Indue

Jessica Price is an experienced AML professional with over eight years in financial crime, specialising in transaction monitoring, investigations, and regulatory reporting. As Manager of AML Operations at Indue Ltd, they oversee a transaction monitoring service for multiple financial institutions, helping clients strengthen their defences against evolving ML/TF threats.

With a strong operational background, they have built and trained transaction monitoring teams and understand the importance of robust processes in detecting and disrupting financial crime before it causes harm.

Mark Dickson Executive Manager, Financial Intelligence Unit

Mark Dickson is a financial crime risk and compliance specialist. He has worked in financial crime related roles at the Westpac Group for over 16 years and currently leads the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) function within Group Financial Crime.

Mark is passionate about collaborating with stakeholders to lead the fight against child sexual exploitation and his teams actively partner with AUSTRAC, the Fintel Alliance, law enforcement and ICMEC Australia to promote child protection initiatives.

Katelyn Allen, Manager, Financial Crime Investigations, NAB

Katelyn Allen is a Manager in the Financial Crime Investigations team at NAB, focusing on high risk investigations and public-private collaboration. Katelyn has a strong passion for protecting vulnerable people and has dedicated much of her career to combatting child exploitation.

As part of this commitment, Katelyn has developed industry leading resources and initiatives to help the financial services industry respond more effectively to child exploitation.

Ainslea Milthorpe, Financial Crimes Team Lead, Hume Bank

Ainslea Milthorpe is the Financial Crimes Team Lead at Hume Bank, bringing over 11 years of experience in the financial services industry, with a specialised focus on financial crime including fraud/scams, ML/TF and sanctions.

Ainslea is passionate about protecting and educating the community and believes that collaboration through intelligence sharing and trust are the key to success in combating financial crime.

Registration

Registrations for this webinar series have now closed.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

The price of harm: Initial insights on the costs of OCSEA in Australia
2025-07-24 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) is an urgent, national issue, with far-reaching consequences. However, there is a distinct lack of information on the economic toll this crime takes on society – and without this insight, efforts to enact systemic change can be limited.

Our July Monthly Brown Bag will explore the outcomes from a first-of-its-kind Australian study into the economic and financial costs and impacts of OCSEA, conducted through a partnership between the University of Queensland (UQ) and ICMEC Australia. Presented by Dr Jonah Rimer, lead researcher from UQ, the session will focus on the study’s recently completed initial phase, which established the existing knowledge base, and conceptualised the meaning of OCSEA costs.

Join us to hear a summary of the identified costs, the sectors likely to be involved, and participate in a discussion about the next steps of the study. This is an opportunity to provide input on cross-sector efforts to progress the research agenda and identify how industry can translate the findings into meaningful, tangible action.

To read the full report, visit our research page.

Your speaker

Dr Jonah Rimer is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Queensland and Convenor of Cyber Criminology for the university’s postgraduate Cyber Security programs. He holds a Doctorate in Anthropology and a Master’s in Medical Anthropology from Oxford University, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar. Jonah’s research areas are online sexual offending, child abuse, human factors in cybercrime, social science of the internet, childhood and youth studies, and the justice system. He has been researching online child sexual exploitation and abuse since 2007 while in academia and the non-profit sector. For a list of publications, see Jonah’s UQ profile.

Event details

24 July 2025

Thursday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST / Sydney

12:00pm - 1:00pm ACST / Adelaide time

10:30am - 11:30am AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registrations for this event have now closed.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Leading with care: How travel companies are protecting children
2025-08-21 14:00 - 15:00 (Australia/Sydney)
This session highlights the powerful role that the travel and tourism industry can play in protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse. With more than one in four Australians having experienced child sexual abuse (ACMS, 2023), businesses across this sector have a unique opportunity to be part of the solution.

Whether it’s through booking platforms or hotel staff on the ground, companies in travel and accommodation can be in a position to identify risks and respond early. Recent cases in which hotel staff have identified and stopped abuse on their premises serve as a powerful reminder that awareness and training can prevent harm and save lives.

In this webinar, we’ll hear directly from Marriott International and Booking.com on the proactive steps they are taking to strengthen child safeguarding.

Hosted by ICMEC Australia, this session will open with a brief overview of how child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) can occur within the travel and tourism industry, followed by a panel discussion with leaders from Marriott and Booking.com. We’ll explore how businesses can take action and why this work is not just ethical, but essential to building trust, safety, and social impact across the tourism industry.

Please note, the session will run under the Chatham House Rule: while participants may freely use information received during the event, the identity and affiliation of any speakers and participants must not be disclosed without express prior consent.

Your speakers

Abbe Horswill is the Director of Human Rights at Marriott International. She oversees Marriott’s human rights and human trafficking awareness initiatives, manages strategic partnerships and programs with nonprofit organisations, and provides education and guidance on human rights issues. Prior to joining the Marriott team, Abbe spent more than a decade in the anti-trafficking field, working at leading organisations, including Polaris and the National and International Centers for Missing and Exploited Children. She is thrilled to share this field-driven subject matter expertise with Marriott and the hospitality industry to help combat human trafficking, advance human rights, and make a positive social impact.

Jennifer Easterday, Head of Human Rights at Booking.com, leads the development and execution of the company's human rights strategy. Since January 2023, she has built and led a dedicated team advancing business and human rights standards across the organisation. Before Booking.com, she co-founded and served as Executive Director of JustPeace Labs, a non-profit organisation promoting the ethical and responsible development of digital technology. She holds a law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law and is licensed to practice law in California.

Event details

21 August 2025

Thursday

2:00pm – 3:00pm AEST / Sydney time

1:30pm - 2:30pm ACST / Adelaide time

12:00pm - 1:00pm AWST / Perth time

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registration for this event has now closed.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Not-for-profit Workshop 2025
2025-09-05 09:00 - 16:00 UTC

ICMEC Australia Symposium 2025: Convergence
2025-11-06 09:00 - 16:30 UTC
We are proud to present our third major annual event in Sydney, the ICMEC Australia Symposium 2025: Convergence.

From the digital trafficking of children across countries to the financial sexual extortion of young people, child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) is an issue that crosses both geographical borders and industry sectors. With more than 1 in 4 Australians having experienced child sexual abuse (ACMS, 2023), we are facing a silent epidemic and a whole-of-system approach is paramount in our fight against this heinous crime.

This in-person, one day event will unite leaders from across the child protection response system, including businesses whose platforms or services may be misused to exploit children. The event will focus on a shared goal: to support and strengthen the professionals who detect, report, prosecute, and prevent CSEA.

The Symposium offers a unique opportunity to engage with leading experts from across public and private sectors, showcasing the latest intelligence, cutting-edge solutions, and innovative strategies driving cross-sector collaboration.

To ensure ICMEC Australia can continue advancing our work in the child protection space, this year’s Symposium will be a paid ticketed event.

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The cost of missing the signs: Addressing CSEA risk
2026-02-19 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Financial institutions - including payments providers, crypto exchanges, fintech’s, and banks - play a critical role in preventing child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA), often without being fully aware of the influence they already hold. Following recent regulatory learnings, this session brings together industry professionals to provide practical steps to ensure your organisation is equipped to identify risks, strengthen controls, and respond confidently.

We will unpack the financial, regulatory, and reputational risks that can sit within everyday customer activity and demonstrate how finance professionals are uniquely positioned to disrupt and prevent harm from various areas across their company.

Join us for our first Brown Bag of the year as we outline sector-specific actions financial services organisations can take to move beyond compliance and actively disrupt harm. You will leave with practical next steps and a clear view of how ICMEC Australia can work alongside your institution to build safer systems, reduce risk, and contribute to a stronger, more responsible financial ecosystem.

Your speakers

Nick Kokay

Head of Compliance and MLRO, Australia, Coinbase

Nick Kokay is the Head of Compliance and MLRO at Coinbase. He is an AML/CTF and sanctions specialist with deep experience across government, fintech, and professional services. He has led major reforms to New Zealand’s AML/CTF framework at the Ministry of Justice, represented New Zealand at the FATF and Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, headed fincrime compliance for Australia and New Zealand at Wise, and was an Associate Director at KPMG.

Mark Dickson

Executive Manager, Financial Crime, Westpac Group

Mark Dickson is a financial crime intelligence specialist. He has worked in financial crime related roles at the Westpac Group for 17 years and currently leads the Financial Crime Intelligence (FCI) function within Group Financial Crime. Mark is passionate about collaborating with stakeholders to lead the fight against child sexual exploitation and his teams actively partner with AUSTRAC, the Fintel Alliance, law enforcement and ICMEC Australia to promote child protection initiatives.

Event details

19 February 2026

Thursday

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEDT / Sydney time

11:30am – 12:30pm AEST / Brisbane

12:00pm - 1:00pm ACDT / Adelaide

9:30am - 10:30am AWST / Perth

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registrations for this event have now closed. Please email events@icmec.org.au for any enquiries.

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Signals to action: Building a safety stack to disrupt child sexual exploitation and abuse
2026-04-29 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
Our April Brown Bag builds on our upcoming Symposium theme - the evolution of a modern “safety stack” capable of preventing, detecting, and disrupting child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) at scale. Bringing together two ICMEC Australia board members with senior experience in law enforcement and financial crime, this session will explore how technical tools, organisational culture and workforce capability are used to create a stronger response to fighting child sexual exploitation.

With a particular focus on technology, including AI‑enabled tools and digital platforms, the conversation will explore how these capabilities can be used ethically and effectively in the fight against CSEA. The session will look at how emerging technologies are identifying risk earlier, where their limitations lie, and how collaboration between law enforcement and financial institutions helps ensure those signals translate into timely, lawful disruption.

The session will highlight real‑world lessons on ethical technology use, cross‑sector escalation, and what “effective disruption” looks like in practice - with a focus on preventing harm, not just detecting or reporting it.

Your speakers

Doug Boudry APM, Non-Executive Director, ICMEC Australia

Doug Boudry is a consultant who specialises in the development of emerging technologies, building strategies and helping to drive collaboration efforts across government, academia, private industry and the community. He has over 25 years’ law enforcement experience with the Australian Federal Police and was a recipient of the Australian Police Medal in 2024. Doug joined the ICMEC Australia Board in 2025 as part of his ongoing commitment to protecting children and ensuring a safer future for all Australians.

John Fogarty, Non-Executive Director, ICMEC Australia

John Fogarty is a seasoned compliance executive with over 35 years’ experience across regulatory and financial crime compliance. Most recently, he served as Executive General Manager and Group Money Laundering Reporting Officer at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, leading significant risk and compliance capability uplift. John held senior roles at HSBC, CLSA, and UBS across Australia and Asia, and began his career as a Detective with the NSW Police Force. He is passionate about capability building and fostering the next generation of compliance professionals.

Event details

29 April 2026

Wednesday

12:30pm - 1:30pm AEST / Sydney

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST / Brisbane

12:00pm - 1:00pm ACST / Adelaide

10:30am - 11:30am AWST / Perth

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Registration

Registration for this event has now closed. For any urgent issues please email event@icmec.org.au

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC AUSTRALIA'S INDUSTRY EVENTS

Safety-by-design in the age of AI and emerging technologies
2026-06-17 12:30 - 13:30 (Australia/Sydney)
As AI and emerging technologies increasingly shape children’s digital experiences, understanding how harm can arise - and how it can be prevented - have become essential.

In this June Brown Bag session, Nakshathra Suresh will offer a high-level overview of AI-facilitated and emerging technology harms affecting children, and what these risks mean for developers, organisations, and systems designers. Drawing on her experience bridging technology innovation with safety and ethics, Nakshathra will focus on safety-by-design approaches, exploring how protection, responsibility, and foresight can be embedded into technologies from the outset.

With a strong commitment to making digital spaces safer and more accessible for people with diverse abilities and levels of digital confidence, Nakshathra brings a practical, values-driven perspective to responsible technology development.

Your speaker

Nakshathra Suresh, Co-founder, eiris

Nakshathra is a Sydney-based cyber criminologist, entrepreneur, academic, and international speaker specialising in digital safety, AI, and emerging technologies. She brings a unique social science perspective to issues such as privacy, cybersecurity, online harm, and technology-facilitated violence. As co-founder of eiris, a technology consultancy, Nakshathra helps organisations embed safety-by-design principles and understand the human impact of technology across ethical, social, and psychological dimensions.

Nakshathra serves as the Oceania Youth Ambassador for the Internet Society and teaches at UNSW, where she created the university’s first criminology-led cybersecurity course. A globally recognised speaker, she has engaged diverse audiences across industry, government, and academia. Her work focuses on bridging innovation with responsibility, advocating for safer digital environments and empowering individuals and organisations to navigate technology with confidence and care.

Event details

17 June 2026

Wednesday

12:30pm - 1:30pm AEST / Sydney

12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST / Brisbane

12:00pm - 1:00pm ACST / Adelaide

10:30am - 11:30am AWST / Perth

Online event

via Microsoft teams

Optional donations at registration

As a not-for-profit, ICMEC Australia is committed to delivering accessible webinars to the child protection sector. To help us continue this work and grow our impact, we’re introducing the option to donate as part of the registration process.

All contributions are appreciated, big or small, and donations are tax-deductible. Your support helps us keep delivering valuable insights and resources to the sector.

Registration

Registration for this event is now closed. For any registration enquiries please email event@icmec.org.au

For more details on ICMEC Australia's events, visit our industry events page below.

ICMEC Australia's Industry events

ICMEC Australia Symposium 2026: The safety stack
2026-10-22 08:30 - 17:30 (Australia/Sydney)
