By Jemma van Zaanen

Five students from Newhaven College made their voices heard about the need for increased policing of child pornography at last month’s YMCA Youth Parliament Victoria.

The high school students debated the opposing Whitehorse City Council in the Legislative Council on Thursday June 29.

After months of drafting, developing and editing, the bill passed unanimously.

The bill calls to establish the “Independent Victorian Policing of Child Pornography (IVPCP)” board which will oversee and implement tougher child pornography policing.

The policing includes stricter laws on the creation and distribution of child pornography through increasing the penalties and the difficulty of uploading child pornography.

Developed by Leigh Pouw, Gabriel Winterson, Gabe Pascoe and Charlie Swan, the students think the bill will discourage the perpetration of crimes and appropriately penalise those who do offend.

“This issue is really important,” said Gabe.

“I think at the moment, legislation doesn’t keep up with technology and how it evolves so quickly. The newest revision of legislation on child pornography was in 2017.

“We really want to focus on the online aspect of this bill and making sure it covers modern technology and the future.”

The team said the bill is specifically focusing on developing new legislation through “closing up loopholes” and “increasing awareness” on online websites. 

“We want to try and stop the spread of it [child pornography] instead of letting it get to the last stages before charges,” Gabe said.

“And then we’d like to use charges and penalties to deter people from consuming it and spreading it.

“There are not enough implementations to prevent someone just uploading it and then deleting it without any trace of it ever existing.”

In 2015, the Crimes Amendment (Child Pornography and Other Matters) Bill saw the maximum penalty for possessing child pornography increase from five to 10 years in prison.

Three offences were also added which included administering a child pornography website, encouraging use of a website related to child pornography, and assisting another person in avoiding apprehension with child pornography.

While debating, the team explained the disappointment they feel in Victoria’s current legislation and punishments for possession and distribution of child pornography.

“It is absolutely shameful that, within our state, the prison sentence is on par with theft, negligence causing serious injury and threats to kill,” Leigh said.

YMCA Youth Parliament Victoria is a program supporting young Victorians to stand up and be heard in Parliament House about issues they are passionate about. They are tasked with writing bills and debating them with other people aged between 16-25.

This year’s program saw 18 out of 20 bills pass through the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly.

The bills will now be sent to the Minister for Youth Natalie Suleyman for consideration.