AFP chief warns of ‘crimefluencer’ networks targeting young girls online
Young girls are being “hunted” and “stalked” by sadistic “crimefluencers” who are mostly young men, the new federal police chief has warned.
Krissy Barrett, the first female AFP chief, is addressing the National Press Club later today and says these groups coerce the young women to carry out acts of self-harm, or acts of violence on their siblings and pets in a “twisted type of gamification”.
Barrett will reveal that of this alarming global phenomenon, three people have been arrested in Australia, and nine have been arrested overseas.
The AFP has also identified 59 alleged offenders as being members of “some of these prolific decentralised online crime networks.” Barrett says those arrested in Australia are between 17 and 20 years old.
These groups have a similar culture to multi-player, online gaming culture, and hunt, stalk and draw-in victims from a range of online platforms.
Typically, these young girls have low self-esteem, mental health disorders, history of self-harm, eating disorders or other attributes that may lead them to seek connection online. This can make them more vulnerable to being targeted directly by these networks.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Vicarious liability legislation to be introduced in Victoria
Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, has also confirmed the government will introduce legislation to parliament this year to address the fallout of a recent high court decision that affected child sexual abuse survivors ability to seek justice.
The Bird v DP decision last year ruled that institutions such as churches cannot be held vicariously liable for child abuse committed by individuals who were not employees, narrowing the scope for victim-survivors to seek compensation from institutions.
She told reporters the bill will apply retrospectively. Allan says:
It is very important not just to address this issue that the high court has identified, but to ensure that that period of time that elapses between parliaments addressing the issue and decisions and judgments that may have been made that victim-survivors are supported, which is why it will be retrospective.
She acknowledged the “deep distress” and “retraumatising effect” the decision had on all victim-survivors.
National auditor general to investigate $10bn housing Australia future fund
Australia’s national auditor general will take the microscope out to investigate the $10bn housing Australia future fund, as it faces criticisms of not delivering homes on schedule.
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg (who has been heavily critical of the fund since it was introduced), called it one of the “biggest public policy disasters of my lifetime”. On ABC News Breakfast this morning he said:
It’s under audit from the Australian National Audit Office because it is wasting taxpayer funds, it is overpaying for houses, in some cases it’s going to paying more than $1.3m house when the average cost house in Australia $500,000.
Benita Kolovos
Victorian premier to announce bill to ban use of NDAs to silence victims of sexual harassment
The premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference to announce legislation to curb the use of non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment matters. She says the laws are Australian first and among the first in the world.
Allan says:
The origin of the use of non disclosure agreements in workplace matters was initially to protect trade secrets – not to cover up workplace sexual harassment. We have seen, over time, though, how it has become an entrenched practice … used to settle and resolve workplace sexual harassment complaints out of court, and that means that often, often the complainant, the victim, is silenced. That it also means that there is the potential for patterns of behaviour, patterns of predatory behaviour, are also covered up because the victim is silenced and the perpetrator has not been exposed through the process.
Read more here:
Littleproud calls for review of BoM website as deluge of criticism continues
Sometimes with criticism, when it rains it pours, and the Bureau of Meteorology is facing a deluge when it comes to its new website.
Environment minister Murray Watt has hauled in the BoM’s chief, and admitted the website redo is not meeting users’ expectations.
Now the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, is calling for a review of the whole website, saying locals in his regional Queensland electorate of Maranoa have been unable to get data for their specific property locations, and some have found the website difficult to navigate. In a statement he wrote:
I am hearing from many locals that the new platform no longer allows them to enter GPS coordinates for their specific property locations, restricting searches to towns or postcodes, as a result, families, businesses and farmers are unable to access vital, localised data such as river heights and rainfall information …
Given the critical importance of accurate and accessible weather and water data, especially as we approach the wet season and in the aftermath of the devastating floods experienced in April this year.
Energy minister Chris Bowen was also asked about the issue, and said the website is clearly not to satisfaction.
The Bureau clearly has work to do in that it has lost community confidence in the new website. Minister Watt has made his expectations clear.
AFP chief warns of ‘crimefluencer’ networks targeting young girls online
Young girls are being “hunted” and “stalked” by sadistic “crimefluencers” who are mostly young men, the new federal police chief has warned.
Krissy Barrett, the first female AFP chief, is addressing the National Press Club later today and says these groups coerce the young women to carry out acts of self-harm, or acts of violence on their siblings and pets in a “twisted type of gamification”.
Barrett will reveal that of this alarming global phenomenon, three people have been arrested in Australia, and nine have been arrested overseas.
The AFP has also identified 59 alleged offenders as being members of “some of these prolific decentralised online crime networks.” Barrett says those arrested in Australia are between 17 and 20 years old.
These groups have a similar culture to multi-player, online gaming culture, and hunt, stalk and draw-in victims from a range of online platforms.
Typically, these young girls have low self-esteem, mental health disorders, history of self-harm, eating disorders or other attributes that may lead them to seek connection online. This can make them more vulnerable to being targeted directly by these networks.
Queensland orders urgent investigation into history test blunder: ‘Not good enough’
Andrew Messenger
Queensland’s education minister, John-Paul Langbroek, has ordered an urgent investigation after students of at least eight schools were taught the wrong topic for their end of year history exams.
Students were meant to study Julius Caesar, but were instead taught about his nephew Augustus. They will be given special consideration during marking, according to the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
In a statement, the minister said he’d made it clear to the authority that the blunder was “not good enough”.
“I have directed the director-general of the department of education to urgently investigate how the QCAA communicates with schools to implement syllabus changes,” Langbroek said.
I have also asked to QCAA to ensure this does not impact on the overall grade of affected students. I have been advised that as students have already completed 75% of their assessments for this subject and their overall grade will now be scaled to make sure no one is disadvantaged by this unacceptable error.
My department will continue to provide support to all students and families.
The Qcaa is also proactively checking all 172 schools to make sure the error didn’t take place elsewhere.
Social cohesion and democracy a priority for new federal police chief
Disrupting crime that seeks to influence Australia’s social cohesion and democracy will be a priority for the first woman to lead the Australian federal police, AAP reports.
Krissy Barrett will address the National Press Club in Canberra today for the first time as commissioner after taking the reins earlier in October.
Her speech will likely focus on the issue of organised crime targeting the nation’s sovereignty and society.
The rise in youth radicalisation targeting children as young as 13 will be flagged as another major concern for federal police.
Early in her tenure, Barrett will seek to set up a new taskforce that will have access to intelligence from Five Eyes partners, such as the US and the UK, to target hate crimes.
Previously serving as the agency’s deputy commissioner tasked with oversight of national security, she will point to growing strategic competition being exploited by state and non-state actors.
Will states get more powers to make decisions on fossil fuel projects?
We’re getting a trickle of details on the government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) bill, including that state governments could be given expanded powers to make decisions on fossil fuel developments, which has environment groups seriously concerned.
The government is expected to table the bill on Thursday (where we’ll get to see the whole proposal), but it still doesn’t have the support of either the Coalition or the Greens.
You can have a read of what’s going on, and the latest developments from my colleague Adam Morton here:
When do failing projects deserve taxpayer-funded support?
It’s not the first time in recent months the government has had to bail out a major manufacturing or infrastructure plant.
Labor and the Queensland government entered into a $600m bail-out package for the Mount Isa Copper Smelter just this month, while the commonwealth and South Australian governments announced a $2.4bn support package for Whyalla and its steelworks in February.
So what’s the threshold for support, asks host Sally Sara.
Chris Bowen says there are three “principles” that are considered.
Tim Ayres has made that clear as the industry minister. He goes to strategic importance, regional importance, and the long-term viability. You know, sometimes a facility can be temporarily facing challenges, but you can see that in the long term, when they get through those challenges, they will be viable. So it’s about those, I think, primarily those three things.
With a similar question, my colleague and economics editor Patrick Commins asks – is 2025 the year of the bailout? You can read his excellent analysis here:
Labor will continue to ‘engage constructively’ with Rio Tinto over smelter, Labor says
The government isn’t playing a “blame game” with Rio Tinto over the future of the Tomago aluminium smelter, saying they would have liked to have an arrangement in place by now.
Energy minister Chris Bowen is on RN Breakfast this morning and says conversation with the mining giant is still under way, but has acknowledged high energy prices are a big factor as Rio Tinto’s considers the smelter’s viability.
Bowen says Rio’s statement shows there needs to be more renewables, not less, in the energy grid, which he emphasises the government is working towards.
We would have liked an arrangement to have been entered into by now, but that hasn’t been possible. But we’ll continue to engage constructively. I’m not here to engage in blame. [Minister] Pat [Conroy] is right that Tomago does have responsibilities to the community that has supported it for the last 40 years, but we’re not interested in a blame game here.
We fully acknowledge energy prices are a huge issue, 40% of the cost of the operation, they’ve made clear, and to quote them, there’s uncertainty about when renewable projects will be available of the scale we need. So they’re not saying they need less renewables, they’re saying they need more renewables. We agree with that.
Coalition members give their take on Albanese’s T-shirt
It seems like the Coalition aren’t going quite as hard on Anthony Albanese’s Joy Division T-shirt as leader Sussan Ley did yesterday.
Staying on News Breakfast, Andrew Bragg says Albanese has to be careful as an “ambassador for our nation” and should “take great care in whatever he wears”.
I think it’s a matter for Mr Albanese to consider whether or not he’s wearing appropriate attire. Certainly some people have been offended by the wearing of that shirt.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan was less concerned, and offered a similar message to his colleague Bridget McKenzie a little earlier. He told the Today show:
I don’t really care what T-shirt he wears. I really don’t … I do care how he’s doing for the country and I don’t think a lot of joy is being felt by Australians right now.
