Harmful Thoughts
Australia is facing a child sexual abuse epidemic. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the stories of high-profile survivors have bought these crimes to light. The numbers are shocking, and the online world is even worse. But this is not a crimewave we can arrest our way out of. Criminal justice is not enough, and the revulsion child sexual abuse inspires can paralyse more effective responses. However, there is a window for child sexual abuse prevention, if we are not too scared to seize it. It’s time to engage earlier with people concerned about their sexual thoughts or behaviours towards children, so that fewer children become victims in the first place.
This session may explore adult themes, it is recommended for 16+ years.
Jayne Crossling
Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling has been a member of the Australian Federal Police for 32 years. Over that time, she has worked across a number of crime types in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and now Brisbane. For the past five years she has been responsible for the oversight of teams investigating human trafficking, online child sexual exploitation and cybercrime. She also leads teams responsible for online child sexual exploitation prevention and education. She is the national lead for the human trafficking and online child sexual exploitation crime types for the AFP.
Emma A. Jane
Emma A. Jane – formerly published as Emma Tom – is an Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney where she researches the social and ethical impacts of emerging technology. Her eleventh book is a memoir, Diagnosis Normal, which was published by Penguin Random House in March 2022. It explores the complex combination of childhood sexual abuse, mental illness and a late autism diagnosis that led to her being who she is today, as well as exploring the impact each has on so many others in society.
Matt Tyler
Matt Tyler is Executive Director of The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services, working with a team committed to providing leadership on the reduction of violence and other harmful behaviours prevalent among boys and men by intervening earlier. He brings over 10 years of experience across the private, public, academic, and community sectors. He has particular expertise translating research into practice to improve social services including within child protection, family violence, criminal justice and mental health. In collaboration with Melbourne University, since early 2019 he has worked to bring Stop it Now! to Australia and is also working on a number of other initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse. He holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School, Honours in Economics (University Medal) from Monash University, and a B.A (Psychology) / B.Comm (Finance) from the University of Melbourne.
Michael Salter
Dr Michael Salter is the Scientia Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of New South Wales, where he specialises in the study of child sexual abuse and exploitation. He is an advisor to a range of national and international agencies, including the eSafety Commissioner, White Ribbon Australia, the Grace Tame Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. He is the President-Elect of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.
More Danger
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country in which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
While we believe in freedom of speech, the views and opinions expressed by the speakers are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.