National push to combat AI facilitated child abuse
Published 17 July 2025, 9:33 am
There are calls for the federal government to criminalise the possession and use of AI tools designed to create child abuse material. Advocates say Australia can set a global benchmark for ethical AI and child protection.
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ABC News
14 minutes ago
- ABC News
New Victorian police chief Mike Bush says people should be free to protest without permits
Victoria does not need a permit system for protests, says the state's new top cop, who concedes there has been a breakdown in public confidence in police. In his first wide-ranging interview since joining Victoria Police, Chief Commissioner Mike Bush acknowledged Victorians felt less safe and declared "there's too much crime out there". The chief commissioner's arrival comes at a tumultuous time for Victoria Police, with crime at its highest rate since 2016 and an ongoing tobacco war that has seen 140 firebombings. Public confidence has also been at a 14-year low, with just 61.9 per cent of people having confidence in the police, far short of the force's 82 per cent target. "The data would definitely say that, and we've got to accept what the data tells us," Mr Bush said of the breakdown in public confidence. "We must be operationally excellent — whether we're preventing crime, responding to crime, investigating crime, resolving crime." Mr Bush is a 42-year police veteran of New Zealand Police. He ultimately became commissioner of the force, implementing a landmark crime-prevention policing model that included diversions and warnings for low-level offending. "We are, right now, considering our whole policing approach. I'm very keen to bring those things in, that's what the public deserve," he said. "Prevention is not a soft way of policing, it's just the right way, but we've got to do everything else too so responding is important, investigating and resolving is important. It's about getting the order right." The new chief commissioner told the ABC he did not support a permit system for protests, a measure debated in Victoria and already operating in New South Wales. "We've had a look to see if it will be effective, where we've landed is that it's not worth bringing in," he said. There has been significant public debate about protests in recent years, from the predominantly peaceful weekly marches in support of the Palestine community to anti-lockdown rallies and violent Land Forces protests. Shocked diners also watched on as protesters converged on an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne's CBD earlier this month, with tables and chairs thrown and a glass door damaged. Mr Bush addressed what he described as "polarisation" in the community, saying those with "an extreme view one way or the other are getting more extreme". He said the line between activism and extremism was "quite possibly" being blurred. "If we talk about public protest, absolutely," he said. "If you feel strongly about something, we are there to keep you safe while you demonstrate that. "But what we don't want is extreme behaviour that challenges the safety of other people — not just their physical safety but their feelings of safety. Mr Bush added: "It's only a minority but we should not tolerate the behaviour of that minority." Victoria Police has received independent legal advice that indicated the controversial chant "Death to the IDF" was not an offence. Mr Bush was also unequivocal when asked by the ABC if the chant amounted to hate speech. "No," he said. It came after former Victorian governor Linda Dessau called the phrase "totally unacceptable" and "hate speech" and Premier Jacinta Allan deferred to police when asked last week whether the chant was illegal. Under pressure to act on youth crime, the Allan government earlier this year announced a law reform package that included tougher bail conditions and a ban on machetes. It has also backed down from its pledge to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 — a move Mr Bush's predecessor opposed. Mr Bush would not say whether he supported raising the age but acknowledged there were limits to prevention-led policing. "The bottom line is, we don't want to see young people in prison, but some need to be there to protect the public," he said. The latest crime statistics show there were an extra 92,000 offences recorded in Victoria in the year to March, a 17 per cent jump from the same period last year. Youth crime also spiked to its highest level since records began, with children over-represented in home invasions and aggravated burglaries. Mr Bush was also asked about the state's ongoing tobacco wars, which has seen 140 firebombings by Middle Eastern crime factions trying to seize control of the illicit tobacco and vape market. He would not say whether it was a mistake for the federal government to have deported alleged tobacco kingpin, Kazem Hamad, who his own force has identified as being linked to a deadly arson which mistakenly killed Melbourne woman Katie Tangey. Police believe Hamad, who is now believed to be in Baghdad, is a key player in the tobacco wars who has orchestrated firebombings on his rivals or shop owners who refuse to pay exorbitant extortion fees. "I'm not going to talk about individuals," Mr Bush said. "But I will say on that subject that we have excellent international law enforcement, collaboration and cooperation and we use those partnerships and networks when we don't have a presence overseas." Mr Bush acknowledged tensions were high not only in the community but also among his own rank-and-file officers who have reported low-levels of morale and high rates of attrition. The rank-and-file made their displeasure known in February when officers passed a resounding no-confidence vote in former Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, who ultimately resigned. It followed a protracted pay dispute between the Police Association of Victoria and the Victorian government. Mr Bush said senior police leaders had to "own" the mood among his members. "We've also got to remove things that get in their way, the things that frustrate them, bureaucracy, too much paperwork," he said. He committed to upgrading technology for his officers in the next 12 months, who he said were being hamstrung by red tape. "I'm not going to be embarrassed to say that the New Zealand police are a long way ahead," he said. "We've agreed to partner up to actually not just learn from them, but they're quite prepared to share all of their platforms and technology with us." The Police Association of Victoria has previously said its members have a stake in Mr Bush's success. "He's regarded as a leader who listens to his troops, who connects with community, and has been known to prioritise prevention as the greatest weapon against crime," secretary Wayne Gatt said. "We think, given the challenges we currently face in policing in this state, that these virtues will be invaluable in the fight to win back Victoria."
ABC News
14 minutes ago
- ABC News
Labor and Liberals facing internal fault lines over Gaza, net zero, and Welcomes to Country
It's one of the most enduring political rules — never fight the last election at the next one. But the Liberals are already showing signs of missing this important memo in the new political term. Over the weekend, the WA Liberal Party supported a motion to abandon a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, heaping more pressure on federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to dump the policy. Delegates at the WA Liberal State Council also approved a motion to get rid of the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islands flags behind the prime minister at press conferences and cut back on Welcome to Country ceremonies. It is understood that both motions were carried with an overwhelming show of support when they were read out and without needing to go to a ballot. The behind-closed-doors meeting was held at a hotel in federal MP Andrew Hastie's electorate of Canning, and Hastie, a future leadership contender and rival to current leader Sussan Ley, said the motion was about sending a "clear signal" to Australians. But what is that clear signal? The most obvious signal is that the "sensible centre" Liberal Party that Ley seeks to lead and portray exists as nothing more than an illusion. While Ley sat on the fence on net zero when asked where she stood last week — a dangerous place for any leader to sit — she was positive about the importance of the Welcome to Country ceremony opening the parliament. It puts her at odds with many in her party who want to continue the culture war that derailed the last week of Peter Dutton's campaign. I say derailed because voters were looking for a clear economic narrative and vision from the opposition leader. Instead, they got served more of the same. The fact that these two issues — net zero and Welcome to Country — are becoming the defining fault lines inside the Liberal Party is all the evidence you need that the wars of the past are being fought again, instead of the party engaging with the issues that are defining the future. Labor, for its part, will tackle its level of commitment to Indigenous issues of treaty and truth, and criminal justice when its First Nations caucus meets this week in Canberra. There's a strong feeling in the party that they must not squander the thumping majority they have been delivered, with many believing that advancing Aboriginal rights issues needs to be revisited. A sign of Labor confidence after week one of the 48th parliament is a debate going on about whether the five Labor MPs who have been seated on the opposition benches because the party's numbers are too big have got the rough end of the deal or a sweet blessing. One told me it provides a "fresh perspective" on the house. They are now working on a name for their group of five Labor members. Latest contenders are "the Happy Bench" or "the CrossReds." Either way, it's a good problem to have. The issue many Labor MPs are thinking of as we enter week two of the first sitting fortnight is what more Australia should be doing to denounce the humanitarian horror unfolding in Gaza. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a strong statement about the worsening humanitarian crisis, calling on Israel to end its blockade of aid and immediately comply with its obligations under international law. The opposition said the statement was "one-sided" and ignored Hamas's role in blocking aid. But France's plan to recognise Palestinian statehood is changing the direction many think the government needs to take. Former foreign minister Bob Carr and Labor backbencher Ed Husic think it's time to change course. These prominent Labor figures are urging Albanese's government to join French President Emmanuel Macron in recognising a Palestinian state at a United Nations summit in September, in a bid to create momentum for a two-state solution. Yesterday, on Insiders, the PM poured cold water on the prospect of following France. But Labor insiders still hold hope that this position could shift if there is movement from like-minded countries, like the UK, before that September meeting. Albanese told Insiders a decision by the Israeli government to allow some aid into Gaza was "just a start" and more needs to be done. Albanese pointed to images of a starving one-year-old boy, saying, "It breaks your heart". "A one-year-old boy is not a Hamas fighter. The civilian casualties and deaths in Gaza is completely unacceptable. It's completely indefensible. My government has been very consistent in calling for a ceasefire," he said. "We have been consistent in calling out the terrorists in Hamas and saying that the hostages should be released. But we have rules of engagement, and they are there for a reason. They are to stop innocent lives being lost, and that is what we have seen." Albanese said he had been moved by the images of this "innocent young boy". "For anyone with any sense of humanity, you have to be moved by that. And you have to acknowledge that every innocent life matters — whether they be Israeli or Palestinian." The PM said, "we need to move to a longer-term" solution and he called for a two-state solution. Albanese previously said he had spoken to Israeli President Isaac Herzog to tell him Israel was losing support. "What I have said [to him] is that what sometimes friends have to say to their other friends when they are losing support," he said. "Israel is, I think, when you look at internationally, the statements that have been made by, including this week, more than two dozen nations combining to call out the lack of aid being allowed into Gaza, is that they need to recognise — they need to operate within international law. The message is clear: Israel is on notice from its traditional friends. The images of starving children in Gaza have crossed the Rubicon. Australians will not accept this. Patricia Karvelas is host of ABC News Afternoon Briefing at 4pm weekdays on ABC News Channel, co-host of the weekly Party Room podcast with Fran Kelly, and host of politics and news podcast Politics Now.
ABC News
14 minutes ago
- ABC News
The ATO learned it was being scammed, then paid out millions more to fraudsters
It was a scam so simple it took just minutes on your phone, where you could tell the tax office how much money to pay you, and it came through within days. The ATO loophole was so vast, tens of thousands of Australians stole a total of $2 billion. It was Australia's largest GST fraud. But it did not need to be this way. New details uncovered by Four Corners show the ATO was warned its systems were badly lacking, but even when it eventually discovered the fraud, it continued to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars. The ATO maintains it cracked down hard on the scam, moving quickly to shut down the perpetrators and cut off the money. The case of Linden Phillips would suggest otherwise. It showcases in granular detail the ATO's failures and how, while some loopholes are closed, others are being exploited on a far larger scale. Linden Phillips was no criminal mastermind, but from his home in the Victorian river town of Mildura, he easily exploited giant flaws in the ATO's GST refund system. It was August 2021, and Phillips had just been released from jail. According to court filings, a week after his release, he "opened several bank accounts" in his own name and registered a previously created ABN for GST. That was step one. Next was proof of concept. This could have taken just two minutes and involved putting just three numbers into the ATO's systems. Phillips did this by logging into his myGov account — available on your phone — and going to the ATO's GST page. Here, he said his fictitious earth-moving business had recorded minimal sales for the month. Phillips then said he was entitled to $13,158 as a GST refund. Amazingly, he did not have to specify why this was. At this stage, no one was required to check the veracity of his Business Activity Statement before paying. The ATO simply assumed he had invested in stock or capital equipment during the quarter. As the court noted, "the appellant [Phillips] did not engage in a business and had no income or outgoings for such a business". Within a week, the money was in his bank account. That was the trial run. Phillips was only just getting started. The next month, he lodged 46 separate GST refund claims seeking $821,279 from the ATO. The problem was that Phillips had been in jail for most of the time covered by these claims. Despite this, the ATO paid up promptly. Once again, the ATO had not made a single inquiry before paying the money. The algorithm in its system, rather than any human, approved the refund. To claim such a giant GST refund, Phillips would have needed to spend around $9.7 million on his business over three years. All this while having minimal sales, yet enough cash flow to not bother claiming the GST refund each month. Somehow, this was not a red flag when the ATO was paying out the money. Just weeks after Phillips made his second claim, someone at the ATO twigged that his enterprise may not be legitimate. Finally, there was a human in the loop. An ATO officer rang Phillips and was told the statements had been prepared by his accountant, for which he provided a name and number. "The number was in fact registered to a different person … not an accountant but a painter," according to the court documents. The ATO followed up with a letter to Phillips, which he ignored. As he did to further calls and emails from the ATO. Despite the suspicious behaviour, the ATO did nothing. In the meantime, Phillips bought himself a Porsche and his mother a house. The ATO would sit on its hands for the next four months, giving pause to its claim to have cracked down hard and quickly brought the scam under control. When Phillips was caught, it had nothing to do with the ATO. He was arrested in April 2022 by Mildura detective Vanessa Power, who was searching his home looking for drugs and guns. She checked Phillips's phone and "identified a series of fraudulent ATO claims," according to Victoria Police. That led police to a further 63 other offenders in the Mildura area. It was around this time that the ATO began to take the threat seriously. Four months after it first identified a problem with Phillips's GST refunds, the ATO launched Operation Protego, led by its Serious Financial Crimes taskforce. By this time, the ATO estimates $850 million had been stolen from the tax system. While Protego was operating, then-federal assistant treasurer Stephen Jones said it was "pretty easy to work out whether" some had lodged a "legitimate" GST claim or not. "There's lots of analytics that the ATO can do to work out whether this is a legitimate business or not," he said. That may have been true, but the ATO was not identifying many of these false claims until after the money had been paid. It would take the tax office 18 months to get the scam under control, and by this time, $2 billion had been stolen from the tax system. The ATO said when it launched Operation Protego that it assigned 470 extra staff to verify GST claims, and that by May 2022, "almost all fraud attempts were being stopped". All up, the ATO estimated 57,000 people were involved in the scam. Of these, just 122 have been convicted, while the ATO has only recovered $96 million — just 5 per cent of the money stolen from the tax system. The banks have helped recover another $64 million by freezing accounts. In the years leading up to the scam, the ATO's analysis showed its fraud detection systems, which should have prevented the scam, were not up to scratch. A 2018 report unearthed by Four Corners outlined how the systems were lacking. The report's author, Ali Noroozi, spent 10 years as the inspector general of taxation. Citing the ATO's internal data, he found that its so-called risk assessment systems were only marginally better than random selection. "They have certainly been on notice that their risk assessment tools could do better," Mr Noroozi told Four Corners. The tax office was slow to heed this warning, and then it also downgraded its assessment of external fraud risks from "severe" to "low" two months before the scam took off in mid-2021. It said the likelihood of risk had gone from "almost certain" to "rare". The tax office said it began building and updating new fraud detection systems even before the critical 2018 inspector general report. But the auditor general noted one of the ATO's new fraud detection systems ran a year late and was therefore not fully switched on until January 2022. At this point, it successfully detected the massive fraud, but it still took the tax office a further three months to launch Operation Protego. The auditor general found "the ATO did not have a procedure to respond to a large-scale external fraud event" like the GST scams. Watch as Four Corners investigates one of the most powerful and secretive institutions in the country, tonight on ABC TV and ABC iview. Tax experts said these processes need humans in the loop. "Before money goes out the door, particularly if there's been large changes in a taxpayer's details or accounts, that should be verified," said Karen Payne, who stepped down last year as inspector general of taxation. "Once upon a time, there was a desk audit when you first lodged your GST return to make sure you are carrying on a business that you can verify and these amounts that you're claiming are legitimate." As the Abbott government swept to power in 2013, the ATO was moving away from this model of human verification to an automated system. That would eventually see around 1,000 staff — or half the people in the division responsible for the GST — lose their jobs. "I'm not sure the ATO has ever recovered from that sort of drain of knowledge and drain of skill sets," said Stephen Hathway, a liquidator currently investigating a large-scale GST fraud. "The people [at the ATO] work really hard and diligently, but there just needs to be more of them. And there needs to be more regard to getting out there in the field and making those inquiries." While the ATO has claimed to have contained smaller-scale GST frauds as part of Operation Protego, it has struggled to stop loopholes being exploited by larger-scale scams. Stephen Hathway has seen this up close. He is currently chasing Nahi Gazal, who claims to be a wealthy Sydney property developer, but has been accused of masterminding a giant GST fraud. Gazal and his associates managed to squeeze more than $21 million out of the tax office in GST refunds. They allegedly used fake invoices to claim GST refunds for building projects that either did not exist or had been completed by other developers. Once again, the ATO did not bother to do even the most basic of checks. "It never had any legitimacy," Mr Hathway said. "There's nothing in it that ever demonstrates any act of commerce or enterprise. The whole set of transactions were completely and utterly made up, fraudulent, had no basis." By September 2023, the ATO had issued Gazal with a $44 million tax bill, including penalty interest. Four Corners can reveal that while the ATO was chasing Gazal for that money, it failed to detect that he was using a new string of companies to continue scamming the tax office. Mr Hathway has been funded by the ATO to pursue Gazal over this latest scheme, and has connected him to an additional 22 companies, which Mr Hathway said have fraudulently claimed another $25 million in GST refunds. Once again, Gazal claimed to be a property developer. "Not one bag of nails was bought from Bunnings," Mr Hathway said. But once again, the ATO did not check before paying out the GST refunds to Gazal's companies. Mr Hathway said the ATO never asked basic questions, like the address of the properties being developed, whether a development application had been approved, or to even look at a building contract. "I'm the liquidator after the event. And then when we're looking into the file, we find nothing," Mr Hathway said. Mr Hathway was not hopeful the ATO would be able to recover much of the money, and said there was nothing to stop someone else from doing the same thing. Karen Payne said the tax office needed to do better, as these frauds resulted in less money for essential services. "We should all care because it raises revenues that allow the government … to fund the services that we all benefit from … health, defence, security, infrastructure … it's pretty key part of our democracy." Watch Four Corners' full investigation into the tax system, No Return, tonight from 8:30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
