Australia has the third highest number of travel warnings in the world, almost all of them for child sex offenders

Key Points

Australia has the third highest number of INTERPOL Green announcements in the world, and almost all of them involve child sex offenders.
Green Notices allow law enforcement agencies in INTERPOL member countries to share information about criminal activities.
Hundreds of convicted and suspected child sex offenders are being tracked through Australian airports.

Authorities closely monitored the travel plans of some 700 people last fiscal year, with just under half of them automatically sending alerts to INTERPOL and police in other countries.

Australia has the third highest number of INTERPOL Green announcements in the world, with 94 percent of these involving travelling child sex offenders and the remainder involving others convicted of serious crimes.

Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean said authorities overseas had gone to great lengths to prevent children from ending up in “horrible situations”.

However, he said all that work could be undone by relatively wealthy Australian child abusers paying money to abuse children.

“This is a stealthy type of crime where prevention is far more important than cure,” he said.

“The AFP is committed to working with our regional partners through INTERPOL to combat child abuse worldwide, using all the resources at our disposal.”

Australians under the National Child Offenders System need permission to travel abroad. They are closely monitored at international airports. Their details are passed to countries that target child abusers and to other countries that want to be informed of their whereabouts.

According to AFP, they often fly abroad, are denied entry at customs and have to take the next flight home.

Former childcare worker pleads guilty to more than 300 child sex offenses image

Australia is a ‘leading player in international police cooperation’

According to Jurgen Stock, Secretary General of INTERPOL, Australia proactively warns other countries about the travel plans of known offenders.

“Australia is a leading player in international police cooperation and has consistently demonstrated a strong and unwavering commitment to protecting children both online and in the real world,” Stock said.

Meanwhile, federal agents in Sydney have charged a man with assaulting a child to produce abuse material.

INTERPOL Green Notices contain warnings about a person’s criminal activities if that person is considered a potential threat to public safety. These notices are available to law enforcement agencies in all member states and can be accessed through the agency’s notices database.

Pedophile recently convicted of 55 crimes

A pedophile who sexually abused vulnerable children in the Philippines and encouraged others to commit crimes is eligible for release after serving a six-year prison sentence.

John Oldfield Nettleton pleaded guilty to 55 state and Commonwealth offences committed between March 2016 and April 2018.

The 40-year-old used two fake Facebook accounts to communicate with 38 victims and like-minded recipients.

In 2017, he abused four children under the age of 16 in the Philippines and kept the recordings on his phone.

He also encouraged others to abuse children abroad, saying he would buy a boy from the slums and sometimes offering $150 for child abuse material.

NSW man to appear in court on multiple child sex charges

Meanwhile, federal agents in Sydney have charged a man with assaulting a child to produce abuse material.

The 33-year-old was arrested on Friday during a raid on a home in Kingswood, following reports from the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to US authorities, he distributed child abuse material online.

Predators use dating apps to create a perception of child sexual exploitation

The man will appear in court in November, accused of using a child under 14 to create child pornography, sexually touching a child under 10 and using a device to access similar material.

The maximum penalties for the offences in question are 20 years, 16 years and 15 years in prison.