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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges

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Speaker 1: the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast

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Speaker 1: is recorded on.

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Speaker 2: Hey, I'm Taylor Straano. This is Mumma MEA's twice daily

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Speaker 2: news podcast, The Quickie, with Australia's teen social media band

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Speaker 2: just months away. There's a growing sense of security for parents,

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Speaker 2: but the risk of kids online hasn't disappeared. Not every

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Speaker 2: corner of the Internet is restricted, and new investigations reveal

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Speaker 2: that predators are always on the lookout for vulnerable kids,

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Speaker 2: no matter the rules. So what are these offenders searching

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Speaker 2: for and what can every parent do to protect their

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Speaker 2: child from online grooming. Today we go inside the strategies

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Speaker 2: used to catch child predators and speak to Mumma MEA's

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Speaker 2: news and weekend editor about what families need to know

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Speaker 2: before we get there. Here's Clare Murphy with the latest

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Speaker 2: from the Quikie newsroom for Monday, September fifteen.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Taylor, Parents are being urged to talk to their

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Speaker 1: kids about online safety after nine people were charged with

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Speaker 1: more than thirty child exploitation offenses during a two week blitz.

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Speaker 1: Australian Federal Police in tandem with Australian Border Force and

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Speaker 1: New South Wales Police conducted raids across Sydney, the Central

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Speaker 1: Coast and Woollongong. Those charged in the raids included a

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Speaker 1: sixty two year old man from Wyonger on the Central Coast,

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Speaker 1: who police claim paid an alleged Filipino child trafficker for

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Speaker 1: three video calls believed to be of live stream child

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Speaker 1: sexual abuse. The man has been reminded in custody and

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Speaker 1: faces a maximum penalty of twenty years in jail if convicted.

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Speaker 1: A woman from Cranbrook in Western Sydney is alleged to

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Speaker 1: have uploaded fourteen files containing child abuse material to a

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Speaker 1: social media platform. She also allegedly received more than one

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Speaker 1: hundred illicted videos and images from an instant messaging application.

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Speaker 1: She faces a maximum of fifteen years imprisonment if convicted.

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Speaker 1: Another man allegedly posed as a female online and engaged

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Speaker 1: in sexualized conversations with miners and receives actually explicit content.

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Speaker 1: Six other men were arrested on separate charges of online

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Speaker 1: exploitation of children. None of those arrested hold employment positions

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Speaker 1: with access to children. Utah Trade School student Tyler Robinson

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Speaker 1: who's been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting right wing

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Speaker 1: activist Charlie Kirk, will be charged this week. The twenty

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Speaker 1: two year old was taken into custody on Thursday night,

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Speaker 1: accused of killing Kirk, the co founder of the conservative

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Speaker 1: student group Turning Point USA, and a staunch Trump ally,

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Speaker 1: during an outdoor event attended by three thousand people at

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Speaker 1: Utah Valley University. A Bold Action rifle believed to be

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Speaker 1: the murder weapon, was found nearby. A break in the

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Speaker 1: case came when a relative and family friend told the

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Speaker 1: local sheriff's office he'd confessed to them or implied that

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Speaker 1: he'd committed the murder. Robinson, a third year student in

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Speaker 1: the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, part of

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Speaker 1: Utah's public university system, was taken into custody at his parents' house,

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Speaker 1: about four hundred and twenty kilometers southwest of the crime scene.

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Speaker 1: The killing has stirred outrage amongst Kirk's supporters and condemnation

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Speaker 1: of political violence from across the ideological spectrum. Allies of

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Speaker 1: Kirk have taken to the Internet in organized efforts to

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Speaker 1: try and have anyone minimizing or mocking his death, fired

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Speaker 1: from their jobs. A motive for the shooting has yet

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Speaker 1: to be established, but investigators found messages engraved into four

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Speaker 1: bullet casings, which included references to memes and video games

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Speaker 1: in jokes often shared by certain groups online. The New

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Speaker 1: York Times is reporting that during the thirty three hour

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Speaker 1: man hunt, Robinson was messaging others in a discord chat

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Speaker 1: who said he looked a lot like the person in

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Speaker 1: the footage release by police, Robinson joking that his doppelganger

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Speaker 1: was trying to get him in trouble. After being sidelined

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Speaker 1: for twenty months due to injury, Matilda's captain Sam Kerr

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Speaker 1: has returned in style, scoring her one hundredth goal for

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Speaker 1: her English club Chelsea. Kerr was sent out onto the

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Speaker 1: field as a late substitute in Sunday's three one win

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Speaker 1: over Aston Villa. The thirty two year old Ozzie, who

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Speaker 1: hasn't played since January twenty twenty four after injuring her acl,

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Speaker 1: immediately made her presence felt, scoring her side's third goal.

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Speaker 1: After reaching her landmark one hundredth, Kerse said she's a

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Speaker 1: goal scorer, that's what she loves doing and those one

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Speaker 1: hundred goals represent a lot of hard work, dedication, and

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Speaker 1: sacrifices to get here. Hollywood director Woody Allen has given

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Speaker 1: a glowing account of the time he spent with disgraced

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Speaker 1: financier and child abuser Jeffrey Epstein, saying he couldn't have

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Speaker 1: been nicer. Alan said he'd not met Epstein before he

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Speaker 1: was amongst the guests at a dinner in December twenty

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Speaker 1: ten which included Prince Andrew, telling The Sunday Times he

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Speaker 1: was invited by a publicist along with his wife Signy.

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Speaker 1: He said Epstein had just finished a prison term for

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Speaker 1: soliciting an underaged girl for prostitution and had told the

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Speaker 1: dinner guests that he'd been falsely put in jail in

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Speaker 1: some way, but that he was trying to make up

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Speaker 1: for it by being philanthropic and giving money to cutting

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Speaker 1: edge scientists and universities, Alan, saying he couldn't have been nicer.

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Speaker 1: Alan said his wife, the adopted daughter of his ex wife,

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Speaker 1: Miyir Farrow and her previous husband, had wanted to meet

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Speaker 1: the Duke, but that after the event, she told The

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Speaker 1: Sunday Times that she could not stand Andrew, describing him

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Speaker 1: as such a dullard. Alan said he and soon Ye

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Speaker 1: became regular guests at Epstein's house, where there was always

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Speaker 1: a table of illustrious people, but that they never saw

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Speaker 1: Epstein with underage girls. Glene Maxwell, who's serving a twenty

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Speaker 1: year term for sex trafficking, was not at any of

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Speaker 1: the dinner parties. Epstein was found dead in his cell

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Speaker 1: and in New York prison in twenty nineteen after being

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Speaker 1: arrested on sex trafficking charges.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Claire. Next, what child predator hunters want you to

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Speaker 2: know about online grooming? Picture this. Your twelve year old

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Speaker 2: is at home in their bedroom, scrolling away on their phone.

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Speaker 2: A message from someone they've only met online is getting weird,

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Speaker 2: even frightening, but they're too embarrassed or scared to speak up.

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Speaker 2: This scenario is more common than many parents realize. In

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Speaker 2: the last financial year, the Australian Center to Counter Child

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Speaker 2: Exploitation received nearly eighty three thousand reports of online child

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Speaker 2: sexual exploitation that includes things like facilitating the sexual abuse

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Speaker 2: of a child and sharing child sex abuse material online.

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Speaker 2: According to the Australian Child Male Treatment Study, more than

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Speaker 2: one in four girls surveyed experienced online sexual solicitation by

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Speaker 2: an adult, nearly eighty seven percent of those interactions coming

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Speaker 2: from a complete stranger. The study also found these interactions

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Speaker 2: sexual solicitation by an adult or sharing sexual images without

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Speaker 2: consent was being experienced by kids as young as twelve.

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Speaker 2: Christy Thompson is a team leader at the Australian Federal

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Speaker 2: Police led Center to Counter Child Exploitation. She says online

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Speaker 2: grooming can happen in just minutes and HiT's on the rise,

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Speaker 2: but what makes a child a target? Christy and her

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Speaker 2: team investigate just that. Recent research shows predators look for

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Speaker 2: kids with visible profiles, few privacy settings, and signs that

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Speaker 2: parental supervision is low. In a recent study from the

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Speaker 2: University College London and fighteen, accounts with photos and mentions

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Speaker 2: of no parents watching attracted the most unwonted attention. The

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Speaker 2: reality is that even with tighter social media laws coming

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Speaker 2: into play, not all websites, apps and games will be

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Speaker 2: covered by the band freezing out those under sixteen, so

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Speaker 2: dangers can still work anywhere a child has an online

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Speaker 2: chat function or profile. Thompson says the most powerful tool

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Speaker 2: isn't technology, it's trust between parents and their children.

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Speaker 3: We always suggest that they start at that young age

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Speaker 3: and continue those conversations as they grow up.

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Speaker 1: So not just a one conversation and it's done. Taking

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Speaker 1: their phone away.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be seen as a punishment and they're

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Speaker 2: not going to come forward in the future if they're

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Speaker 2: going to get in trouble. Ongoing age appropriate conversations help

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Speaker 2: kids feel safe about coming forward without fear of punishment.

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Speaker 2: So what if your child does come forward? Mumma Mia

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Speaker 2: Weekend and News editor Rafaela Chicarelli has been investigating the

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Speaker 2: world of online child predators. Raphaela, when we say things

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Speaker 2: like online grooming, what are we actually talking about?

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Speaker 3: So this refers to behaviors that can manipulate and control

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Speaker 3: a child, and it could also a lot of people

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Speaker 3: think it might be just isolated a child itself, but

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Speaker 3: it's important to mention that it can extend to their family,

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Speaker 3: kin cares and you know, other support networks that the

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Speaker 3: child might have around them.

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Speaker 2: Roughly, like, how long does it take? Because when I

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Speaker 2: hear online grooming, I think is something that could be

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Speaker 2: done over many months, maybe even years. But that's not

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Speaker 2: necessarily what you found in your investigation.

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Speaker 3: When I spoke to Christy Thompson, who works within the

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Speaker 3: Center to Counter Child Exploitation. She actually said grooming is

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Speaker 3: something that can happen within a matter of minutes, so

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Speaker 3: it doesn't need this long lead up, and especially with

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Speaker 3: social media, is so easy for someone to send a

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Speaker 3: message to a child.

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Speaker 2: What can you tell me about the school holiday period.

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Speaker 2: We're not they're just yet, but we are approaching the

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Speaker 2: end of the year pretty rapidly. We know that kids

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Speaker 2: will probably be on their devices more often. Did Christi

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Speaker 2: indicate if that's a period where there is more uptick

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Speaker 2: in this kind of activity.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so Christy did say that school holidays is one

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Speaker 3: of the times of years, or around school holidays is

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Speaker 3: one of the times that we do see this uptick

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Speaker 3: in predatory behavior.

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Speaker 2: What do we know about these people who are doing

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Speaker 2: this kind of stuff online? Do we know why they're

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Speaker 2: doing it?

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Speaker 3: When it comes to grooming, each case is individual and

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Speaker 3: the motives really kind of are dictated by what that

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Speaker 3: particular predator is after. But there are different types of

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Speaker 3: I guess extortion or exploitation, and one of the ones

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Speaker 3: that came up through my interview with Christy was actually

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Speaker 3: sextortion or financial sextortion, which means they were trying to

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Speaker 3: get financial gain out of a child as well as

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Speaker 3: their attention.

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Speaker 2: So we know that social media accounts are about to

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Speaker 2: be banned for under sixteens from December this year, but

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Speaker 2: there's like a whole bunch of other websites that kids

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Speaker 2: can still access with chat functions. What are some of those, Elie,

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Speaker 2: just so parents can be across.

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Speaker 3: So the main social platforms we know will be targeted

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Speaker 3: by the band, so Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, but online games

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Speaker 3: can be a means in which predators can message, So

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Speaker 3: games like Roadblocks for instance, Ellie.

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Speaker 2: Parents can't be there at every minute of the day

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Speaker 2: working behind their kids shoulder seeing what they're getting up

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Speaker 2: to online, so what can they do to keep them safe? Though?

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Speaker 3: It starts with conversation, so really creating a safe space

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Speaker 3: for yourself and your child to kind of talk about

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Speaker 3: this in a non scary way. But I think one

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Speaker 3: of the points that Christy did make was that it's

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Speaker 3: important to make the child feel safe that you're not

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Speaker 3: going to be punished if you are talking to me

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Speaker 3: about a strange message that you've received online. I'm not

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Speaker 3: going to take your devices. So starting with that con

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Speaker 3: station there is no actual warning sign when it comes

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Speaker 3: to indicating a child might be being groomed. But if

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Speaker 3: suddenly their online consumption habits have changed, their more eager

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Speaker 3: to get online or adversely not as eager to get online,

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Speaker 3: that could be something that indicates what we're talking about.

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Speaker 2: And finally, if a parent suspects that something is wrong

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Speaker 2: or a child does come forward and disclose something, what

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Speaker 2: should they do next.

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Speaker 3: If you do suspect your child is being groomed, I

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Speaker 3: would encourage you to reach out to your local police

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Speaker 3: station or even reach out to the Australian Centate account

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Speaker 3: Child Exploitation. This is what they deal with and they

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Speaker 3: have a lot of helpful tips for parents on how

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Speaker 3: to navigate it and also to kind of get them

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Speaker 3: educated and cross the risks.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with

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Speaker 2: us today. The quickie is produced by me Taylor Strato

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Speaker 2: and Claire Murphy