A report from Australia, released by UNSW Sydney and Jesuit Social Service, has shown the need for early childhood education and care services, and other places populated with children, to safeguard children from the one in five Australian men who reported sexual feelings towards children and/or have sexually offended against children.

This is one of the many shocking statistics arising from the largest study of its kind ever undertaken globally, identifying and understanding child sexual offending behaviour and attitudes among Australian men, and measuring the prevalence of risk behaviours and attitudes regarding child sexual offending among a representative sample of 1,945 Australian men aged 18 to over 65 years of age.  Only one third of those who have had sexual feelings towards children reported that they were motivated to access help.

By shining a light on the characteristics of individual perpetrators and the broader social and technological patterns that enable their abuse, it is our hope that this research can be the catalyst for change to ultimately keep children safe.