EU Commissioner Johansson travels to Australia to strengthen cooperation on security

Brussels, 15 March 2024

Next week, from 18 to 21 March, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson will be in Australia to strengthen the ongoing EU-Australia collaboration on security matters, including the fight against child sexual abuse, organised crime and counter-terrorism.

Commissioner Johansson will meet on Monday with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, to discuss common priorities and ongoing legislative efforts to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. On Tuesday, the Commissioner will meet with the Minister for Home Affairs of Australia, Claire O’Neil. They will discuss shared priorities to tackle violent extremism and terrorism including online radicalisation, amongst other topics. The Commissioner will also visit the Office of National Intelligence. The Commissioner will also meet with the Attorney General to discuss the global fight against child sexual abuse and organised crime and drugs trafficking.  

In addition, the Commissioner will visit the National Office of Child Safety, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation and the International Centre For Missing and Exploited Children. Across these institutions she will exchange with senior officials on the work of Australian authorities and the EU in fighting child sexual abuse.

On 11 May 2022, the Commission adopted a proposal on preventing and combating child sexual abuse to fight abuse against children on-line as offline, in full respect of fundamental rights. Negotiations with co-legislators are still ongoing on this proposal. To avoid a legislative gap in the detection and reporting of child sexual abuse online, the Commission has proposed an extension of the Interim Regulation’s duration. The extension was agreed with co-legislators and will apply from 4 August 2024 until 3 April 2026. The Commission also adopted a proposal to update criminal law rules on child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, including those enabled or facilitated by technological developments.