Child exploitation is increasing in Australia and elsewhere with COVID-19 lockdowns accelerating access, police say.
More than 36,000 reports of child sexual exploitation were made to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) in the year to June 2022 - a 62 per cent increase on the previous year.
"It's increasing across the globe," Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw told Senate estimates on Monday night.
"If anything, COVID was an accelerant because a lot of people spend a lot of time online and we're seeing more and more of those referrals come in.
"We're also seeing the level of sexual violence against children on the rise."
Mr Kershaw said the AFP worked with partner agencies in the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines to halt abuse.
Those abusing children were sometimes from vulnerable communities, related to the child and trying to earn an income from those viewing their video stream.
"Sadly, what we do see is parents often using their children for these live sex shows in order to obtain an income for their family," Assistant Commissioner Lesa Gale said.
Mr Kershaw drew a distinction between those sharing child exploitation material and "contact offenders".
"There is not enough research or evidence to indicate (whether) a person who exchanges child sexual exploitation material becomes a contact offender," he said.
"That's an area that the ACCCE is working on as far as that evidence base because my personal view is that eventually, they will actually physically harm a child."
The hearing was also told three in every five victims uncovered in a recent operation targeting sextortion were children, the AFP said.
The operation began in December and targeted acts in which victims were tricked into providing intimate sexual images and then extorted.
