Carly's Law: A Fight For Legal Access

Carly's Law is named after a young victim of a heinous crime. The law, which was enacted to protect young people from online predators, was the result of a tireless campaign by the victim's mother. The law makes it a crime for an adult to lie about their age or pretend to be someone they're not online and then attempt to meet a child. It also enables law enforcement to take action against predators sooner and imposes stricter consequences. Carly's Law has been passed in South Australia, with the support of the state community and members of parliament.

Carly Ryan Foundation

Carly Ryan was a 15-year-old girl from South Australia who was murdered in 2007 by an online predator, Garry Newman, who had been posing as an 18-year-old musician. Newman had deceived Carly for 18 months through online contact and phone calls. His actions of lying about his age and pretending to be someone he was not were not considered a crime under state law, which meant that the police could not intervene before he harmed Carly.

Carly's mother, Sonya Ryan, who is also the CEO and Founder of the harm-prevention charity, the Carly Ryan Foundation, has been campaigning for South Australia to introduce Carly's Law for over five years. The law makes it an offence for an adult to lie about their age online or pretend to be someone they are not to a child and then attempt to meet that child.

In 2018, after a tireless campaign at the state and federal levels, Carly's Law was passed in South Australia. Sonya Ryan said, "I feel such a sense of relief knowing police in my home state now have an extra tool to arrest criminals who use the internet to deceive and lure children. Carly can rest in peace knowing that this new law named in her honour will prevent what happened to her from happening to another innocent child in the future."

Carly's Law will enable law enforcement agencies to take action against predators sooner and with greater consequence. It will give police the power to intervene before predators have a chance to act, and will also serve as a strong deterrent, with a tough new sentence of 10 years' imprisonment for convicted offenders.

Sonya Ryan's campaign

Ryan has been instrumental in achieving greater protection for children through legislative initiatives. In 2017, she successfully advocated for the implementation of Carly's Law in Australia, which was introduced into the Australian Commonwealth Criminal Code. The law makes it a crime for an adult to use a carriage service to commit an act in preparation for, or planning to, cause harm to or engage in or procure sexual activity with a minor. This includes adults who misrepresent their age.

Ryan's campaign for Carly's Law continued at the state level in South Australia, where a stricter version of the law was introduced in 2018. This followed a tireless campaign by Ryan, who lobbied for over five years for the state to introduce the legislation. The South Australian law does not require proof of intention to harm a child, and the maximum penalty for offenders is 10 years' imprisonment.

In addition to Carly's Law, Ryan has contributed to other legislative initiatives to protect children, including the Sentencing (Release on Licence) Amendment Act 2018 (SA) and the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Crimes Against Children and Community Protection Measures) Act 2020 (Cth). She has also successfully advocated for increased funding, resourcing, and technology within online child sexual exploitation units.

Ryan has been recognised for her efforts with awards such as the 2021 Order of Australia Medal, the 2018 Fatima bint Mubarak Award for Motherhood and Childhood (Mother of the Nation Award) in the United Arab Emirates, and the 2013 South Australia Australian of the Year award.

Carly Ryan's murder

Carly Ryan was a 15-year-old Australian girl from Stirling, South Australia, who was lured and murdered by a 50-year-old serial paedophile, Garry Francis Newman. Newman posed online as a fictitious 18-year-old boy, "Brandon Kane", and groomed Ryan for over 18 months before eventually meeting and killing her. Newman created the fake identity of "Brandon Kane" on MySpace and Vampirefreaks.com, and befriended Ryan, claiming to be a Texas-born teen living in Melbourne who had similar tastes in music as Ryan. Their contact eventually grew into an online and telephone romance.

In January 2007, Newman travelled from Melbourne to Ryan's home, posing as "Shane", Kane's father, in order to give Ryan presents from Kane (lingerie and a nurse's outfit). After meeting her mother, Newman was allowed to attend Ryan's 15th birthday party and stay overnight. However, his erratic and possessive behaviour, as well as inappropriate physical advances, led to him being asked to leave the next morning.

On 19 February 2007, Ryan left the house for an apparent sleepover with friends, but she never returned. The same morning, her battered body was found floating face-down in shallow water at Horseshoe Bay in Port Elliot. The autopsy revealed 19 separate injuries, including six to eight blows to the head, and the cause of death was a combination of facial trauma, smothering, and drowning. Investigators examined security footage, which showed Ryan in the company of two men, and she was last seen alive by witnesses at the beach at 9:30 pm.

Within 11 days, detectives located Newman in Victoria, logged into his computer as "Brandon Kane" and communicating with a 14-year-old girl. He was arrested and charged with Ryan's murder. At his trial, Newman initially denied meeting Ryan, but he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a 29-year non-parole period.

Following the tragedy, Ryan's mother, Sonya Ryan, established the Carly Ryan Foundation (CRF) in 2010 to promote internet safety and lobby for legal changes to protect minors online. The foundation's efforts, along with public opinion, led to the creation of "Carly's Law", which criminalises the use of a carriage service by an adult to prepare or plan to cause harm to, procure, or engage in sexual activity with a minor. The law also specifically addresses the misrepresentation of age online as part of a plan to harm a minor. Carly's Law was passed at the federal level in Australia on 23 June 2017 and came into effect on 13 August 2018.

Australian Government's support

Carly's Law in Australia was the result of a years-long campaign by Adelaide mother Sonya Ryan, whose 15-year-old daughter Carly Ryan was murdered by an online predator in 2007. Carly was deceived for 18 months by 50-year-old Garry Newman, who posed as an 18-year-old musician. Newman's actions were not a crime under state law at the time, which meant police could not intervene before he harmed Carly.

Sonya Ryan has since tirelessly worked to better protect young Australians in the online world, founding the Carly Ryan Foundation. In 2018, a bill for Carly's Law passed through the South Australian parliament, making it an offence for an adult to lie about their age online or pretend to be someone they're not to a child, and then attempt to meet that child. The penalty for this is five years' imprisonment, rising to a maximum of 10 years if there was also an intention to commit a crime against the child.

The Australian Federal Government also agreed to insert a version of Carly's Law into the Commonwealth Criminal Code in 2017. Carly's Law federally outlaws acts in preparation to cause harm to or engage in sexual activity with a child, including lying about age. It requires police to prove there is intent to commit harm.

Carly's Law will enable Australian law enforcement agencies to take action against predators sooner and with greater consequence. It will give police the power to intervene before predators have a chance to act, and will also serve as a strong deterrent, with a tough new sentence of 10 years in prison for convicted offenders.

Law enforcement agencies' role

Carly's Law in Australia was named after 15-year-old Carly Ryan, who was murdered by an online predator in 2007. Carly's Law makes it a crime for an adult to lie about their age or pretend to be someone else online to a child and then attempt to meet that child.

The law was the result of a tireless campaign by Carly's mother, Sonya Ryan, who is also the CEO and Founder of the Carly Ryan Foundation, a harm-prevention charity. Carly's Law enables law enforcement agencies to take action against predators sooner and with greater consequence. It gives police the power to intervene before predators have the chance to act. The new law will also serve as a strong deterrent, with convicted offenders facing a tough new sentence of 10 years in prison.

Prior to the introduction of Carly's Law, the deceptive actions of lying about one's age to a child online and pretending to be someone else were not a crime under state law, meaning police could not intervene until harm had been caused. Now, law enforcement agencies have an extra tool to arrest criminals who use the internet to deceive and lure children. The law gives police the power to act on intent, rather than having to prove there was an intention to harm the child.

In addition to Carly's Law, the Australian Government is also working to counter the online sexual exploitation of children through the AFP's ThinkUKnow program, which educates students, parents, and teachers. A working group has also been appointed to review existing and potential initiatives to combat child sex offenders and report back on operational aspects of sex offender registration schemes, post-sentence court-ordered schemes, and the restriction of overseas travel by convicted child sex offenders.

Frequently asked questions