During 2020 alone, the eSafety Cyber Report team received 21,000 public reports, the majority of which involved child sexual abuse material.

This was the most in the scheme's 20 year history and a 90 perfect increase in comparison to the year before in 2019.

According to eSafety Commissioner, Julie Grant, whilst there has been a big increase in reporting, parents should be aware, not alarmed.

"Parents and guardians have a role to play in keeping children safe online and we encourage parents and guardians to be actively involved in their children's online lives," Mrs Grant said.

"This can include ensuring children use devices in open areas of the home, talking regularly with children about the potential dangers online and helping them build the critical reasoning skills they need to make good decisions."

CEO of NSW Crime Stoppers Peter Price said encouraged parents and guardians to have the same consideration to not wanting to leave their children alone and unsupervised in a real world playground to the online playground that is the internet.

"Many parents would not leave their child alone in a playground and we want parents to think the same about the online playground," Mr Price said.

"The internet is not fenced off like in a community playground and even with parental control, sexual predators can still find ways to connect with children online.

Until we can build a safe online playground for our children, we just ask parents to be vigilant around their child's online activity and report anything you see hear or suspect."

READ MORE

New South Wales Police Force Assistant Commissioner said that we all have a responsibility to ensure children are safe, protected and supported, and are able to succeed without fear of harm and exploitation.

"We acknowledge it has been another difficult year for children, families and communities dealing with COVID-19 and being isolated can leave many of our children more susceptible and vulnerable to victimisation," Mrs Talbot said.

"Children are spending more time online and this can place them at a higher risk of being targeted by online predators.

"National Child protection Week provides us with an opportunity to highlight the issues children face and collaborate with others to enhance our response to keeping families and children safe and supported."

Crime Stoppers, in conjunction with eSafety, has also developed a Fact Sheet which has information on a range of prevention strategies to help keep children safe online.

If you know or suspect someone is producing, downloading, or sharing sexual abuse material, you can make a confidential report to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

If you have seen inappropriate behaviour towards children online you can report it here.

In an emergency, always call Triple Zero (000).

If you or someone you know needs help contact;

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: