Saving Our Kids: The inside story of Taskforce Argos, Detective Inspector Jon Rouse and their mission to protect our children online

Madonna King

Aug 2023 · Hachette Australia · Narrated by Melissa Madden Gray

About this audiobook

The crime of sextortion has reached epidemic proportions, fuelled by both sex offenders and organised scammers targeting our most vulnerable online. Children are some of the internet's most prolific and most naive users, and increasing numbers are finding themselves caught in an evil web of networked manipulators.

Up to 70 percent of all new sexual exploitation content online is victim-produced, and much of it follows the same script. An adult abuser tricks a child into thinking they are a peer, the child produces the content themselves and the abuser then blackmails their victim - for money or for more content. It's a script well-known to Detective Inspector Jon Rouse, who, for three decades, headed up Taskforce Argos, the expert arm of Queensland Police dedicated to hunting down online predators and rescuing children from abuse. In collaboration with Rouse, Madonna King tells the story of their investigations, from undercover cases to operations on a global scale, exploring what makes a victim and what makes an abuser, and distils the work that goes into bringing down perpetrators.

Saving Our Kids highlights the dangers lurking in every child's smartphone, web browser and computer game. It is the story of the tireless work of saving children from the online manipulation that is stealing their innocence, and raises awareness on how we can all protect the children in our lives.

About the author

Madonna King is one of Australia's most accomplished journalists, having won awards for her ABC Radio Brisbane Mornings current affairs program. She writes across Nine, Crikey and The New Daily, and is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Being 14 (ABIA shortlisted for non-fiction book of the year), Fathers and Daughters, Ten-ager and L Platers. She is also the biographer of Australian of the Year Professor Ian Frazer and former treasurer Joe Hockey. In 2018, Madonna served as chair of the Queensland Government's Anti-Cyberbullying Taskforce, set up in the wake of COAG. A fellow of the prestigious World Press Institute, she serves on a university-related board, and previously served as a visiting fellow at the Queensland University of Technology and on the Walkley Advisory Board. Her website www.madonnaking.com.au provides further detail. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and two teenage daughters.