'Phone groomers' face prison

The Government says paedophiles who send cellphones to children to lure them into sexual relationships are liable for up to seven years' jail under laws which took effect in May.

Justice Minister Phil Goff said amendments to the Crimes Act made it an offence to contact children with the intention of encouraging future sexual contact, known as 'grooming'.

The internet safety agency Netsafe warned parents this week that sex predators had started sending children prepaid phones after making contact through the internet.

It said cellphones were now available which could track children to precise locations using global positioning satellites (GPS).

Mr Goff said the new law covered "all situations where a predator establishes contact with a young person through a meeting, a telephone call or over the internet" for the purpose of luring them into sex.

Netsafe board member John McCarthy said enforcing the law would depend on the Internal Affairs Department, which passes information to the police about offenders using the internet or cellphones to contact children for sex.

" Internal Affairs assures us that when they apprehend someone for child pornography, they always have a look at other aspects of their online behaviour," he said.

"Provided we have good communication between the law enforcement agencies, and the forensic people like Internal Affairs and the police are looking at the material they collect [from] the offender, the law could work quite well."

He said that if the agencies worked together, there should be no need to ban the new cellphone tracking technology.

"I like to go tramping in the bush and the mountains," he said.

"If I had a mobile phone with a GPS feature and I fell over and knocked myself unconscious, someone might still be able to find me.

"But as I understand it, many of these features are able to be switched off. If you can turn that feature off, then that's an issue for the public to be aware of - (a) there may be a danger, and (b) you can turn that feature off."