Australia: 25 Lose Jobs Over Workplace Porn

BARTON, Australia — The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service has fired 11 government officers for accessing and storing adult material — including some child pornography — on work computers. Fourteen other officers have resigned.

The Service investigated 71 staff members in Sydney, Darwin and Perth after learning about widespread abuse of the computer system last September. The agency has fined 25 other officers, reprimanded nine, and reduced the salaries of five. One officer is receiving counseling and six are still having their punishments determined in the ongoing investigation.

"It was a culture that was condoned by management," an AQIS employee said. "No one ever came out and said 'Hey guys, this pornography is not [a good idea].' A lot of people at work are worried, including myself. I'm not an angel."

The employee said he had seen staff sending pornography on work computers for at least five years.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which oversees the quarantine service, confirmed some of the material involved children.

"There were a range of inappropriate and offensive material. In a small number of cases the material involved children," department spokeswoman Elizabeth Bie said.

Most of the staff involved had transmitted and stored pornography on the computers, and none of the officers who were fired had simply received material.

The Australian Federal Police also investigated the situation, but a spokesman said there was insufficient evidence to support criminal charges. The COO of the Department of Agriculture took over the investigation and banned all 4,500 employees of the department from storing or distributing any non work-related material on office computers.

"There's now a login screen that you can't go through without accepting responsibilities to abide by the code," Bie said.

This is not the first incident involving misuse of computers in Australian government. The Public Service Commissioner's most recent State of the Service Report said 244 employees in 28 agencies were investigated for improper use of Internet or email between 2005-06.

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

NATS Launches Integrated Content Management System

Too Much Media (TMM) has rolled out an integrated, no-charge Content Management System (CMS) to its NATS platform.

AEBN Reveals Avery Lust as Top Trans Star for Q3 of 2025

AEBN has published its top trans stars list for the third quarter of 2025, with Avery Lust landing atop the leaderboard.

FSC: California's Device-Based AV Law Does Not Apply to Adult

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) put out an advisory today explaining that California's new device-based age verification law does not apply to adult websites.

Reena Sky Launches New Paysite

Reena Sky has launched her new official paysite, ILoveReenaSky.com.

NextGen Payment Joins ASACP as Corporate Sponsor

NextGen Payment has signed on as the latest corporate sponsor for the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP).

Lauren Phillips, Derek Kage Cap AEBN's Top Stars for 3rd Quarter of 2025

AEBN has revealed its most popular performers in straight and gay theaters for the third quarter of 2025.

XBIZ 2026 Conference to Debut All-New Company Lounges, Community Track

The event website for XBIZ 2026 is now live, unveiling details for North America’s largest adult industry conference, including two all-new show features: Company Lounges and a Community Track.

Mymember.site Integrates VR Functionality

Mymember.site has added virtual reality playback capability to its website management platform.

Texas Patti to Launch Fetish Platform 'EmpireDom'

Performer and content creator Texas Patti is launching a new platform for doms and fetish creators, EmpireDom.com.

Ohio AG Threatens Action Against 'Major' Adult Sites Over AV Law

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today that his office is sending "notice of violation" letters to 19 adult websites for failure to comply with the state's recently enacted age verification law.

Show More