Five out of six charges of child pornography against former Senior South Australian Labor Minister Bernard Finnigan were dropped, but court said that he still has to prove his ignorance against one more charge of accessing child pornography, The Australian reports.

Mr Finnigan said that "I have today entered a plea of not guilty to the one main remaining charge. I will properly defend that charge in the proper place, a court of law. Like anyone else, I'm entitled to the presumption of innocence, equality before the law and due process."

The controversy, more than anything else, creates fear and alarm for parents. If a 'trusted' public official like Mr Finnigan can be an alleged child pornography offender, then children were no longer safe today.

According to Australian Institute of Criminology, offenders, indeed, have no homogenous profile. Committing the crime of child pornography is highly discreet to almost undetectable. Anyone can be an offender and everyone can be as clueless.

The NSW Police Force says that the mere production, dissemination and possession of child pornography are punishable by law, the child being below 18 years old. With regard to child pornography over the Internet, the NSW Police Force said that it is an offence to access, transmit, publish, distribute, possess, supply or produce child pornography or child abuse material through a carriage service and the Internet is a carriage service.

To spot a child pornography offender, NSW Police Force warns parents about 'online procuring' and 'online grooming'.

Online procuring happens that very minute an adult reach out to a child, through Internet or mobile, used words and actions that encourage, entice, recruit or induce the child to engage in sexual activity.

Online grooming is when an offender reaches out to a child with the attempt to lower the child's inhibitions regarding sexual activity or heighten their curiosity by sending pornographic material or talking about sexual matters.

The NSW Police Force has also detailed the step-by-step aproach of a child pornography offender as follows:

1. The online contact usually occurs in on line chat rooms/ and or social networking sites.

2. Adults with an established sexual interest in children will frequently go to chat rooms that are known popular with children like Yahoo and MSN.

3. They will generally attempt to keep up to date with all the latest fashion in clothes, music and sport so they can either pass themselves off as another child or as an adult who is in tune with children's interests.

4. The adult might identify a younger, more naïve or vulnerable child in a chat room, and they will make them the focus of their attention.

5. They will have the child believe that they are their special friend.

6. The initial contact may quickly move from an open, public or semi-public chat room, to a private chat room, then onto email, web cam, to SMS text messaging via mobile phones, instant messaging, and then to direct voice contact via a fixed or mobile phone, or even by voice over the internet.

7. The adult will eventually try to organise a face-to-face meeting with the child.

8. Online groomers often use child pornography or other pornography to groom the child; it is shown to lower the child's inhibitions concerning sexual activity and to generate conversation regarding such activity.

To report a child pornography offender, anyone can contact the Australian Federal Police at www.afp.gov.au and new South Wales Police/Crime Stoppers at toll free numbers 1-800-333-000 and website www.police.nsw.gov.au.