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Sex Tourism: My Father's Secret
Join us either in-person or online for a co-hosted event with Dr Kiriloi M. Ingram and investigative journalist Grace Tobin who will speak about an Australian-led DNA project in relation to sex tourism in the Philippines.
📍 If you are attending in-person, please arrive at Holding Redlich at 5.30pm for registration and drinks.
💻If you are attending online, you will receive a follow-up confirmation email on the day containing further details on how to join the webinar.
🎟️ AIIA QLD members are entitled to free in-person entry. The price for other tickets can be found after clicking the 'register' button.
📷 Please note that you may be photographed or filmed for public consumption.
ⓘ If you arrive after 6:00pm, the lifts may not be accessible. Ring 0477 610 083 for assistance.
Sex work is big business in the Philippines, but with contraception often not used in the country and abortion illegal, there can be long term consequences. Men from overseas — including Australia and New Zealand — are estimated to have fathered tens of thousands of children to Filipino sex workers. Most of these children have never been acknowledged and are raised in poverty by their mothers. Now, thanks to a trailblazing Australian-led project, the children's DNA is being used to identify their sex-tourist fathers, track them down, and demand child support.
Co-hosted by Dr Kiriloi M. Ingram and investigative journalist Grace Tobin this event will examine this unique DNA project that has complex legal and ethical hurdles for all involved. The discussion will also explore Dr Ingram's research into how sexual exploitation and violence are key drivers of Filipino women joining local extremist groups such as the Islamic State.
Agenda
- Co-hosted presentation by Dr Kiriloi M. Ingram and Grace Tobin
Kiriloi M. Ingram
DrDr Kiriloi M. Ingram is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University, and from 2025 she will be joining UQ’s School of Political Science and International Studies as a Lecturer in International Relations. Professionally, she is the co-Director of the SCCB Project Philippines, where she works as a practitioner in Mindanao developing and implementing gender-sensitive peacebuilding and countering violent extremism programmes with civil society actors as well as local security and government.
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Grace Tobin
Grace Tobin is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist at the ABC’s Four Corners program. Her work has prompted two royal commissions and led to the ban of a potentially fatal restraint in youth detention centres. She is a two-time Walkley Award winner, having been part of the teams that won in 2019 for exposing organised crime and foreign interference linked to Crown Casino, and in 2017 for uncovering the truth about the disappearance of Sydney man Matthew Leveson. She wrote a book about the case, Deal with the Devil, which was published by Penguin Random House. Before joining the ABC, she worked at Nine’s 60 Minutes. Grace grew up in Brisbane with her career starting in regional Queensland as a crime and court reporter.
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- Questions from the Audience
Kiriloi M. Ingram•Grace TobinKiriloi M. Ingram
DrDr Kiriloi M. Ingram is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University, and from 2025 she will be joining UQ’s School of Political Science and International Studies as a Lecturer in International Relations. Professionally, she is the co-Director of the SCCB Project Philippines, where she works as a practitioner in Mindanao developing and implementing gender-sensitive peacebuilding and countering violent extremism programmes with civil society actors as well as local security and government.
More information about speakerGrace Tobin
Grace Tobin is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist at the ABC’s Four Corners program. Her work has prompted two royal commissions and led to the ban of a potentially fatal restraint in youth detention centres. She is a two-time Walkley Award winner, having been part of the teams that won in 2019 for exposing organised crime and foreign interference linked to Crown Casino, and in 2017 for uncovering the truth about the disappearance of Sydney man Matthew Leveson. She wrote a book about the case, Deal with the Devil, which was published by Penguin Random House. Before joining the ABC, she worked at Nine’s 60 Minutes. Grace grew up in Brisbane with her career starting in regional Queensland as a crime and court reporter.
More information about speaker
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