A Newcastle man is behind bars after Australian Federal Police investigators charged him for allegedly producing child abuse material with a child known to him and uploading the footage to an online chat platform.
The man, who cannot be identified, faced Newcastle Local Court on Friday morning, where he was refused bail.
Investigators executed a search warrant at the man's Shortland home on Thursday after receiving a report from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children on September 27.
The report identified a user of online messaging app Kik who was allegedly uploading child abuse material to the platform.
Enquiries by police linked a 24-year-old man to the social media account and he was arrested at his home.
Investigators seized three mobile phones during the warrant - they will be subject to further forensic examination.
The child allegedly depicted in the material has been identified and is safe, police said in a statement on Friday.
Officers are providing support to the victim and family.
The man was charged with five counts of producing child abuse material, two counts of possessing or controlling child abuse material as well as one count each of using a carriage service to access child abuse material and using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material.
The man will face court again on November 30.
Australian Federal Police acting Sergeant Damian Mair said that when a child was in danger, or at extreme risk of abuse, investigators would do everything they could to quickly identify the victim and remove them from harm.
"Our child protection investigators across the country are always ready to focus their efforts to cases where we have information that a child is at immediate risk of being abused by an adult," he said.
"When a child has been abused, our priority is to get them out of a dangerous situation, prevent an offender from committing more abuse, and then bring that person to account for their deplorable criminal acts."
