A prominent Darwin doctor charged with possessing up to a million child sexual abuse images and videos could be released from custody within a fortnight after appealing a decision refusing him bail.
The doctor, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is facing a dozen charges related to accessing and possessing child abuse material.
The Australian Federal Police began investigating the man after the United States's National Center for Missing and Exploited Children raised the alarm over an internet user in Australia accessing files containing the material.
The doctor was arrested last week after police searched his Darwin home and seized mobile phones, tablets, hard drives, USB sticks and laptops, all allegedly containing explicit child abuse images and video files.
The man's lawyer proposed a series of conditions she said would reduce any risk to the community. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
The man appeared from custody in the Northern Territory Supreme Court today after being denied bail by Local Court Judge Alan Woodcock earlier this week, in an attempt to have the initial decision overturned.
Defence lawyer Brooke Houen told the court the application for bail was not an attempt to "sidestep" the seriousness of the allegations, saying there were "strong reasons" for her client to be released.
Ms Houen said the main risk to the community was her client's access to the internet and proposed strict bail conditions, which she likened to home detention.
Those conditions included her client being unable to access the internet unless in the presence of his lawyers, wearing an electronic monitoring device, avoiding childcare centres and surrendering his passport.
Brooke Houen says the case will require "significant" legal advice given the volume of files seized by police. (ABC News: Olivana Lathouris)
"There's no allegation of inappropriate in-person behaviour and there's also no allegation of chat rooms, procuring, producing, or anything of that nature," Ms Houen said.
"It's limited entirely to possession."
Ms Houen also said her client would need to seek "significant" legal advice and the case was unlikely to be finalised this year given the volume of material and images which needed to be analysed.
More than a million files seized
Prosecutor Euan Malcolm opposed the bail application, arguing the Crown's case against the doctor was "extremely strong".
Mr Malcolm told the court that of the more than 1 million files which had been retrieved from the man's devices, the "majority comprised child abuse material".
He said the man was "somewhat forthcoming to police" about his "voyeuristic addiction" and had made admissions to police about his "habitual viewing" of child abuse material, allegedly spanning more than a decade.
Justice Meredith Huntingford agreed to order a bail assessment report before ruling on the application later this month. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)
"At the same time, the applicant says that he did not think what he was doing was illegal as the material was obtained from the internet," he said.
Mr Malcolm said the man's alleged behaviour was indicative of "some lack of impulse control" and without "intensive intervention" there was a "high risk" to community safety.
Justice Meredith Huntingford agreed to order a bail assessment report but told Ms Houen not to "read into" that decision.
The case will return to court on August 10 for a final decision on whether the man will be released.
