By Brendan Nicholson and Reko Rennie
A retired Victorian Queen's Counsel and a childcare worker were among 19 men arrested as police cracked a global child porn network that allegedly shared images of abuse "among the worst" seen by investigators.
Retired top-flight Victorian legal figure Neil James Williams, 74, of Newham, is among 19 men arrested across Victoria, NSW and Queensland.
Williams was arrested by Australian Federal Police on October 22 and appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court soon afterwards, where he was granted bail.
He is charged with one count of using a carriage service to access child pornography and one count of knowingly possessing child pornography.
He is due to reappear in the Bendigo Magistrates Court on March 4.
Williams, a NSW police officer and a childcare worker were among the group arrested in Victoria, NSW and Queensland after a year-long investigation.
Six other Victorians arrested are a 40-year-old Bell Park man, a 27-year-old Maldon man, a 56-year-old Altona man, a 66-year-old Northcote man, a 32-year-old Lovely Banks man and a 47-year-old Windsor man.
A Sydney man charged in connection with the child pornography ring allegedly had intercourse with a girl twice when she was aged 13 and four times when she was 14, on one occasion giving her alcohol, according to court documents.
Richard Ngon Fung Lee, 24, gazed around Central Local Court today as he was refused bail by Magistrate Allan Moore.
Lee is charged with six counts of having sex with an underage girl, one of using a carriage service to access child pornography and two of possessing child pornography.
His lawyer, Daniel Sheen, said outside the court that his client was "tired".
He will face court again on December 17.
Australian Federal Police officers say they uncovered 500,000 images and 15,000 videos of child abuse allegedly shared between members of a peer-to-peer online network.
Australian Federal Police acting Deputy Commissioner of Operations Andrew Colvin said two children had been removed from harm as a result of the investigation.
"The videos seized as part of this operation have to be among the worst we have seen," he said.
"Some depicted sexual abuse of children lasting more than two hours."
The AFP said the images and videos included the sexual abuse of children as young as one.
The operation began in December last year after a tip from the Brazilian Federal Police.
The referrals via Interpol have led to the identification of more than 200 potential offenders spanning across 70 countries.
The AFP executed 28 search warrants during the investigation. Nineteen men were arrested and three other matters are being pursued through the courts.
with AAP