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Created by the AFP’s National Missing Persons Coordination Centre, the MissingPersons.gov.au Facebook page will be the leading online community for missing persons issues across the country.

It will aim to profile long-term missing persons cases from State and Territory police forces, provide facts and dispel myths about missing persons investigations.

Ultimately, it will create a network for families of missing persons to engage with, to complement family forums such as Leave a Light On and the Missing Persons Advocacy Network.

With more and more people going online to engage with their community, there is no better time to launch the Missing Persons Facebook Page.

According to the latest research, more than 38,000 people are reported missing each year. Across Australia, more than 2,000 people are classified as long-term missing persons – those who have been missing for three months or more.

The launch of this new page today will bring the impacts of the missing persons right to the forefront of the Australian community.

Today, for the launch, I was joined by Eileen and Neil Fahey, whose son Anthony Fahey went missing in Belconnen almost four years ago when he boarded a bus from Canberra bound for Sydney but was never seen again.

This sharing of experiences will be a vital part of the missingpersons.gov.au Facebook page, and I encourage all Australians to join the page and engage in the conversation.