But it was his own obsession with pornography that saw him charged with accessing and possessing child exploitation material.

His defence barrister, Alyn Doig, told an ACT Supreme Court sentencing on Thursday said the irony had not been lost on his client.

Honeyman, 65, pleaded guilty to charges of accessing and possessing child pornography and appeared at a sentence hearing before Justice Hilary Penfold on Thursday.

An Interpol tip about an Australian accessing a known child pornography website led police to raid the former Questacon employee's home in July 2013.

Police identified 1302 images and 25 videos, stored on four electronic devices, at the home, most of which which had been downloaded between May 2010 and June 2013.

More than 90 per cent of the material fell into the lowest-level category of seriousness, with another 5 per cent falling into level two grouping.

But 14 files were classified in the "most heinous" category, which includes bestiality and sadism.

Court documents said search terms used by Honeyman - whose twitter profile listed him as Questacon's manager of Inspiring Australia Strategy and Partnerships - were also located by police in his internet browser history.

The court heard police estimated about 300-400 child victims were depicted in the material Honeyman possessed.

Honeyman made a number of admissions when questioned by police, including that he had accessed and saved the child pornography.

The defendant told officers that he understood child sexual exploitation was a serious issue, and that his intellectual view and faith meant he believed the material was "terrible".

He admitted he had used the images for personal gratification.

The court on Thursday heard Honeyman had been fighting a long-standing battle with pornography use at the time of the offending.

Mr Doig said his client, at the time of the offending, had been involved in a church-based group dealing with addiction, which included addiction to pornography.

He said Honeyman had tried to address his addiction through this setting, but failed anyway.

The defence said the defendant had worked to rehabilitate himself over the past two years, which included regular psychiatric treatment.

Mr Doig argued his client's sentence should allow him to continue this rehabilitation, which he could pursue full-time since he retired mid-year.

"He is a man who warrants consideration to sentencing that would allow him to remain at liberty," Mr Doig said.

But the Commonwealth prosecutor argued the offences required an immediate term of full-time imprisonment.

The Crown argued nothing in Honeyman's circumstances had been unusual and a suspended sentence would not be appropriate.

Justice Penfold will hand down sentence next month.