Page 2081 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 8 May 2012
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Amendment No 4 is for a proposed new section 132ZO(3). Where protected information is provided to a person with parental responsibility for a child who has been identified at risk, this new section will include an obligation on the Chief Police Officer to advise this person in writing of the new secrecy offence at section 132ZOA.
Amendment No 5 inserts two new offences. These offences will apply to prescribed entities and people with parental responsibility for a child at risk who are provided with protected information under sections 132ZN and 132ZO. The offence at 132ZO(2)(a) will apply if a prescribed entity or person with parental responsibility for a child at risk makes a record of the protected information that has been provided to them.
To satisfy the elements of the offence, it must be proved that the person was reckless about whether the information was protected information. The offence at 132ZOA(2)(b) will apply if the person does something that divulges the protected information and that person is reckless about the information being protected information and also reckless that the doing of the thing would result in the information being divulged. These offences will be punishable by imprisonment for six months, 50 penalty units, or both.
This offence recognises that there are a number of circumstances in which the offence should not apply. Sections (3) to (6) detail these circumstances, which include if the information is divulged for law enforcement functions or activities under another territory law. This new offence engages a number of rights in the ACT’s Human Rights Act. The offence engages and supports the section 12 right to privacy and reputation and places limitations on the section 16 right to freedom of expression and the section 18 right to liberty and security of the person.
The offence will support the right to privacy and reputation by providing protection to registrable offenders where the Chief Police Officer has provided protected information about them to a prescribed entity or person with parental responsibility. The offence supports this right by ensuring that the information is kept secret.
This offence will limit the rights of people from prescribed entities and people with parental responsibility by requiring those people to keep the information secret. This limitation is proportionate as the limitation is strictly limited to the divulging of protected information about a person and there is a clear link between the limitation and the purpose of the offence.
Finally, amendment 6 will introduce new chapter 10 to the Child Sex Offenders Act. New chapter 10 will provide transitional provisions to ensure that registrable offenders who are serving a sentence of periodic detention when the bill commences are required to commence their reporting obligations while serving their sentence of periodic detention. New section 202 will require the Chief Police Officer to give an affected registrable offender a reporting obligation notice not later than seven days after the commencement of the bill. An affected registrable offender is defined at new section 201 as a registrable offender who, immediately before the commencement day, is serving a periodic detention period of a sentence of imprisonment.
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