Page 2825 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 August 2015
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This bill makes amendments to address issues raised by ACT Policing relating to the operation of the register and matters arising from national and international discussions about the best way to effectively monitor child sex offenders. For example, the efficacy of the available tools to monitor sex offenders has been the subject of ongoing national discussions. It is important to note that sexual offending against children is an incredibly complex issue and needs to be researched in greater detail.
It is also well documented in international and Australian studies that most child sex offenders are known to their victims. The 2005 Australian Bureau of Statistics personal safety survey indicated that of those who reported having been victimised sexually before the age of 15, 11.1 per cent were victimised by a stranger. More commonly child sexual offences are committed by a relative, a family friend, an acquaintance or neighbour or another known person.
In addition, since the child sex offenders act was notified on 29 June 2005 ACT Policing and their counterparts in other Australian jurisdictions have had the opportunity to assess the effectiveness of their registration schemes in the context of work on the Australian national child offender register and the benefit of information about operational experience in their local contexts. This has resulted in some jurisdictions making changes to their child sex offender laws to address monitoring and reporting issues unique to them. These discussions have provided ACT Policing with the opportunity to assess the effectiveness of our own scheme to identify potential amendments that would support their efforts to ensure and maintain the safety of children in the ACT.
The reforms strike an appropriate balance between the proposed police powers, the rights and safety of children and the community and the rights of registered offenders within the territory’s human rights framework. The development of the proposals within this scheme was greatly assisted by consultation with a broad range of stakeholders including ongoing discussions with ACT Policing, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Human Rights Commission about the operational and human rights implications of the proposals.
The amendments proposed by this bill fall into six broad categories, which are: amendments to introduce entry and search powers including access to encrypted information on an electronic device in relation to registered offenders, amendments to provide a power for the Chief Police Officer to apply for the registration of a previous offender, amendments to provide a power for the Chief Police Officer to apply to remove an offender from the register in limited circumstances, amendments to allow a young offender to apply to a sentencing court to not be registered, amendments to provide powers for the Chief Police Officer to issue public notices in limited circumstances and general amendments to streamline administration of the register.
I now turn briefly to each of these categories of amendment, firstly in relation to entry and search powers. The first category of amendment is the introduction of entry and search powers in relation to registered offenders which can include access to encrypted information on an electronic device. These amendments will allow a senior officer of the rank of sergeant or higher to apply to the Magistrates Court for a warrant for the purposes of verifying personal details reported by registered child sex offenders and confirm compliance with prohibition order conditions where applicable.
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