Child Sex Offenders Registration (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills, Minister for Police) (21:40): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today I introduce the Child Sex Offenders Registration (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025. This bill follows the passage of the Child Sex Offenders Registration (Public Register) Amendment Act 2024 (Public Register Amendment Act) last year which gives effect to the government's election commitment to implement a three-tiered public child sex offenders register based on the model used in Western Australia.

This bill makes a clarifying amendment to the operation of the public register, as well as several miscellaneous amendments to the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006, which was suggested by South Australia Police during the course of the development of the public register to improve the operation of the act.

I will now briefly outline the amendments included in the bill. One amendment relates to the operation of the government's public child sex offender register, set to commence in the coming months. This amendment clarifies the operation of section 66FA newly inserted by the Public Register Amendment Act, which relates to the intended operation of tier 2 of the public register—the locality search.

To be eligible for inclusion in tier 2, a registrable offender must have committed a further class 1 or 2 offence after becoming a registrable offender. This amendment clarifies that it is not relevant whether the further offence was committed before or after the commencement of the amendment act. In relation to the remaining miscellaneous amendments to the act, an amendment will be made to section 4 to include a single conviction for an offence of sexual abuse of a child under section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 within the definition of 'repeat registrable offender', and, related to this, a consequential amendment will be made to section 34 to provide that an offender convicted of sexual abuse of a child under section 50 will have lifetime reporting obligations.

The elements of the sexual abuse of a child offence in section 50 of the CLCA include two or more unlawful sexual acts committed against a child over any period of time. The horrific nature of this type of offending, which can often comprise ongoing abuse occurring over weeks or months, means that even if the conviction is for a single count of sexual abuse of a child, at least two unlawful sexual acts have occurred.

The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment, placing it in the very worst category of offences on the statute book. The government agrees with SAPOL's view that because multiple unlawful sexual acts are required for a conviction for a section 50 offence, a single conviction should be treated as though it was multiple offences for the purposes of the act. This means that an offender convicted of a section 50 offence will be required to comply with lifetime reporting requirements and may also be subject to the additional requirements that can be placed on serious registrable offenders, such as electronic monitoring.

There is also an amendment to section 4 of the act to define the term 'separate occasion' to aid an interpretation of when offences are considered to have occurred on separate occasions for the purpose of various operations under the scheme.

The amendment to the section heading of section 13 to remove the word 'initial' from the heading 'Initial report by a registrable offender of personal details', is a minor technical amendment to keep the heading consistent with the body of the section as section 13 also contains requirements for ongoing reporting.

There is a further amendment being made to section 13 to include social media handles to the list of personal details that registrable offenders need to provide to police in their initial report. This is important to ensure that SAPOL can check registrable offenders' social media when conducting compliance checks and to ensure that no prohibited contact with children is being made by a registrable offender via social media.

An amendment will be made to section 16 to provide that offenders exiting custody only need to provide SAPOL with any changes to personal details rather than a whole new initial report, if they have provided new personal details within the last six months. This amendment will assist in avoiding unnecessary administrative work on the part of SAPOL and allow them to redirect their resources to other things such as monitoring compliance of offenders.

An amendment will be made to section 21 to allow the Commissioner of Police to specify that any report under the act must be made within a particular time period, such as during business hours, in order to assist with staff scheduling at police stations. An amendment will also be made to section 66M to increase the penalty for failing to provide passwords, codes or information to assist police to gain access to data stored on a computer or other device from two years' imprisonment to $25,000 or five years' imprisonment.

The penalty increase is aimed at providing further deterrence to registrable offenders seeking to avoid providing passwords to access electronic devices or accounts. SAPOL advised that if a registrable offender knows that the device contains child exploitation material, they may choose to commit the offence of failing to provide access to the device, which has a much lower penalty than the penalty for possessing child exploitation material. The penalty increase in the bill closes the gap further between the child exploitation material penalty and the penalty for this offence, providing a disincentive for the offender to refuse access to their devices.

The amendment to schedule 2 allows for the disclosure of information to law enforcement or prosecution authorities for the purposes of investigating or prosecuting offences under the act. Currently, disclosure is permitted to investigate registrable offences, but not the offences within the act itself such as breaching reporting obligations.

The bill also contains an amendment to include the offence of indecent filming where the victim was under 17 years of age as a class 2 offence. This recategorisation was considered appropriate as indecent filming is an offence of a sexual nature and where the victim was a child. It is the government's view that it is appropriate to list it as a class 2 offence, which would, for example, mean that it could now be a relevant offence to classify a person as a registrable child sex offender if they are imprisoned for that offence.

Finally, a further amendment will clarify that an order to suspend lifetime reporting requirements under section 38 will cease to operate if the registrable offender is charged with a class 1 or class 2 offence. This is to ensure that there is no gap in reporting requirements once there is sufficient evidence of further offending behaviour such that police have decided to lay charges against a registrable offender.

The amendments contained in this bill will help ensure that the act is fit for purpose and that SAPOL can undertake their vital work in ensuring registrable offenders are complying with their obligations under the act, protecting the children of South Australia. I commend the bill to members and seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006

3—Amendment of section 4—Interpretation

This clause amends the definition of registrable repeat offender to include persons who have been convicted of an offence against section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935, and also establishes that for the purposes of the Act, multiple offences which arise from the same incident will not be taken as having occurred on separate occasions.

4—Amendment of section 13—Initial report by registrable offender of personal details

This clause amends section 13(1)(p) of the Act by adding a requirement that a registrable offender must, in addition to providing details of any passwords used by the person, provide details of the accounts to which such passwords relate, as well as the details of any social media accounts used by the person.

5—Amendment of section 16—Registrable offender must report changes to relevant personal details

Section 16(4) of the Act currently provides that a registrable offender in custody for 7 or more consecutive days must report their personal details to the Commissioner within 7 days after ceasing to be in custody or before leaving South Australia, whichever occurs first. This clause amends section 16 of the Act by providing that in circumstances where such a registrable offender has, within the prior 6 month period, reported their personal details to the Commissioner, the registrable offender only needs to report to the Commissioner any changes to those details.

6—Amendment of section 21—Where report is to be made

This clause amends section 21 of the Act such that the Commissioner will be able to specify that reports are to be made on certain days, or between certain times. The heading of the section is also amended to reflect that the section now concerns more than just where a report is to be made.

7—Amendment of section 34—Length of reporting period

This clause amends section 34 of the Act to provide that the reporting period for a person who has been convicted of an offence against section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 is the remainder of the person's life.

8—Amendment of section 42—Cessation of order

Section 42(1) provides for a list of circumstances where an order made under Part 3 Division 6 of the Act will cease to have effect. This clause amends that list to include where a registrable offender is charged with a class 1 or class 2 offence. Section 42(2) is also amended to provide that such an order will be revived if the charge against the registrable offender that caused the order to cease to have effect is withdrawn or otherwise discontinued, or the registrable offender is found not guilty in respect of the charge.

9—Amendment of section 43—Application for new order

This clause make amendments consequential to the amendments to section 42 of the Act made by clause 8.

10—Amendment of section 66FA—Commissioner may provide person with image of certain registrable offenders

This clause amends section 66FA of the Act to clarify the application of the section, making it clear that the section applies in relation to offences committed before or after the commencement of the section.

11—Amendment of section 66M—Powers of entry, search etc

This clause amends the penalty applicable to section 66M(3), increasing it to $25,000 or 5 years imprisonment.

12—Amendment of section 73—Regulations

This clause amends section 73 of the Act to provide for the making of fee notices under the Legislation (Fees) Act 2019. The heading of the section is amended to reflect the new additions.

13—Amendment of Schedule 1—Class 1 and 2 offences

This clause adds to the list of Class 2 offences an offence against section 26D of the Summary Offences Act 1953 (indecent filming) in circumstances where the person being filmed was under 18 years old.

14—Amendment of Schedule 2—Information disclosure principles

This clause expands the circumstances where personal information about a registrable offender may be disclosed without authorisation to include where the disclosure is made to a law enforcement or prosecution authority of the State or another jurisdiction and is reasonably required for the purpose of investigating a suspected offence against the Act.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (21:47): I rise to indicate I am the lead speaker and I indicate the opposition's support for the bill. That will come as no surprise to the government, this bill having been introduced by the Attorney in another place and not all that very long ago this year.

The minister has read the government speech onto the Hansard. It sets out the range of amendments that the bill makes, and I will briefly address some remarks along the lines of those made in another place by the Leader of the Opposition there. There are, as the minister indicated, a series of amendments to strengthen our child sex offender laws, and, as the opposition has consistently pointed out, that should be approached neither lightly nor should it be the subject of politicisation.

We are, in this place, at one when it comes to that most important responsibility of protecting children. There is no room for leniency, and certainly no room for tolerance of those who prey upon them. The community, South Australians, expect that those who commit these crimes are properly, reliably monitored—and for life, if necessary. Our laws need to, because they are practical measures, keep pace with how offenders are operating, including electronically and online in its whole variety of forms.

Practically, the bill is doing several necessary things. It is ensuring that anyone who is convicted of sexually abusing a child under section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act is automatically deemed a serious, registerable offender meaning lifelong reporting obligations from that first conviction. It also allows the Commissioner of Police to publish the details of offenders on the public register, even for offending that occurred before the register is established. Offenders will now be required to provide details of their social media accounts to police to prevent them from hiding online activity.

The bill also gives SAPOL more flexibility to direct offenders when and where to report and increases penalties for those who refuse to hand over passwords or access to their devices, lifting the maximum sentence from two years to five years for that conduct. If an offender who has been granted a reporting exemption is later charged with another serious sex offence then that exemption automatically expires. The bill also adds, as the minister has indicated, indecent filming of a child as a class 2 offence and expands the ability for police and law enforcement agencies to share critical information to keep the public safe.

These are practical, necessary and sensible measures. It is not a matter of punishment for punishment's sake but about public safety and deterrence. We must remember who this law is for and it is not for the offenders, it is for the children who have already been hurt and those we have a duty to protect from ever being harmed again. The Liberal opposition is steadfast in its wholehearted support for the bill. I commend it to the house.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills, Minister for Police) (21:51): I move:

That this bill now be read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.