Bills

Child Sex Offenders Registration (Child-Related Work) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:26): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:27): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to introduce the Child Sex Offenders Registration (Child-Related Work) Amendment Bill 2023, a very important piece of legislation. The bill will prevent registered child sex offenders and those accused of registrable child sex offences from working in jobs where they will have contact with underage employees. As a further measure to the suite of reforms that this government has taken to protect South Australian children from child sex offenders, this bill will protect children in our community from being exposed to child sex predators in their place of employment.

Young people are undeniably an important and vibrant part of the South Australian workforce. Many young people have part-time jobs or are earning a qualification through work-based apprenticeships. Like other employees, these young people are entitled to be safe at work and, by their age, to be especially protected in the workplace. There is currently nothing preventing a registered child sex offender from taking a job working alongside or even managing underage employees.

Whilst registered sex offenders are prohibited from applying for engaging in child-related work, at present working in a business that employs children is not considered child-related work. This bill would amend the definition of child-related work in the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006 so that it will include work in a business or undertaking that employs children, where the work would involve contact with a child. Contact with a child includes physical contact, as well as oral or written communications. Therefore, the bill will prevent child sex offenders from working anywhere that has underage employees unless it can be shown that the work involved no contact with the children—for example, if they worked at different times of the day.

Because a wide range of businesses employ young people, exemptions allowing work with children may be appropriate in some circumstances on a case-by-case basis. For example, this may be required if a registered offender was a tradesperson and wished to work at a site that at a point in time also employed one 17-year-old apprentice.

The Child Sex Offenders Registration Act already allows the Commissioner of Police to grant individual exemptions from various requirements placed on the registered offenders. This bill adds to that power, providing that the commissioner may make a declaration allowing the registered child sex offender to work with child employees if the child sex offences committed by the offender were not committed in connection with any child-related work and the commissioner is satisfied the offender does not pose a risk to the safety or wellbeing of children employed in the business or undertaking that constitutes the child-related work. This will also allow the commissioner to conduct a risk assessment of the proposed work and grant an exemption if it is appropriate to do so.

Child-related work is also regulated in the Bail Act. Under the current law, an accused child sex offender's bail agreement must have a condition that they not engage in child-related work. As child-related work in the Bail Act is defined by reference to the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act, the bill will also effectively amend the Bail Act provisions, preventing alleged child sex offenders from work involving contact with child employees whilst the charges are pending. A bail authority may lift this condition if satisfied that the proposed work does not pose a risk to children.

Even if the bail authority sees fit to allow an alleged offender to work with child employees until their charges are determined, the amendments will mean that the alleged offender must inform their employer of the charges. This will ensure that the employer is aware of the situation and allow them to take necessary steps to protect child employees as required.

This bill addresses a serious hole in our current laws that has the potential to place children at the risk of harm in their workplaces. I would particularly like to thank the Hon. Connie Bonaros MLC for raising this issue during a debate on a previous bill and also the SDA SA & NT branch for their public and private advocacy on this important change. The collaborative work from both of these parties with the government on this issue has been highly productive. I commend the bill to members and seek leave to insert the explanation of clauses 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 64—Interpretation

This clause amends the definition of child-related work to include businesses or undertakings in which children are employed.

4—Amendment of section 66B—General power of Commissioner to make declaration

This clause allows the Commissioner to make a declaration exempting an offender from the operation of Part 5 or specified provisions of Part 5 in respect of work that is only child-related work by virtue of the proposed amendment in clause 3 if—

(a) the relevant offences were not committed in connection with any child-related work; and

(b) the Commissioner is satisfied that the offender does not pose a risk to the safety and well-being of children employed in the business or undertaking that constitutes the child-related work.

Schedule 1—Transitional provisions

1—Interpretation

This provision defines certain terms for the purposes of the Schedule.

2—Application of section 65 to certain registrable offenders

This provision allows an exemption of up to 6 months for a registrable offender whose employment is affected by the measure in order to give the person time to apply for a declaration under section 66B.

3—Application of section 66 to persons arrested or reported before commencement

The transitional provision deals with situations where a person arrested or reported for a class 1 or class 2 offence before the commencement of the measure becomes subject to the obligations in section 66 of the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006 by virtue of the proposed amendment in clause 3.

4—Effect of amendment on bail applications

For the purposes of section 11 of the Bail Act 1985, the proposed amendment in clause 3 will only apply to a person who applies for bail on or after the commencement of that clause (regardless of whether the relevant offence was committed before or after that commencement).

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. B.R. Hood.