Bills

Child Sex Offenders Registration (Public Register) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:40): 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) (15:40): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today, I introduce the Child Sex Offenders Registration (Public Register) Amendment Bill 2024, fulfilling a commitment made by the government during the election campaign. The commitment was to create a three-tiered scheme for public access to information on the child sex offender register, based on the Western Australian disclosure model. The Western Australian model operates as a limited public disclosure scheme and has three tiers as follows:

tier 1: a website providing photographs and personal details of reportable offenders who have either failed to comply with their reporting obligations or provided false or misleading information to police, and whose location or whereabouts is not known to police;

tier 2: upon application, publication of photographs of dangerous and high-risk offenders in the applicant's locality; and

tier 3: Community Protection Disclosure Scheme, allowing a parent or guardian of a child to inquire about a specific person who has regular contact with their child.

The South Australian disclosure scheme follows the Western Australian model and is established via amendments to the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006. In relation to tier 1 of the model, the publication of the photos and information on registrable offenders who have not fulfilled their reporting requirements and whose location is unknown is already available under the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act.

Part 5B of the act provides that the commissioner may publish on a website maintained by the commissioner any or all personal details of the registrable offender (other than a registrable offender who is a child) if the commissioner is satisfied that the registrable offender has failed to comply with his or her reporting obligations, or has provided false or misleading information and the registrable offender's whereabouts are unknown.

The purpose of the publication of the information is to find the wanted registrable offender and to keep the community informed. As these existing provisions effectively replicate tier 1 of the WA model, it was determined that no further legislative amendments were required to implement tier 1.

The amendments to implement tier 2 will allow the South Australian police, subject to an approved application, to provide photographs of a dangerous and high-risk offender in an applicant's suburb or surrounding area. This is consistent with the operation of tier 2 of the Western Australian disclosure model and is primarily for the purposes of enhanced public awareness and safety.

Locality is defined in the same way as in the Western Australian legislation, meaning a description of the general locality, such as the town or suburb in which the person resides. Applicants are restricted to offenders located in the locality of the applicant's residential premises. An applicant cannot request searches for addresses (such as a workplace address).

The ability to request information on registrable offenders in tier 2 will be restricted to certain categories of offender. Information may be released where the registrable offender (other than an offender who is a child):

(a) after becoming a registrable offender the registrable offender commits and is found guilty of a further—

(i) class 1 offence; or

(ii) class 2 offence; or

(iii) other sexual offences committed against a child; or

(b) the registrable offender—

(i) has committed and been found guilty of a prescribed offence; and

(ii) is subject to an extended supervision order under the Criminal Law (High Risk Offenders) Act 2015, but does not apply to registrable offender if a court has ordered that the registrable offender's image not be distributed; or

(c) the commissioner is satisfied that the offender poses a risk to the lives or sexual safety of one or more person, or persons generally.

Tier 3 will establish a parental disclosure scheme whereby the commissioner may provide a parent or guardian of a child with information about a specific person who has regular unsupervised contact with their child. This information is provided to better place a parent or guardian in a position to take appropriate steps to safeguard their children if necessary. An equivalent tier exists in the Western Australian scheme.

For a tier 3 disclosure, a person may apply to the commissioner to be informed whether or not a person specified in an application, other than a person who is a child, is a registrable offender. If satisfied that the specific person has regular unsupervised contact with a child of whom the applicant is a parent or guardian, the commissioner may inform the applicant whether or not the person is a registrable offender.

The parent or guardian making the application must provide their full details, the child or children's details, the identity of the person of interest, and the level of contact that person has with the child or children in order for the commissioner to be satisfied that the specified person has regular unsupervised contact with a child. This is intended to operate in addition to the existing provisions in the CSOR Act that require registrable offenders to notify parents, guardians or responsible adults of their registrable offender status. Serious penalties apply for a breach of these provisions.

There are offences included in the bill to prohibit a person from publishing or otherwise distributing information they have obtained through an application for information under tier 2 or tier 3 of the register. It is important to discourage vigilantism or the targeting of registrable offenders by members of the public. Members of the public who have concerns about the safety of a child or children should contact police in the ordinary way and avoid taking the law into their own hands.

It is also important to note that there is an express provision which makes it clear that the commissioner is not required to provide any information if it would identify, directly or indirectly, a child who is under the care of the minister. The commissioner must, however, consider when assessing applications whether the provision of information would identify a victim of the offence. Offender photograph and locality information will also not be provided for a registrable offender who is a child or where the terms of a court order provide that the registrable offender's details are not to be published.

These provisions have been drafted to be consistent with the existing provisions of the CSOR Act providing for tier 1 of the scheme, where the commissioner currently exercises his discretion in determining whether information should be provided, considering the safety of a child victim. Beyond setting up this three-tiered publication scheme, the bill also makes some further changes to the CSOR Act to further protect against predator harms of children.

Existing section 66M of the CSOR Act contains a power for police to search the premises and electronic devices located at the premises of a serious registrable offender for the purposes of ensuring that the offenders are complying with their obligations under the CSOR Act. However, police do not currently have the ability to search the electronic devices of offenders away from their residences, nor do they have the ability to use search powers in relation to registrable offenders who do not fall within the definition of serious registrable offender.

To be clear, this is a significant gap in the ability of law enforcement to ensure registrable offenders are in compliance with the CSOR Act and, without this power, there may be risks to children that go undetected. We will amend the law to close this gap and ensure that SAPOL is able to search electronic devices away from the residential premises of the offender, and extend the existing search power to all registrable offenders. In addition, there is an amendment to clarify the way in which reporting requirements apply to foreign registrable offenders.

A foreign registrable offender is currently defined as an offender who was convicted in a foreign jurisdiction for an offence which entails reporting obligations in that foreign jurisdiction and is not the equivalent of a class 1 or class 2 offence under the CSOR Act. Where the offence is the equivalent of a class 1 or class 2 offence, the offender is a registrable offender under the CSOR Act and South Australian reporting periods apply. There are very few offences, if any, that are not equivalent to class 1 or class 2 offences, and this means that the concept of a foreign registrable offender is rendered meaningless.

It is common across all other jurisdictions to apply the home jurisdiction's reporting period to offenders. The difference in these approaches causes confusion and difficulty in applying the correct reporting periods to offenders convicted outside South Australia and, therefore, the CSOR Act will be amended to correct this. The amendments correct the anomaly to make it clear that for offenders convicted in foreign jurisdictions, they should have the reporting requirements imposed by their home jurisdictions applied to them in the event that they are in South Australia.

This bill will continue the government's tough approach to child sex offenders and will help make sure we are doing all we can to have children kept safe from predators. 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

The definition of foreign registrable offence is amended such that any offence, committed against a child, which is specified in a corresponding law as an offence which results in the offender being required to report information about themself in the jurisdiction in which the corresponding law is in force will fall within its meaning. By removing the requirement that foreign registrable offences not be registrable offences under the Act, offenders who commit offences in foreign jurisdictions which have analogous offences in the State will now be considered foreign registrable offenders under the Act, rather than simply registrable offenders.

4—Amendment of section 7—Who is a foreign registrable offender?

In order for a person to be considered a foreign registrable offender under section 7 currently, a person has to have been sentenced in a foreign jurisdiction for a foreign registrable offence of a prescribed class, and would, if they were in that foreign jurisdiction, be subject to reporting requirements. This clause amends section 7 to remove the requirement that the foreign registrable offence be of a prescribed class, such that any person who has been sentenced in a foreign jurisdiction for any foreign registrable offence, and who would be subject to a reporting requirement in that jurisdiction were they to be presently in it, is considered a foreign registrable offender.

5—Insertion of sections 66EA to 66ED

New sections 66EA to 66ED are inserted.

66EA—Delegation by Commissioner

Provision is made limiting the power of the Commissioner to delegate certain functions or powers under the Act.

66EB—Commissioner not required to publish or provide information

Provision is made clarifying that nothing in the Part requires the Commissioner to publish or provide information about registrable offenders or any other person.

66EC—Restriction on publication or provision of information about protected witnesses

Provision is made such that the Commissioner is not required or authorised to publish or provide information about protected witnesses.

66ED—Restriction on publication or provision of information about children in care

Provision is made such that the Commissioner is not required to publish information that would identify certain children or young people.

6—Insertion of sections 66FA and 66FB

New sections 66FA and FB are inserted.

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

Provision is made for the Commissioner to have the power to, on application by a person, provide the person with images of certain registrable offenders who live in the same general locality as the person, and in relation to the exercise of the power.

66FB—Commissioner may inform child's parent or guardian whether specified person is a registrable offender

Provision is made for the Commissioner to have the power to, on application by a person, inform the person whether a specified person, who has regular unsupervised contact with a child, is a registrable offender, and in relation to the exercise of the power.

7—Amendment of section 66I—Conduct intended to incite animosity towards or harassment of identified offenders and other people

This clause amends the definition of identified offender in section 66I to include persons who have been identified by the Commissioner under sections 66FA or 66FB.

8—Amendment of section 66J—Publication, display and distribution of identifying information

This clause amends section 66J to extend the definition of identifying information for the purposes of the section such that it includes information published or provided by the Commissioner under the new sections 66FA or 66FB.

9—Amendment of section 66M—Power to enter and search premises

This clause amends section 66M to give police officers power to stop and search serious registrable offenders in addition to their premises. The section heading is amended to reflect this addition.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. L.A. Henderson.