Child Sex Offenders

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding child sex offenders in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: During the third annual Operation Child Safe, police searched 161 homes and seized 80 devices of serious child sex offenders in South Australia who are already listed on the national register. As a result of this blitz, 46 arrests were made after photographs and videos of children and drug paraphernalia were discovered, as I said, for people already listed on the register.

Six people were charged with possessing child exploitation material, some others were charged with failing to inform police that they had been in contact with the child, and some 32 were charged for not advising police when they had created a new email or social media account, or if they had purchased or sold a vehicle. Police have told media outlets, including The Advertiser, that further charges could still be laid as a result of these operations. My questions to the Attorney-General are:

1. Given the substantial amount of breaches detected by police in this latest exercise, is he satisfied that an annual check on every child sex offender in South Australia listed on the national register is actually sufficient in order to detect breaches? If not, should it be more frequent?

2. Given the Child Sex Offenders Registration (Public Register) Amendment Bill has now passed state parliament, when can South Australians finally expect to see a public child sex offender register here in South Australia, operating and accessible to the community?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:14): I thank the honourable member for his question. I acknowledge, congratulate and applaud the South Australia Police for their work in conducting checks on registered child sex offenders. Do I think that a check, however frequent it is, of registered child sex offenders is enough to keep South Australia safe? No, I do not, and that is exactly why we have passed Australian-leading legislation in relation to dangerous child sex offenders.

We have passed legislation in this parliament that will make it the case that a serious child sex offender, receiving a second sentence of jail time, will spend the rest of their life in prison, unless they can convince a court through two independently, court-appointed medical professionals that they are willing and able to control their sexual instincts. Nowhere else in Australia has anything like this, and we are unapologetic for the very harsh sanctions for serious child sex offenders.

Keeping child sex offenders like this locked up for the rest of their lives, until they can convince a court that they should be let out because they can now control their sexual instincts, and then subject to the potential of lifetime electronic monitoring, means that for these sorts of offences the police will not need to check annually (or at any time at all) because they will still be behind bars where they should be in those circumstances.

In addition, as the honourable member referred to, very recently this parliament passed an election commitment in relation to a child sex offender register in South Australia. We are now liaising, continuing as we did while it was before parliament but now that it has passed, in particular with SAPOL about its establishment. That will allow a three-tier possibility of a public child sex offender register. Firstly, if people are failing to meet their reporting obligations, it will allow SAPOL to publish a picture of that child sex offender.

Secondly, someone can make an application to see if there is a registered child sex offender living in their suburb or town. Thirdly, it allows a parent or caregiver, who has a child who has regular unsupervised contact with an adult, to make an application to see whether that person is a registered child sex offender. While I applaud and congratulate SAPOL for the work they do in checking on registered child sex offenders, that in itself is not enough and we have certainly taken some of the firmest action that we have taken in a very long time—and certainly that any parliament has taken—particularly with the indefinite detention of serious child sex offenders in South Australia.