Serial Child Sex Offenders

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:07): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Attorney-General regarding serial child sex offenders.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: It was recently reported that Brandon Michael Jacobs, a serial sex offender who communicated with numerous undercover police believing they were the parents of children he was attempting to seduce, was denied assistance from an intervention centre for sex offenders a year prior to this offending. Jacobs pleaded guilty to five counts of communicating to make a child amenable to sexual activity, three counts of disseminating and one count of possessing child exploitation material. He was arrested in May this year after police searched his home and seized his electronic devices which contained the messages and child exploitation material.

Jacobs was sentenced, appropriately, to five years and six months in prison with a non-parole period of four years and five months, which was backdated to his arrest in May. During the judgement—and this is the most important point I wish to make—the judge stated:

In 2022, you attended at Owenia House to seek assistance. Regretfully, you were not accepted into the program on account of your substance abuse and an apparent belief that you would not be able to complete the program due to the potential for you committing further offences and [also] being convicted. It is unfortunate in that you realised you needed help to prevent you from offending the way that you have done.

My questions to the Attorney are:

1. Is the Attorney aware of any other cases of child sex offenders being denied treatment prior to their offending in South Australia?

2. If so, is the Attorney concerned that potential child sex offenders are being turned away from treatment in these circumstances prior to their reoffending?

3. What action will the state government take to ensure that this is eliminated?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:09): I understand it is a health or medical rehabilitation facility that the honourable member is referring to. It certainly hasn't been brought to my attention that someone who qualifies for receiving programs has been turned away, but if there is someone I would be keen to understand that.

In terms of whether the person the honourable member refers to would have qualified, I think the honourable member in his question referred to issues of substance abuse. I don't know the details of that particular program and about whether it would in fact have someone having difficulties undertaking a program if they were abusing substances at the time—and it may well do—because that is obviously not an ideal rehabilitation environment.

In terms of serious child sex offenders, the government takes this extraordinarily seriously. We have legislation that has passed and has been implemented that is by far the harshest anywhere in the nation. For a person who receives jail time for a second serious child sex offence, that is then indefinite detention. That is that the person will not get out of jail until two court-appointed independent experts say that the person is now willing and able to control their sexual instincts.

With the help of other members in this chamber, we now have much harsher laws on the ability of registrable serious child sex offenders to be in a work environment with children. We have passed legislation that we are implementing now for a child sex offender register in South Australia. It is an issue we take extraordinarily seriously as a government.