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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-04 Daily Xml
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CHILD SEX OFFENDERS REGISTRATION (REGISTRATION OF INTERNET ACTIVITIES) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Second reading.

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON (16:48): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Child Sex Offenders Registration Act was passed in 2006 by this parliament. It is an act which establishes a register of child sex offenders. It is designed to prevent registered child sex offenders engaging in child related work and has other purposes as well directed to the same ends.

The essential provisions of this act are that certain persons who have been convicted of sex offences are treated as registrable offenders, and they are required to register certain particulars with police. This amendment which I am moving was proposed in another place by the Hon. Iain Evans, whose idea it is. As he explained in another place, he learnt that a similar provision to that contained in the bill appears in New South Wales, and I certainly commend the Hon. Iain Evans for his diligence in making this discovery and also for moving and having carried in another place the amendment, which is an improvement on the existing provisions.

Under the existing provisions, a registered offender reports a considerable number of matters: his name and address, including previous names (I am here using 'his' but the legislation applies to women as well); in respect of each name other than the current name, the period during which the person was known by that name must be specified; date of birth; address of usual residence; the names and ages of children who generally reside in the same household; if the person is working, the nature of the work, the name of the employer and the address of each premises at which the person generally works; details of affiliations with clubs and organisations that have child membership or child participation; the make, model, colour and registration number of any motor vehicle owned or generally driven by the person; details of tattoos or permanent distinguishing marks that they have; whether they have ever been found guilty in a foreign jurisdiction of a registrable offence; whether they have been in government custody since they were sentenced; their travel plans, if they intend to travel outside South Australia on an average of at least once a month; the general reasons for their travelling; and the frequency and destination of their travel.

So, it will be appreciated that considerable details are required to be registered. The omission that this bill seeks to redress is in recognition of the fact that these days, according to all reports that members will have seen, the internet is largely used by child sex offenders to groom and to contact children, persons or minors for their own prurient interests. Because the internet is so widely used for these purposes, it seems odd that one is required to give one's name, address and telephone number and all that sort of detail but not details of internet services to which the person is a subscriber.

Accordingly, the amendment will insert into the details required of registrable offenders the following: details of any carriage service within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act of the commonwealth used or intended to be used by the person, that is, their telephone number or any other service they use, mobile or land line; details of any internet service provider or provider of carriage service used or intended to be used by the person; details of the type of internet connection used or intended to be used, including whether the connection is wireless broadband, ADSL or dial-up connection; details of any email addresses, internet user names, instant messenger user names, chat room user names or any other user name or identity used or intended to be used by the person through the internet; and any other information prescribed by regulations.

Generally speaking, the Liberal Party is not in favour of including in legislation of this kind provisions by way of regulation. We prefer to see requirements inserted into legislation where they are subject to due parliamentary debate and scrutiny and can be amended. However, given the speed with which technology is changing in this area, and the difficulty of sometimes getting legislation onto the Notice Paper and passed, we agree on this occasion that it is appropriate to enable regulations, which are of course disallowable by either house, to extend the operation of these particular provisions. The Hon. Iain Evans discovered that this sensible, practical measure has been implemented elsewhere and we seek the support of all members of the council to the rapid passage of this important improvement in this new system.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. B.V. Finnigan.

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