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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-09 Daily Xml
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Bills

Statutes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:19): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Bail Act 1985, the Child Sex Offences Registration Act 2006, the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 and the Sentencing Act 2017. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:20): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to introduce the Statutes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Bill 2023. This bill progresses a commitment that was made from opposition by this government to close loopholes that make it easier for people who possess child pornography or childlike sex dolls to get bigger sentence discounts or bail. The bill continues the government's commitment to ensuring our laws dealing with child sex offenders are fit for purpose and that they properly account for the harm that this kind of offending does to children.

The government wants to strongly emphasise that possessing this kind of exploitative material is not a victimless crime simply because the offender does not have direct contact with the child. Every time such exploitative images are downloaded or viewed that child is revictimised. The downloading or viewing of this sort of material fuels demand, which then incentivises others to continue to abuse children to generate more material to meet that demand.

The bill amends the Sentencing Act 2017 to provide that possession of child exploitation material and offences involving childlike sex dolls are serious indictable offences for the purposes of the sentence discount provisions. Currently, they are both considered as indictable offences. Under the Sentencing Act, the maximum sentencing discount that can be awarded for a guilty plea is based on when the plea is entered and the seriousness of the offence.

Some serious indictable offences attract less of a sentencing discount than the normal discount, in recognition of the particular harm that these offences cause to the victims and to the community. The government believes that possession of child exploitation material and childlike sex dolls should be considered part of this serious category. This amendment will help to ensure that the sentences given to child exploitation material and childlike sex doll offenders who plead guilty are in line with community expectations and properly reflect the gravity of the offending.

The bill also amends the Bail Act 1985 to legislate a new bail principle that authorities must take into account when considering whether to grant bail to a person charged with child exploitation material or childlike sex doll offences. Under the current law, bail authorities consider the gravity of the charged offence when determining whether someone should be given bail.

The bill provides that, when determining the gravity of an alleged offence involving child exploitation material or childlike sex dolls, bail authorities must take into account the harm that these offences cause to children by continuing to contribute to the demand for child abuse. This principle will ensure that bail authorities consider the particular impact of such possession offences on the indirect victimisation to the child and create a legislative statement of the gravity with which the parliament views this type of offending.

Finally, the bill amends the language used in the child exploitation offences in part 3, division 12 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 so that they better reflect the exploitative nature of the conduct. Currently, the division centres around 'commercial sexual services' offences, being the forcing of a person to provide such services or using a child in such services.

The bill changes this language to 'commercial sexual acts'. The use of the word 'services' is considered inappropriate in the context of these offences. A child or adult who is being sexually exploited for profit is not providing anyone with a 'service'. The language is changed to reflect the exploitative nature of the offending and to be more sensitive to the experiences of victims. Importantly, this amendment will not change the substance of the offence, as the definition of a commercial sexual act is equivalent to the current definition of a commercial sexual service. The bill also amends the Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006 to update references to the commercial sexual services offences to reflect these changes.

I wish to acknowledge the advocacy and the work of the Hon. Connie Bonaros, who has raised issues of language in current statutes that deal with sexual offences, particularly in the debate on the Statutes Amendment (Child Sex Offences) Act 2022, which raised the penalties for some of the aforementioned offences. 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 Bail Act 1985

3—Insertion of section 10AA

This clause inserts a new provision in the Act requiring a bail authority considering a bail application by a person who has been charged with a child sexual material offence to take into account the harm that people who deal with child sexual material cause to children by contributing to demand for the abuse of children in considering the gravity of the offence.

4—Transitional provision

The new provision will apply in relation to a person who applies for bail on or after the commencement of this Part.

Part 3—Amendment of Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006

5—Amendment of Schedule 1—Class 1 and 2 offences

These are consequential to Part 4.

Part 4—Amendment of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935

6—Amendment of heading to Part 3 Division 12

7—Amendment of section 65A—Definitions relating to commercial sexual services

8—Amendment of section 66—Sexual servitude and related offences

9—Amendment of section 67—Deceptive recruiting for commercial sexual services

10—Amendment of section 68—Use of children in commercial sexual services

These clauses make various amendments to remove references to 'commercial sexual services' and to instead use the new terminology of 'commercial sexual acts'.

Part 5—Amendment of Sentencing Act 2017

11—Amendment of section 40—Reduction of sentences for guilty pleas in other cases

This clause makes offences against sections 63AA, 63A and 63AAB of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 'serious sexual offences' for the purposes of section 40.

12—Transitional provision

The amended definition will apply in relation to the sentencing of a person for an offence to which the person pleads guilty on or after the commencement of this Part.

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

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