Queensland will establish an online public child sex offender register to help keep track of the state’s nearly 4,000 paedophiles and protect children.
New legislation, dubbed Daniel’s Law after schoolboy Daniel Morcombe who was abducted and murdered by a twice-convicted paedophile in 2003, was passed on Thursday to create a database where three tiers of information will be accessible to the public.
Under Tier 1 of the new system, which will be up and running by December, a free-to-use website will list the names, photos and years of birth of child sex offenders released on supervision orders, those who have failed to comply with their orders, and those whose locations are unknown.
Tier 2 will allow Queenslanders to apply to search for high-risk convicted paedophiles in their local area and view their photos, while Tier 3 will allow parents and guardians to apply to check if an individual is on the Queensland Child Protection Register.
Premier David Crisafulli said on Thursday he was making good on an election promise made last year to bring in a public register, saying “Daniel’s legacy will be law”.
“For too long, monsters have been allowed to lurk in the darkness – that ends today,” he said.
“We’re doing what we promised and delivering for Queensland.”
Almost 4,000 “reportable offenders” were on the state’s child protection register as of the end of September, The Courier Mail reported.
Daniel’s parents Bruce and Denise Morcombe said they had been campaigning for a register for 15 years, and hope it will now “go national”. Western Australia already has a Community Protection Offender Register, and South Australia is moving to create one.
“If Queensland has an accessible child sex offenders register, and you are one of those monsters, probably on Friday you’d be packing your bags and heading to a state that doesn’t have a register,” Mr Morcombe said.
“It’s time for those states that have been sitting on their hands to actually do something and this becomes national.”
The legislation also includes three new offences intended to prevent vigilantism, with penalties of up to 10 years’ jail for using information to incite violence or harass an offender, and a maximum three years’ jail for sharing information from the register without authorisation.
“I cannot stress highly enough that vigilantism will not be tolerated,” Police Minister Dan Purdie, said.
“The bill is focused on empowering Queenslanders to better protect children, with trust placed in the community to do the right thing and not engage in vigilante behaviour.”
Header image: Mr Purdie, the Morcombes, and Mr Crisafulli (Facebook).
