THERE will be harsher penalties for child sex offenders with new legislation set to be introduced in March.
The state government is currently well-advanced in the drafting stage of the legislation, which would see serious repeat child sex offenders subject to indefinite imprisonment and face lifetime electronic monitoring.
Under amendments to the Sentencing Act 2017, if a paedophile is jailed for a second time for a serious child sexual offence, they will be automatically sentenced to indefinite detention.
An offender would then need to be able to demonstrate to a court that they can control their sexual instincts to be considered for release, and in those circumstances, the offender would face lifetime electronic monitoring if they re-enter the community.
The state government has already introduced a number of tough new changes to child sex offender laws, including:
– Increasing penalties for a range of child sex abuse offences, such as increasing the maximum penalty for gross indecency with or in the presence of a child from five to 15 years.
– Slashing sentencing discounts available for pleading guilty to possession of child exploitation material or child-like sex dolls, and strengthening bail laws.
– Introducing legislation to ban child sex offenders from working in places that also hire underage employees, such as hospitality or retail.
– Strengthened Carly’s Law, so that tough penalties apply to offenders who communicate online with police officers posing as fictitious children.
The state government is taking implementing the new laws seriously, with premier Peter Malinauskas confirming they are taking strong action to protect the community.
“Our community is rightly sick of seeing paedophiles offending again and again and then being released back into the community,” he said.
He said the state government will fast-track the introduction of the laws, which will be the toughest of their kind in the country.
“I want to be clear, dangerous repeat offender paedophiles should not be in our community where they pose a risk to children,” Malinauskas said.
“These laws will keep them locked up in jail, where they belong.”
Attorney-General Kyam Maher showed support for the tougher laws.
“These tough new laws are the latest in a series of measures from the Malinauskas Government to crack down on child sex offenders,” he said.
“This includes increasing penalties, slashing sentencing discounts and banning child sex offenders from working in places which also hire underage employees.
“Now we are introducing indefinite detention for repeat offenders and lifetime electronic monitoring for those who are released back into the community.”
