SIMON Corbell says police will have better powers to manage registered child sex offenders under proposed amendments to the ACT’s child sex offender laws introduced in the Legislative Assembly today.

“The amendments to the ACT’s child sex offender laws will assist ACT Policing to more effectively monitor registered offenders and administer the child sex offender register,” Simon said.

“These reforms will also provide enhanced support to police for the investigation of child sex offences.

“The proposals have been developed based on the ACT experience of child sex offence issues and in the context of collaborative work with other jurisdictions on the Australian National Child Offender Register.”

The amendments fall into six broad categories:

• amendments to introduce entry and search powers (including access to encrypted information on an electronic device) in relation to registrable offenders;
• amendments to provide a power for the Chief Police Officer to apply for the registration of a certain previous offender;
• amendments to provide a power for the Chief Police Officer to apply to remove an offender from the register in limited circumstances;
• amendments to allow a young offender to apply to a sentencing court to not be registered;
• amendments to provide powers for the Chief Police Officer to issue public notices with the name, photograph and description of a registered offender in limited circumstances; and
• general amendments to streamline administration of the register.

“This Bill has been carefully considered with the purposes of the Crimes (Child Sex Offenders) Act 2005 in mind, and with specific attention given to the overarching objective of protecting children in the ACT.

“While the reforms engage human rights, any limitations have been carefully balanced by supporting andpromoting the rights of children and others in our community.

“Importantly, the government is engaged in continuing discussions with ACT Policing, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Human Rights Commission about the operational and human rights implications of the proposals,” Mr Corbell said.