Queensland parliament has passed laws to create the state’s first public register of some child sexual abusers, with the new legislation named in memory of child murder victim Daniel Morcombe.
The move adds momentum to a campaign by Daniel’s parents, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, for a national register. The couple founded the child safety education charity the Daniel Morcombe Foundation after the murder of their 13-year-old son in 2003 by paedophile Brett Peter Cowan.
On Thursday, Bruce said: “We hope the Daniel’s law will go national”.
“If Queensland has an child 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,” he said.
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“Maybe it’s time for those states that have been sitting on their hands to actually do something.”
The Morcombes said they were “incredibly proud to see Daniel’s legacy is so powerful and will keep Queensland children safe for generations to come”.
The premier, David Crisafulli, said it was a “monumental day, not just for the Morcombe’s who have shown amazing strength in their advocacy for these laws for over a decade, but for every family in Queensland”.
“Families previously had no idea if convicted predators were living on their street or even next door, but this tool will help prevent monsters from hiding in plain sight,” he said.
“While no system will ever be perfect, these new laws will help parents protect our children, who can’t protect themselves.”
Only one state, Western Australia, currently has an operational sex offender register that allows parents and guardians to make inquiries with WA police about any person who has unsupervised contact with their child or children. South Australia has also recently moved to create one.
Queensland’s laws will grant access to information about people on the existing sex offender register currently only accessible to police in three ways, similar to the WA model.
The police commissioner will post images and “particular personal details” of offenders who have breached reporting requirements and whose whereabouts are unknown on a public website, under the first tier.
Tier two allows Queensland residents to apply to temporarily view facial images of reportable offenders living in their suburb or small town.
Parents and guardians can also ask the register if a person with unsupervised contact with their child is a convicted sexual offender.
Three new offences will be created to prevent the misuse of information or acts of vigilantism.
“I cannot stress highly enough that vigilantism will not be tolerated,” the 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.”
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Child sexual abuse prevention service Bravehearts supported the legislation but told a parliamentary inquiry into the bill that it risked giving parents a “false sense of security”. Only 6% of convicted child sexual offenders were able to be included in the WA scheme, it said.
It cited decades of research showing that most offences were committed by people who would never be convicted, including the Australian Child Maltreatment Study, which says about one in three Australian girls and one in five boys had experienced some form of sexual abuse – far above national conviction statistics.
A 2021 meta analysis of 25 years of studies representing 474,640 incarcerated individuals demonstrated that similar policies “demonstrate no effect on recidivism” by previously convicted offenders.
In a submission to the bill’s parliamentary inquiry, Bravehearts recommended “greater attention” to adopting the circles of support and accountability model, a reintegration model for sex abusers leaving jail, which has been shown to dramatically reduce recidivism by the worst sex offenders. A 2018 study showed that the scheme reduced recidivism in Minnesota by 88%.
Experts have previously told the Guardian that Australia has among the world’s weakest child sexual abuse prevention systems, due to a reluctance to adopt similar policies.
Victims of crime group Voices for Victims supported the legislation but told the parliamentary inquiry they were concerned the register might inadvertently identify victims of child sexual abuse and cause collateral impacts such as stigma or harassment of families and their children.
Parliament overrode the state’s Human Rights Act to pass the laws, with the government conceding that the legislation may “impact the ability for those offenders to move and live freely in their communities out of fear of harassment or embarrassment”.
