The Tasmanian Government is committed to providing opportunities for community involvement in the development and ongoing review of Government policy and we are seeking your input on the proposed amendments to the Community Protection Offender Reporting Act 2005 (the Act) in the draft Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Amendment Bill 2023.

What is the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005?

The Act was introduced in 2005 to require offenders convicted of sexual offences to keep police informed of their whereabouts and provide personal details for a period of time whilst registered as reportable offenders.

The current version of the Community Protection Offender Reporting Act 2005 can be found on the Tasmanian Government website at www.legislation.tas.gov.au.

What is the purpose of the Proposed Amendments?

The Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Amendment Bill 2023 has been drafted to align the Act with contemporary national and international principles of child protection.

The aim of the amendments are to ensure that appropriate and adequate information is recorded on the register and able to be disclosed for the purpose of monitoring offenders, protect children and mitigate the risk of the serious harm that we know is caused to children and the community by sexual offending.

Some of the key changes brought about by amendments will be:

• Information on the register will be made freely available to agencies involved in monitoring offenders and/or involved in child protection to better enable prevention of child sex abuse.
• A new disclosure scheme will allow parents and guardians to apply for information about whether a person who has regular unsupervised contact with their child is a registered sex offender.
• New offences for breaches of confidentiality, vigilantism and inciting animosity towards registered offenders will balance the disclosure of information from the register.
• New provisions to ensure that youthful offenders are not unnecessarily exposed to the criminal justice system through registration as a sex offender
• New provisions to ensure that persons convicted of minor sexual offences are not recorded on the register in circumstances where they pose little or no risk to children or the community.
• Strengthened wording to ensure the court is able to consider the safety and protection of children and the community as paramount in deciding whether or not to make an order of registration for a convicted sex offender.
•  Extra provisions to prevent reportable offenders from working in child related area’s of employment.
• Extra provisions to allow police to notify an employer or prospective employer, that an employee or prospective employee has been charged with a reportable offence, allowing the employer to understand and manage any associated risk to assist in maintaining a safe workplace.
• Extra provisions to assist with the investigation and prosecution of recidivist sex offenders
• Extra reporting provisions aimed at deterring re-offending
• Stronger penalties for non-compliance with the Act

We are interested in hearing what you think about the proposed changes including whether they are good or bad or could be improved.

Help us write a meaningful piece of legislation that can protect our kids and the community from the harms of sexual predators without creating unwarranted negative exposure or risk of harm to individuals that are subject to the Act.

The public consultation period concludes at 5.00pm on day, 16 February 2024.

Download

Amendment of the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005 – Have your say (pdf, 956KB)

The Right to Information Act 2009 and confidentiality

Information provided to the Government may be provided to an applicant under the provisions of the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI). If you have indicated that you wish all or part of your submission to be treated as confidential, your statement detailing the reasons may be taken into account in determining whether or not to release the information in the event of an RTI application for assessed disclosure. You may also be contacted to provide any further comment.