Australia FINALLY getting a public registry of child sex offenders: Parents will be able to check images and details
A new register of child sexual abuse offenders promises to give children greater protections.
The new laws will be introduced to Queensland parliament this week, delivering on a key election commitment of the Crisafulli liberal government.
Known as 'Daniel's Law', named after 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe, who was abducted while waiting for a bus in 2003 and murdered, the register will establish a three tier system for publicly reporting information.
It will mean Queenslanders will be able to access a searchable database and apply for images of child sex offenders who live in their area.
Images and details of offenders who have failed to comply with their reporting obligations and whose whereabouts are unknown will also be available through a publicly available website.
Additionally, parents will be able to apply to police to find out whether someone having unsupervised contact with their child is a reportable offender.
The scheme will be administered by Queensland Police with safeguards put in place to prevent the misuse of information, the government said.
Premier David Crisafulli made the announcement at the Liberal National Party annual convention in Brisbane on Sunday, saying the law change will 'arm parents with information to make decisions for the safety of their children'.
A Daily Mail Australia mock-up of how an online child sex offender list could look, including some of the most well known offenders in Australia
Premier David Crisafulli made the announcement at the Liberal National Party annual convention in Brisbane on Sunday
'Monsters cannot be allowed to lurk in the darkness, Daniel's Law will help protect children who can't protect themselves,' he told reporters on Sunday.
'Everything we do is about driving down the number of victims of crime and this will help prevent innocent children falling prey to predators.'
More details are set to be released in the coming days.
The proposal for the register has been controversial.
Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said the new law could do more harm than good as offenders names are often concealed to protect their victims.
'The Council accepts that it is a fundamental human right of all persons particularly children to be protected from sexual assault. However, proposals such as Daniel's law are most likely to have the opposite effect and do harm to innocent people such as victims,' he said earlier this year.
'Given that the overwhelming majority of sex offenders are known to or related to their victims, the first people likely to be harmed by the publication of the names of sex offenders are the victims who may well be identified.'
Mr Cope said laws that focus on stranger danger could also create a false sense of security with familiar people, which may expose children to risk.
He also pointed towards public registers of sex offenders such as Megan's Law in the United States which have yielded mixed results in whether they lead to significant reductions in recidivism.
Getting Erin's Law passed and taught in schools addresses the issue with predators being known to the victim by teaching what is good-touch and bad-touch; who to tell and how to tell, and that 90% of abusers are known to their victims.
Erin’s law has been passed in 38 states in the US, Ontario, Canada and Kerala, India.
Skybound Gymnastics owner and coach Wei Jun Lee charged with sexual abuse of teenager
A gymnastics club owner and coach has been charged with the sexual abuse of a teenager, with the sports’ governing body announcing the immediate closure of the Gold Coast gym.
Wei Jun Lee, 32, allegedly sexually touched a teenager in a hotel in NSW earlier this year.
The teenager attended Skybound Gymnastics in Burleigh Heads which was run by Lee.
Police began investigating the alleged incident in June.
On Thursday Lee was extradited to Sydney and charged with intentionally sexually touching a child over 10 and under 16 years.
In a statement Gymnastics Australia and Gymnastics Queensland said it was aware of the investigation and that a provisional action had been issued against Lee.
Skybound Gymnastics would be ceasing all operations “effective immediately”, the statement said.
“The safety and wellbeing of children and young people in our sport is our highest priority.”
“Gymnastics in Australia has zero tolerance for any behaviours that puts members or children at risk.
“We are committed to upholding the highest standards of safeguarding and integrity across all levels of sport.”
Wei Jun Lee, 32. Credit: 7NEWS
Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Lee set up Skybound Gymnastics in 2019 after moving to Queensland from NSW.
There he worked as a tumbling program leader at Sydney Gymnastics and Aquatics Centre for a year and a half before running the gymnastics program at PCYC Auburn in Lidcombe.
A testimonial on the Skybound Gymnastics website described Lee as an “incredibly talented, natural coach, who is always willing to contribute his creative and innovative coaching methods into any gymnastics discipline”.
Skybound Gymnastics offered classes and holiday camps for children aged 2 to 18.
The gym described itself as a “community-focused” club that was “revolutionising the sport of tumbling and trampolining in Queensland”.
Lee was refused bail and appeared in Bail Division Court 7 on Friday.
He was formally refused bail to appear before Blacktown Local Court on Monday.
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