Wednesday, 17 August 2022

Child sex offenders

Mr GRIMLEY (Western Victoria) (09:48): I rise today to reaffirm Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party’s commitment to a public child sex offender register. This was the impetus for the formation of the party. Who can forget Derryn’s infamous jail time for breaching suppression orders by naming a paedophile priest and convicted child rapist who was still running camps for children in Victoria and sexually assaulting them while Derryn was getting locked up. He took this drastic action because many others, including religious leaders, had failed to protect children in the community.

Unlike other violent crimes, sexual offences frequently result in suppression orders. These suppression orders are frequently introduced under the guise of protecting the victim, but they are actually intended to protect the identity of the offender. We continue to urge the state government to pass legislation establishing a full public sex offender registry as soon as possible or, at the very least, investigate the establishment of a limited disclosure scheme as recommended by the sex offences inquiry which I initiated. Sexual predators rely on anonymity. We need to be doing all we can to protect children from these creatures, and a public registry is just one weapon that we should be using. Now is the time to step up. Now is the time to protect our most vulnerable. Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party will continue to support and protect the children of this state now and into the future.