Passports Legislation Amendment (Overseas Travel by Child Sex Offenders) Act 2017 (CTH)
Wednesday 28 June 2017 @ 11.02 a.m. | Crime
The Passports Legislation Amendment (Overseas Travel by Child Sex Offenders) Act 2017 (The Act) has received the royal assent as Act 73 of 2017 in Commonwealth and upon commencement, will prevent Australians listed on a State or Territory child sex offender register with reporting obligations from travelling overseas. The aim of the Act is to prevent these offenders from sexually exploiting or abusing vulnerable children in overseas countries where law enforcement measures against child sexual abuse is relatively weaker. The Act comes in response to global studies finding that ‘the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism has expanded across the globe and has outpaced every attempt to respond at the international and national level’.
Background to the Act
According to Ms Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs, in her second reading speech to the Bill for the Act, more than a third of registered Australian child sex offenders violate an obligation to notify police of their intended travel. Further to this, she emphasised that these offenders have a high propensity to re-offend in countries where they are not monitored and where child sexual exploitation is rampant. She claimed that “existing measures are clearly ineffective.”
Under current laws, a child sex offender’s passport can be cancelled, refused or surrendered on the basis of a competent authority’s assessment of the offender’s likelihood to cause harm. This is done on a case by case basis and is subject to review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. It is also resource intensive and consequently, the measures are rarely used in States and Territories.
“It was clear the existing passport legislation was not working,” Ms Bishop, and Michael Keenan, Minister for Justice, said in a joint statement announcing the new laws.
Provisions of the Act
The Act will address these deficiencies by preventing registered offenders with reporting obligations from travelling overseas. The Act will amend the Australian Passports Act 2005 and the Foreign Passports (Law Enforcement and Security) Act 2005 to allow the Minister to refuse or cancel an Australian Passport of a registered child sex offender if requested to do so by a ‘competent authority.’ The ministerial decision will be mandatory and not subject to judicial review. Ms Bishop justified the removal of judicial review by asserting that “the competent authority has the expertise and full details of the circumstances of the offender to make such decisions.”
The Act also introduces a new offence for registered sex offenders with reporting obligations to travel or attempt to travel overseas without permission from a relevant authority. Victorian Senator Derryn Hinch, who championed the Bill, said:
Ideally, the measures of the Act will serve as a strong deterrent to child sex offenders who intend to exploit overseas children in weaker legal frameworks.
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Sources:
Passports Legislation Amendment (Overseas Travel by Child Sex Offenders) Act 2017, Act, Bill, and Explanatory Material as Published on LawOne
