New laws to be introduced to parliament would see serious repeat child sex offenders locked up for life

New South Australian laws to lock up pedophiles indefinitely would be the toughest in the country.

Planned laws that would see SA’s serious repeat child sex offenders locked up indefinitely or permanently monitored would be the toughest of their kind in the country.

Under the state government’s proposed changes, if a pedophile is jailed for a second time for a serious child sex offence, they would automatically receive a sentence of indefinite detention.

The onus would then be on the offender to demonstrate to the court that they can control their sexual instincts in order to be considered for release.

If they were released, they would face lifetime electronic monitoring.

The government is “well-advanced” in the drafting of the legislation, which it plans to introduce to the parliament by March.

It comes as Dylan Lloyd was this week identified as the man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl on a train earlier this month.

Lloyd, 21, is already a convicted child sex offender.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the laws would better protect the South Australian community.

“Our community is rightly sick of seeing pedophiles offending again and again and then being released back into the community,” he said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the new laws would better protect the community. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ben Clark

“I want to be clear, dangerous repeat offender pedophiles should not be in our community where they pose a risk to children.

“These laws will keep them locked up in jail, where they belong.”

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the new laws were the latest in a series of measures designed to crack down on child sex offenders.

“This includes increasing penalties, slashing sentencing discounts and banning child sex offenders from working in places which also hire underage employees,” he said.

“Now we are introducing indefinite detention for repeat offenders and lifetime electronic monitoring for those who are released back into the community.”

Opposition Leader David Speirs said the Liberals were keen to see the details of the legislation – but would work constructively with the government to toughen existing laws.

“The government has rightly identified that there is probably a need for reform here, careful reform around the penalties that repeat sex offenders should be subject to,” he said.

He called on the government to conduct a broader review of penalties in response to the increases in crimes such as home invasions, assaults and shoplifting.

“We believe that, over time, penalties across the board have slipped in terms of their value and their impact,” he said.