Rachel Griffiths plays part in crackdown on paedophiles travelling overseas

HOLLYWOOD actor Rachel Griffiths has emerged as a driving force behind a crackdown on Australian sex offenders planning to commit “child rape” overseas.

Actor Rachel Griffith. Picture: Nicki Connolly

HOLLYWOOD actor Rachel Griffiths has emerged as a driving force behind a crackdown on Australian sex offenders planning to commit “child rape” overseas.

OVERSEAS TRAVEL BAN FOR AUSSIE PAEDOPHILES

PASSPORT BAN JUST THE START OF A WAR ON GRUBS

Victorian senator Derryn Hinch has revealed the Muriel’s Wedding star wrote to him not long after he was elected, to lobby for laws to strip passports from paedophiles in order to stop them from “child-rape” holidays in Southeast Asia.

Senator Derryn Hinch. Picture: AAP

The federal government on Tuesday announced it would introduce “world-first” laws cancelling passports for registered sex offenders.

Senator Hinch said the award-winning Australian actor sent him a handwritten note about the deficiency of the laws, soon after he was elected to the Senate crossbench last year.

“If we can take a passport off a bankrupt, why can’t we stop our paedophiles travelling to Myanmar?” the note said.

Actor Rachel Griffiths. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Senator Hinch — a long-time anti-paedophile campaigner during his four decades as a broadcaster and journalist — said he had recently been to Cambodia and was aware of the child-sex trade in countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the measure was “the strongest crackdown on child-sex tourism ever”.

“No country has even taken such decisive and strong action ..,” he said.