Derryn Hinch: Paedophiles need a mandatory jail term, Australia needs a sex offender registry

Derryn Hinch went to jail for naming two of the worst serial offenders in Melbourne and says he would do it again. Here’s why he says the laws are in serious need of change.

Opinion: Some years ago, I was being interviewed by 60 Minutes (New Zealand) and the female journalist leaned forward and earnestly said: ‘You don’t believe that paedophiles can be rehabilitated, do you?’

I knew a bit of the interviewer’s background and shot back: ‘Rachel, would you let a rehabilitated paedophile babysit your daughter?’ She had no answer.

I thought of that when considering the latest News Corp Predatory podcast, which considers the claim treatment programs can halve the rates of recidivism.

I am very, very sceptical of that claim and stick with my original comment on the TV program. Once a paedophile, always a paedophile.

The psychologists also say that the sentences handed out to child sex offenders are often regarded as soft. To that I’d say ‘damn right they are’. A jail sentence for a convicted paedophile should be mandatory.

Repeat offenders should get severe jail terms. Offenders who abuse their positions of trust – priests, teachers, doctors – should be treated really harshly.

Too often, in my opinion, paedophiles are given lighter, even non-custodial, sentences because of their ‘good character’. Any adult who rapes an innocent child is not of good character. And, maybe that illusion of being an upright member of the community actually lowers a child’s defences.

Former politician Derryn Hinch. Picture: David Caird

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Take the case of Jeffrey ‘Joffa’ Corfe. A judge decided not to jail the Collingwood cheerleader for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy because of his ‘good character’. The Supreme Court judge also referred to the former Collingwood cheerleader’s community work.

Maybe that public profile made his victim even more vulnerable.

My main reason for going to Canberra as a senator was to push for a national public register of convicted sex offenders – like they have had in the United States since President Clinton forced it through in the 1990s.

It still hasn’t happened but I got close. Thanks to Peter Dutton. He phoned me at 7 o‘clock one morning and said: ‘We’ve got to get this sex register going’. Canberra is the art of compromise. What he pushed through the Liberal-national cabinet was a public government policy to bring in a national public register of convicted child sex offenders. And he sent it to the state premiers for consideration before the Libs were voted out in the 2022 election.

I still believe it should apply to all rapists and I presented my case to Bill Shorten when he was the then Opposition leader. I hope PM Albanese takes heed.

Former Hey Dad star Robert Hughes. Picture: Ross Schultz

It’s just common sense. Parents have a right to know if a convicted sex offender is living near them and their young kids. I went to jail for naming two of the worst serial offenders in Melbourne and I would do it again.

I once spent time with sex abuse victim Sarah Monahan who was assaulted by her Hey, Dad co-star Robert Hughes (who went to jail, has been released and deported).

She showed me a phone app on which she dialled up sex offenders from her home in Texas. There were about seven flags that came up with the name, photo, crimes and addresses of nearby convicted sex offenders.

Former Hey Dad Actress Sarah Monahan. Picture: Tim Hunter.

We drove past one’s house. Ute in the driveway, US flag on a pole, very normal. But his neighbours could know to warn their kids not to go to his place if they kicked a ball over the fence or if he asked them in to show them a puppy.

I then tested the app in New York’s Times Square. If I’d punched in ‘nearby motels’ maybe six or seven cones would have been flagged. I typed in ‘sex offenders’ and found five within a kilometre.

We need that here. As I said: it has been law in the US for nearly 30 years. And to the critics who say it hasn’t worked … how many sex crimes against kids has it prevented by just being there? You have a right to know.

– Derry Hinch is a media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author.

For more details about the Predatory podcast, go to predatory.com.au