Bruce and Denise Morcombe renew calls for nationwide public register to track pedophiles

The parents of murdered schoolboy Daniel Morcombe have renewed a push for a national public register of child sex offenders.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie with Denise and Bruce Morcombe in Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

The parents of murdered schoolboy Daniel Morcombe have renewed their push for a national public register of child sex offenders, as Queensland’s new Liberal National Party government vows to pass laws to launch a state-based system in the new year.

After plans for a federal register stalled despite then-home ­affairs minister Peter Dutton’s $7.8m backing, Bruce and Denise Morcombe are hopeful Queensland’s new scheme will create an “important domino effect” for other states to hand over necessary data to the commonwealth to create a national public database.

“We think it just makes sense that people have an opportunity to access information about who has contact with their children,” said Mr Morcombe, whose 13-year-old son was abducted and murdered by a twice-convicted pedophile in December 2003.

“Whether that is at school, a community or sporting environment or whether it is someone such as a new love of the mother of that child.

“That person should have the opportunity to say ‘What has my partner been up to in his previous umpteen years, and does he have a record of offending against children?’ ”

Daniel Morcombe.

In 2019, the Morrison government earmarked $7.8m to establish a national register but failed to win necessary support from all states and territories to provide required data.

Mr Dutton, who spearheaded the push, wanted the public to be able to search for a pedophile’s name, photograph, general location and criminal history. This was criticised by some lawyers and child safety advocates as a “stunt” that could create a false sense of security and increase ­vigilantism.

Western Australia launched Australia’s first public database in 2012 and in October, South Australia’s Labor government passed laws allowing residents to access information about serious child sex offenders living in their area.

Queensland’s Acting Premier, Jarrod Bleijie, said Daniel’s Law would be a priority for the new government, with legislation to be passed in 2025.

“Those are the laws we want to pass and then for other states to look at and say ‘Queensland has got the magic bullet right on this’ and copy,” he said.

The Queensland register will have three tiers, including a public website that will have the photographs and personal details of reportable offenders, an ­application-based system to identify high-risk offenders living in a local area and a disclosure scheme for parents to inquire about a specific person who has regular unsupervised contact with their child.

Safeguards will be introduced to discourage vigilantism.

A spokeswoman for the federal Attorney-General’s Department said a national register would “require close collaboration with states and territories” as individual jurisdictions manage the required data.

“The design of any child sex offender register must be carefully considered to ensure it enhances community safety, reduces re­offending, and protects the most vulnerable in our community,” she said.

“There are also risks that must be managed, including avoiding the inadvertent identification of victims, dealing with young persons who are registered, ensuring data quality and accuracy, and ensuring the register does not encourage unlawful conduct (such as public vigilantism) if that information was released to the public.”

State police forces have access to a national database, which is not public but records and shares information about child offenders as well as those who are charged but not convicted.