Key recommendation to fix child protection offenders register remains ignored

Hundreds of grave errors in managing the Child Protection Offenders Register were revealed in 2019. Three years on, the NSW Attorney-General refused to adopt a key recommendation.

Almost three years on from a review which exposed damning failures in the register designed to monitor paedophiles, Attorney-General Mark Speakman has failed to act on a key recommendation.

Mr Speakman has refused to refer the laws governing the sex offender register to the Law Reform Commission even after a subsequent report in 2021 which anticipated errors will continue to be made until they are fixed.

While Mr Speakman’s office insisted that it is up to the Police Minister to ask for the laws to be reviewed, Labor spokesman Michael Daley accused the Attorney-General of being “wilful ignorance” by failing to act.

Systemic problems with how the Child Protection Offenders Register (CPOR) was being managed were identified in a 2019 report by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission dubbed “Operation Tusket,” which uncovered 700 errors - included paedophiles being left unmonitored or left off the sex offenders register, as well as people being wrongly imprisoned.

In one case, a sex offender who should have been monitored by police was wrongly removed from the register before committing an act of indecency on a bus in front of a 10 year old girl just a month later.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

If he had been required to make reports to authorities, the man would “have been subject to increased scrutiny, and the risk of his reoffending thus reduced,” the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission report found.

In another case, a person who was supposed to be on the register was left off for years.

A number of people were wrongly placed on the sex offenders register.

The LECC report called for Attorney-General Mark Speakman to “urgently” refer the legislation governing the CPOR to the Law Reform Commission for a “comprehensive review” to be completed within six months.

Mr Speakman has previously told budget estimates that he does not intend to adopt that recommendation.

That is despite a supplementary report in 2021 which noted that errors would continue to be made until laws governing the sex offenders register are reformed.

Labor Attorney-General spokesman Michael Daley.

Pressed in March on his failure to adopt the recommendation, Mr Speakman told a budget estimates hearing that NSW Police “have genuinely tried to solve this problem and are still working hard at doing that”.

Labor Attorney General spokesman Michael Daley accused the Perrottet government of “wilful negligence” in failing to refer the CPOR Act to the Law Reform Commission.

“They’ve had years now to fix this mess and for some inexplicable reason, they just refuse.

“Their inaction is putting children in danger because there are paedophiles wandering the community without being monitored. The community deserves better treatment than this,” he said.

The sex offenders register comes under Police Minister Paul Toole’s portfolio responsibilities, but the recommendation to refer the Act to the Law Reform Commission was directed to the Attorney-General,

The Daily Telegraph was told that for Mr Speakman to refer the act for review, Police would first need to come to him with a proposal.

In a statement, Mr Toole said that NSW Police has “fully implemented the eight recommendations directed to it” by the 2019 report.

Mr Speakman’s office said it is up to portfolio ministers to ask for relevant legislation to be referred to the Law Reform Commission.

Originally published as Key recommendation to fix child protection offenders register remains ignored