Rumney upper house challenger throws weight behind child sexual abuse mandatory sentencing

A challenger who hopes to knock incumbent Sarah Lovell from the upper house seat of Rumney has thrown his weight behind a push for mandatory child sexual abuse sentencing.

Gregory Brown is the Liberal Party's candidate for Pembroke in the Tasmanian Upper House. Picture: Supplied

A challenger who hopes to knock incumbent Sarah Lovell from the upper house seat of Rumney has thrown his weight behind a push for mandatory child sexual abuse sentencing.

Last weekend, Liberal candidate Gregory Brown launched his campaign ahead of the May 6 three-seat election – citing hooning and anti-social behaviour as among his key concerns.

But on Friday, the Bellerive business owner came out swinging with a stronger and tougher stance.

In a statement, Mr Brown said if elected to Tasmania’s Legislative Council, he would support the party’s intentions to introduce mandatory minimum jail terms for child sexual abusers.

“Justice demands child sex offenders serve time in jail, full stop, end of story,” he said.

The Liberal Party has twice before attempted to introduce mandatory jail terms for child sexual offending, but in 2019 and 2021 these bills were knocked back by the upper house.

A third attempt was tabled in the lower house last year, but the Sentencing Amendment (Mandatory Sentencing) Bill – which provides for mandatory jail terms between two and four years for a range of sexual offences involving children – has not yet been debated or voted on.

If Mr Brown was successful in next weekend’s election, an additional Liberal member could carry significant weight in helping the current bill get over the line.

Mr Brown slammed Labor for blocking the legislation “every step of the way” and for being “soft on crime”.

“My pledge to the people of Rumney is clear: I support keeping child sex offenders off the streets and keeping our kids safe,” he said.

“Sexual offences against children are heinous and the community rightfully expects that anyone who commits serious sexual offences against children should go to jail.”

However, Mr Brown’s announcement didn’t seem to be supported by Attorney-General Elise Archer, who tabled the bill.

Attorney-General Elise Archer and Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Chris Kidd

On her Facebook page, Ms Archer said it was important to only make public statements about child sexual abuse that were “trauma informed” and reflected what had been learnt from the “heinous evidence” heard at last year’s child sexual abuse commission of inquiry.

“While I will always support our policy and my bill for mandatory minimum sentencing for serious sexual offences against children, as Attorney-General I cannot support this issue being used at this time for political purposes when the commission of inquiry is yet to hand down its report and recommendations,” she said.

Help is available:

Lifeline (24 hours) 131 114

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636

Sexual Assault Support Service (24 hours) 1800 697 877

Laurel House Northern Tasmania [phone]

Laurel House North West Tasmania [phone]

Child Abuse Prevention Services 1800 688 009

Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467

MensLine Australia 1300 789 978

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