Push for new bid on jailing child abusers

CHILD abuse victims are bitterly disappointed over the Legislative Council’s rejection of mandatory jail laws.

The State Government’s Bill to jail serious child sex offenders for a minimum of two or four years was defeated in the Legislative Council on Wednesday night.

Beyond Abuse said it was at a loss to understand why some MPs voted down the Bill given “the havoc that sexual assault wreaks on society”.

“Instead of listening to the people that really count — and that’s the victims ... they’re listening to other people … and that is so wrong,” spokesman Steven Fisher said. “A lot of victims I’ve spoken to this morning are just so disappointed.”

But the Law Society of Tasmania commended MLCs who rejected the Bill.

“The Sentencing Advisory Council’s report found there is no evidence that mandatory sentences deter crimes of this type,” society president Rohan Foon said.

“For the Government to say that members of the Legislative Council have therefore failed to ‘protect our kids from paedophiles’ is wrong in fact and in no way assists in a rational debate on such an important issue.”

In expressing disappointment, Tasmania’s Sexual Assault Support Service urged the Government to explore other ways to strengthen sentences against abusers.

“Sentences need to reflect the magnitude of harm that child sexual abuse causes to victims and their families, and we feel that current sentences all too often do not do this,” said Jill Maxwell, the group’s chief executive.

Tasmania’s Australian Lawyers Alliance president Henry Pill said the Government’s own experts had opposed mandatory sentencing.

“They need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a justice policy that stands up to scrutiny,” he said.

Police Association of Tasmania president Pat Allen urged people disappointed with the outcome to express it at the ballot box.