Prisoner advocate slams sex scheme

A prominent prisoners’ advocate has slammed plans to disclose sex offenders to concerned parents as a “political distraction” that could lead to acts of vigilantism and violence.

It was reported on Monday that Tasmania’s 2023-24 budget would fund five new specialist officers to monitor convicted sex offenders, and a new disclosure program.

For the first time in Tasmania, parents and guardians will be able to ask police if a person with unsupervised access to their child is on the sex offenders’ register.

But Greg Barns SC, chair of the Tasmanian Prisoners Legal Service, said the program “has not been thought through”.

“This looks like a thought bubble that is being used as a political distraction,” he said.

“A government that has some political problems is seeking to play the law and order card, which of course is always a useful diversion.”

Mr Barns said such a scheme would need to be “very carefully structured and monitored” so that people who obtained the information did not pass it on to other members of the community.

“Because that would lead to it being a public register, and as we know, public registers lead to acts of vigilantism,” he said.

“There would have to be severe sanctions for the unauthorised disclosure of information.

“The question is whether severe sanctions would even be a sufficient deterrent in an age where social media is all-pervasive.”

Mr Barns said while it was “critically important” to improve safety in the community, he didn’t believe the disclosure program would do so.

“You don’t make a community safer by creating a situation where acts of violence and acts of vigilantism occur,” he said.

Mr Barns also noted that people on the sex offenders’ register wouldn’t be able to get a Working with Vulnerable People check, so the disclosure program wouldn’t be of use for people employed to work with children.

“The register is of limited use in that regard.”