Australia passport ban to keep ‘sex tourists’ at home

Official curb on thousands of paedophiles travelling to south-east Asia for ‘child rape holidays’

AUSTRALIA will cancel the passports of convicted paedophiles as part of a world-first plan to prevent child sex offenders from travelling abroad to commit offences. In a move aimed at ending child sex tourism – a practice described by an MP as “child rape holidays” – the government will make it illegal for the nation’s 20,000 registered child sex offenders to travel abroad.

Last year, almost 800 offenders left the country, including about half who travelled to less developed countries across south-east Asia.

Derryn Hinch, an independent MP who campaigned for the crackdown, said convicted paedophiles were “not going there [to south-east Asia] for the sun”. He said: “You go to Bali, you go to Phnom Penh, you go to Siem Reap, and you see these middle-aged Australian men there, Caucasian men, with a young local kid – they are not there to get a suntan.

“These depraved criminals preyed on vulnerable kids, and statistically, we know, many of them will do it again given the opportunity.”

Horrific accounts have emerged in recent years of foreigners – including numerous Australians – travelling to countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines to prey on young children. In a case in Indonesia last year, Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis, a 71-year-old Australian, was jailed for 15 years for sexually assaulting 11 girls aged between seven and 17.

Australian law currently requires registered offenders to alert authorities when they are travelling abroad, but many do not. About a third of the 800 offenders who travelled last year did not request permission.

Australian police are supposed to pass on the travel plans of offenders to destination countries, but authorities in less developed nations are often illequipped to act on the information.

Michael Keenan, Australia’s justice minister, said the travel ban on known offenders was “the strongest crackdown on child sex tourism ever”: “No country has ever taken such decisive and strong action to stop its citizens from going overseas, often to vulnerable countries, to abuse kids.”

Australia’s child sex offender register includes names and travel details of offenders who have been released from prison. Those who complete their time on the register will be allowed passports. However, about 3,200 people on the register have been placed there for life and will never be eligible.

The government said offenders with a legitimate need to travel will potentially be allowed to use their passports.

Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, last year described child sex tourists as “the worst grubs you can imagine”. He said: “It’s very simple, we don’t want Australians travelling to south-east Asia ... for these sexual, criminal activities.”