Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I firstly begin by acknowledging the efforts of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Justice on their work in the preparation of the Passports Legislation Amendment (Overseas Travel by Child Sex Offenders) Bill 2017. I would also like to acknowledge the sensible bipartisan approach adopted by those opposite. We cannot protect children too much, not just Australian children but this problem of child sex exploitation knows no international boundaries. The exact figures on child sexual exploitation and child trafficking are almost impossible to accurately determine. UNICEF, interestingly, have identified that as many as two million children are exploited in the commercial sex trade around the world. There is a particular problem in relation to child exploitation in South-East Asia, where some of the world's most vulnerable and impoverished children are most at risk. For example, in Indonesia, though many young girls often overstate their age, it is estimated, once again by UNICEF, that some 30 per cent of female prostitutes are under the age of 18 years and some are as young as 10 years of age. An estimated 40,000 to 70,000 children in Indonesia are victims of sexual exploitation and an estimated 100,000 children are trafficked every year.

An International Labour Organization study in 2011 in Port Moresby was able to interview 175 child sex workers in less than eight weeks. Despite the hidden and illegal nature of that trade, they found children as young as 10 involved in commercial sex work. They found that all children consumed alcohol and that many had been raped or physically abused; 13 had been tested and found to be HIV positive and many had gone through pregnancies and abortions; 41 per cent had become sex workers before they were 15; and children were found to see as many as 10 clients a day. Many of those clients, sadly, come from this country and many of those clients are registered sex offenders.

Our current laws just simply are not keeping up to speed with the prevention of this vile, vile conduct. Who is this bill going to impact on? The bill will impact on registered offenders who have been convicted of a child sex offence and placed by a court on a state or territory register. Under state and territory laws, registered offenders have reporting obligations for between five and 15 years, depending on the seriousness of their offence. In the most egregious of cases, the obligations are for life. Their reporting obligations enable authorities to monitor and supervise these registered offenders. At any one time, there is up to 20,000 registered child sex offenders. Every year, some 2,500 new offenders are added to the registers, while slightly few than that complete their reporting obligations each year. This is a blight on our country that up until now these, mainly, men—it has to be said—travel overseas to take part in the exploitation of young children.

There have been more than 770 registered child sex offenders who have travelled from Australia overseas in 2016 alone, many of whom had violated an obligation under state or territory laws to notify police of their intended travel, many of whom had been recorded by police as being of a medium, high or very high risk of reoffending and who had been convicted of offences against children under 13 years of age. There is currently no legal authority to cancel or refuse to issue a passport solely on the basis that a person has been convicted of a child sex offence. Child sex offenders can be denied a passport while they are on parole, under section 12 of the Australian Passports Act. Since 1 January 2011 the Minister for Foreign Affairs has only received 63 requests to deny passports to child sex offenders. Clearly, the laws that we have in this country to date are simply not working. They are not protecting children overseas from this vile child sex trafficking and sex tourism.

The state and territory registers under the new system of passport denial will record the details of child sex offenders with reporting responsibilities. When new offenders are convicted and entered into one of these registers, the state or territory will make a passport denial request to DFAT. If the offender has a passport, the Minister for Foreign Affairs will cancel any Australian passport that the person holds and DFAT will notify the offender. But, if the offender has no passport, DFAT will put an alert in its system which will flag if the offender applies for a passport and the passport will be refused. Consistent with how the relevant section of the Australian Passports Act already operates, offenders will be unable to seek administrative review of these decisions. If and when the offender no longer has reporting responsibilities, the offender will be able to hold a passport in the usual way.

These are important reforms. They will protect children overseas from this sort of conduct, and I am very pleased there is a bipartisan approach to this bill. I congratulate the Minister of Justice and the Foreign Minister on their great work. I commend the bill to the House.

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