Queenslanders will soon be able to apply for images of paedophiles living in their local area, as part of the state’s first public child sex offender register.
Daniel’s killer was a serial predator who had two previous convictions for sexually abusing children.
The laws will be tabled to parliament this week, and passed by the end of the year.
How does Daniel’s Law work?
The registry will include a website with photographs and details of reportable offenders who’ve failed to comply with reporting conditions, as well as a locality search showing reportable offenders living in a particular local area.
Parents or guardians will also be able to check with police if an adult with regular unsupervised contact with their child is a current reportable offender.
“If you commit hideous crimes and you try to hide, Queenslanders deserve to know who you are and where you are to keep our kids safe,” Premier David Crisafulli said.
He said more information would be released this week.
“They are incredible Queenslanders, who from unfathomable pain have fought for change,” Crisafulli said.
Who is Daniel’s Law named after?
Sunshine Coast schoolboy Daniel Morcombe was abducted and murdered by paedophile Brett Peter Cowan on December 7, 2003.
Cowan was living in the area at the time and had two previous convictions for sexually abusing children, including molesting a seven-year-old boy in the public toilets of a Queensland playground in 1989 and molesting a six-year-old boy in a violent attack that left the boy with a punctured lung at a Darwin caravan park in 1993.
He is currently serving a life sentence.
Daniel’s bone fragments were found in the Glass House Mountains, about 40 minutes away.
Will Daniel’s Law be passed in Australia – or is it Queensland only?
At this stage, Daniel’s Law is only being legislated in Queensland.
All Australian states and territories have a sex offender register which holds details of people who have been convicted of sexual offences against a child, which are used by law enforcement but are not publicly available.
In Western Australia, parents and guardians can make enquiries with police about any person who has unsupervised contact with their child or children under the Community Protection Disclosure Scheme.
Under former leader Peter Dutton, the Coalition proposed a 12-month trial of a national case-by-case disclosure scheme, similar to the WA scheme and Sarah’s Law in the UK, but the party was defeated at the federal election earlier this year.
