Inciting "animosity" against a reported sex offender in Tasmania would become an offence under proposed new laws and attract two years' imprisonment.
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Draft amendments to the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act were released for public consultation last month which are intended to change how information on the sex offenders register is recorded and disclosed.
Under the changes, information on the register will be made freely available to agencies involved in monitoring offenders and a new disclosure scheme will allow parents and guardians to apply for information about a person who has unsupervised contact with their children to find out whether they are a registered sex offender.
According to Tasmania police, the bill will "balance the disclosure of information from the register".
To that end, it includes creating new offences for breaches of confidentiality, vigilantism and inciting animosity, other than in private, against registered offenders.
If a person is found to have incited animosity or harassment towards an identified offender in public, they could receive a fine of $39,000 or two years' imprisonment - or both.
Under the draft amendment bill, animosity is defined as hatred of or serious contempt for a registered offender, and harassment includes threats, serious abuse or severe ridicule.
If approved by parliament, the bill in its current form will also:
- make new provisions to ensure youth offenders are not unnecessarily exposed to the justice system through their registration as a sex offender;
- make new provisions to ensure that a person convicted of minor sexual offences were not recorded on the register in circumstances where they pose little or no risk to children or the community;
- make extra provisions to prevent reportable offenders from working in child-related areas of employment\;
- and make provisions to allow police to notify an employer or prospective employer, that an employee or prospective employee has been charged with a reportable offence.
The sex offender register was introduced in Tasmania in 2005 to require offenders to keep police informed about where they lived and other personal details during their time as a reportable sex offender.
Consultation on the proposed changes to Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act closes on February 16.
In announcing the start of the consultation period in December, Police Minister Felix Ellis made no mention of the new offences for inciting vigilantism, animosity or harassment.
He said the amendments had been drafted to align with contemporary national and international principles of child protection.
Mr Ellis said $2.9 million in government investment to establish the new sex offender disclosure scheme would "empower caregivers and ensure they can access the information they need to protect their children."