Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pledges to trial a national public sex offender register if elected.
It comes after a damning report found that one in six Australian men reported sexual feelings towards children and/or have sexually offended children.
The proposed register would allow police to share the identities of convicted child sex offenders with parents and carers who request the information.
But experts warn the move may be more political than protective.
On Wednesday morning’s episode of The Briefing, we sat down with Akhim Dev, documentary and podcast maker behind the award-winning Children in the Pictures—who spent years embedded with police investigating online child exploitation to unpack it all.
“I think the policy has really been designed to throw a bit of red meat out there,” Dev said.
“It is an issue that will engender a lot of strong emotions from people turning out to the ballot box,” he said.
Dev, who spent years embedded with police investigating child exploitation online, questioned the policy’s impact.
“One of the greatest risks to children at the moment happens inside their very homes and it’s via their online devices,” he added.
While similar systems in the UK and Western Australia have revealed thousands of offenders, Dev believes more focus should be placed on online safety and preventing abusers from accessing places where children gather.
“Let parents, unfortunately, take the law into their own hands. That’s the biggest concern… It could absolutely destroy a person’s life.”
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