Queensland gets new public sex offender registry
Queensland will create a new child sexual abuse offender register with laws expected to be introduced to parliament this week.
Known as “Daniel’s Law”, named for 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe who was abducted in 2003 and murdered, the register will establish a three tier system for publicly reporting information.
These include a website that will publish the photograph and details of offenders who have failed to comply with their reporting obligations and whose whereabouts are unknown, a searchable database will be created to identifies certain offenders within specific areas, and a process will be establish for parents to apply to police to find out whether someone having unsupervised contact with their child is a reportable offender.
Safeguards will be put in place to prevent the misuse of information, with the scheme to be administered by the Queensland Police Service, which is already responsible for monitoring reportable offenders.
The register fulfils an election promise of premier David Crisafulli who said on Sunday that it will “[arm] parents with information to make decisions for the safety of their children.”
Monsters cannot be allowed to lurk in the darkness, Daniel’s Law will help protect children who can’t protect themselves.
Everything we do is about driving down the number of victims of crime and this will help prevent innocent children falling prey to predators.
We acknowledge the many years of advocacy from Bruce and Denise Morcombe, who have turned unimaginable tragedy into a legacy of better protection for Queensland children.
The proposal for the register has been controversial. The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has previously opposed publicly identifying offenders as their names are often concealed to protect their victims.
Given that the overwhelming majority of sex offenders are known to or related to their victims the first people likely to be harmed by the publication of the names of sex offenders are the victims who may well be identified.
The second consequence of the fact that most victims know the offender is that these laws by focusing attention on stranger danger could create a false sense of security which may actually expose children to risk.
Research from the US has also suggested that sex offender registers do not lead to reductions in recidivism, is likely to increase the risk of vigilante violence and creates an incentive for offenders go into hiding and work together.
Key events
Some images from the pro-Palestine rally currently underway in Melbourne on Sunday.
Massive crowds gather at pro-Palestine rallies across Australia
With rallies in support of Palestine under way across Australian capital cities, social media is reporting massive crowds. In Melbourne, the mobile phone network is reportedly struggling under the demand from the crowd.
Guardian Australia no longer embeds social media posts from platforms such as X, meaning we have to wait for images to come in but in the meantime, we will bring you the latest as it happens.
Joe Hinchliffe
Pro-Palestine protesters gathering in Brisbane
Ferries are at capacity and city streets in Brisbane are swelling as thousands of pro Palestine demonstrators gather in Brisbane’s CBD as part of a nationwide rally demanding Australia take a stronger stand against Israel over its nearly two-year siege of the Gaza Strip.
Organisers had sought to march over the city’s Story Bridge – but that plan was rejected by Queensland police in a decision upheld by the courts.
The court approved a new route on Friday that will instead see demonstrators march across the Victoria Bridge, a bus and pedestrian crossing between the city centre and South Bank, ending up in West End’s Musgrave Park – a route police referred to in court as “tried and tested”.
The march is set to begin at about 2pm with speeches being held in the Queen’s Gardens from 1pm where a large crowd has already gathered as is chanting: “Free, free Palestine”.
NSW Health trying to ‘gag’ frontline workers from posting online, union warns
The doctors’ union is warning a New South Wales Health social media policy being drafted will gag frontline health workers speaking up publicly for patient care in Australia, as the government agency insists it is an update to an existing policy.
According to the “final draft” document, social media subject to the rules includes “internal communication tools” such as Microsoft Teams, and instant messaging software applications including WhatsApp, as well as social media networking sites and forums for discussion.
NSW Health’s social media guidelines, published on their website, includes an FAQ which states “there is no such thing as ‘private’ social media … remember that any content you believe to be confidential can be copied or recorded and posted by someone else”.
The final draft document states “staff should report any concerns about their own use of social media or that of a colleague, to their manager”.
For more on this story, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Natasha May:
Trains to arrive five decades late in 10,000 home boost
Eight minutes from the centre of Australia’s most expensive housing market, the first new train station in over a decade is hoped to support 10,000 new homes.
Australia’s oldest suburban rail network is on track for its first new station in more than a decade in a bid to boost construction of 10,000 homes in the nation’s most expensive property market.
The construction of Woollahra station – on Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs line – didn’t happen when the route was built in the 1970s due to community opposition.
But the NSW government wants trains to stop there in order to support 10,000 new homes and rebalance housing construction, which has predominantly occurred in the city’s west in recent years, to areas with existing infrastructure.
For more on this story read the full report:
Queensland gets new public sex offender registry
Queensland will create a new child sexual abuse offender register with laws expected to be introduced to parliament this week.
Known as “Daniel’s Law”, named for 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe who was abducted in 2003 and murdered, the register will establish a three tier system for publicly reporting information.
These include a website that will publish the photograph and details of offenders who have failed to comply with their reporting obligations and whose whereabouts are unknown, a searchable database will be created to identifies certain offenders within specific areas, and a process will be establish for parents to apply to police to find out whether someone having unsupervised contact with their child is a reportable offender.
Safeguards will be put in place to prevent the misuse of information, with the scheme to be administered by the Queensland Police Service, which is already responsible for monitoring reportable offenders.
The register fulfils an election promise of premier David Crisafulli who said on Sunday that it will “[arm] parents with information to make decisions for the safety of their children.”
Monsters cannot be allowed to lurk in the darkness, Daniel’s Law will help protect children who can’t protect themselves.
Everything we do is about driving down the number of victims of crime and this will help prevent innocent children falling prey to predators.
We acknowledge the many years of advocacy from Bruce and Denise Morcombe, who have turned unimaginable tragedy into a legacy of better protection for Queensland children.
The proposal for the register has been controversial. The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has previously opposed publicly identifying offenders as their names are often concealed to protect their victims.
Given that the overwhelming majority of sex offenders are known to or related to their victims the first people likely to be harmed by the publication of the names of sex offenders are the victims who may well be identified.
The second consequence of the fact that most victims know the offender is that these laws by focusing attention on stranger danger could create a false sense of security which may actually expose children to risk.
Research from the US has also suggested that sex offender registers do not lead to reductions in recidivism, is likely to increase the risk of vigilante violence and creates an incentive for offenders go into hiding and work together.
Shadow treasurer claims credit for government not changing national construction code
The Coalition has accused the government of adopting its policy with the decision to pause changes to the national construction code.
Shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien spoke to Sky News on Sunday after an appearance by Clare O’Neil where he accused the government of copy the Coalition’s homework.
The only concrete step that comes out of the roundtable is Coalition policy.
It would have saved a lot of time, a lot of effort, if you know, they just put a post on social media saying, ‘thanks, Coalition, good idea’.
On questions about the Coalition’s performance at the last election, O’Brien said the party had got it wrong on tax but said he expected the government to lift taxes this term.
If you just keep on spending, you’ve got to get the money from somewhere.
When you can’t control your spending, you’re just going to increase debt and increase taxes. That’s pretty clear.
– with AAP
Housing minister say Australia’s building code is too complex
Australia’s 2,000-page building code is “unusable” for many builders, Clare O’Neil says.
O’Neil spoke to Sky News on Sunday morning before the federal treasurer Jim Chalmers, appeared on ABC Insiders as part of a broad push to spruik the government’s deregulatory agenda.
She said the government’s pauses on changes to the code means “there really won’t be meaningful changes to the code for a seven-year period, so this is where we’re giving our builders a bit of room to breathe.”
The biggest issue we’ve got in the code at the moment is just sheer complexity. This is a code which has ballooned out to more than 2,000 pages.
It’s really about streamlining, about simplifying and making sure that we provide builders the very best opportunity to build more homes more quickly.
O’Neil said this would help accelerate the push for the government’s housing target of 1.2m new homes by the end of the decade.
We desperately need more homes for Australians in our country, and this is the way to get it.
These are big, meaningful steps forward on housing that have come as a direct result of the roundtable conversation.
For more on this story, read the Guardian’s previous reporting:
– with AAP
Slava Ukraini! PM shows support to Ukraine on independent day
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has used the return of smuggled artefacts and the anniversary of Ukraine’s Independent to reiterate Australia’s support for the country in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion.
In a statement posted to social media on Sunday, the prime minister expressed admiration for its people’s “extraordinary courage” and said the country stood by all those in Australia with Ukrainian heritage.
All Australians share the hope and expectation of the Ukrainian people that victory and justice will prevail
May the spirit of Independence Day sustain our belief in a future of just and enduring peace.
Slava Ukraini!
Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991.
– AAP
Australia returns smuggled Ukrainian artefacts
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has praised the courage of Ukraine’s people on the 34th anniversary of its independence, as archaeological items are returned.
Australia has returned two illegally exported archaeological objects to Ukraine as it renews support for the war-torn nation amid peace talks.
Arts minister Tony Burke formally handed back the items to Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko at a concert in Sydney to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day.
The items are an iron arrowhead dating from the 12th or 13th century and a pendant from the third millennium BCE that was likely a traditional adornment in the ancient Yamnaya culture.
They were illegally trafficked to Australia in late 2023 and intercepted and seized upon arrival in Sydney.
Burke said:
Returning these items reflects Australia’s ongoing commitment to combating illicit trafficking of cultural heritage in all countries, particularly those suffering the hardships of war.
These objects are part of the history and heritage of the people of Ukraine, which must be preserved for future generations.
– AAP
UK’s Nigel Farage campaigning on harsh refugee policies with ‘mass deportations’
Far-right UK politician Nigel Farage is campaigning to emulate Australia’s refugee policy ahead of the next election with calls for “mass deportations” of migrants.
In an interview with The Times of London reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Farage said that asylum seekers intercepted while crossing the English Channel would be forced to return home. Those who refused would be redirected to Ascension Island “as a backstop” he said.
Ascension Island currently hosts British and American air force bases near the equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. He did not say how many people it would have to accommodate as part of the program.
Farage, a lead campaigner in the successful push for Britain to leave the European Union has previously spoken to former prime minister Tony Abbott and appears to be taking a leaf out of the Coalition’s book.
You will not be staying in this country if you pay a trafficker to cross the English Channel.
Farage told The Times that “we can’t be responsible for everything that happens in the whole of the world” and, in response to a question about whether those who are returned are killed or torture, said “I can’t be responsible for despotic regimes all over the world. But I can be responsible for the safety of women and girls on our streets”.
Reform currently only has three MPs in the House of Commons but is considered an insurgent threat to a struggling Labor party and a broken Conservative party. Former Conservative leader Rishi Sunak previously proposed redirecting asylum seekers to Rwanda – another policy that echoed the Australian immigration system.
