In South Australia, Premier Peter Malinauskas brought in tougher child sex offender laws earlier this week.
Under these new laws, serious child sex offenders are to be permanently locked up or electronically monitored, if they reoffend.
Automatic indefinite detention is a significant change.
Previously, the South Australian attorney-general could apply to the Supreme Court to request an offender be indefinitely detained, if the offender was considered to remain a danger to children and could not be rehabilitated.
The courts would then decide if they would grant the request, basing their decision on medical and other expert evidence.
The changes in SA mean those found guilty of a second serious sexual offence against anyone younger than 17 now receive automatic indefinite detention.
To be considered for release under the new law, an offender needs to show they can control their sexual instincts – so the onus is on them to prove they are not at risk of reoffending.
To achieve this, two court-selected psychologists would have to provide reports demonstrating the offender was both willing and able to resist committing further sex offences.
And if they are ever released, they will be electronically monitored for the rest of their lives.
In addition, registered child sex offenders would be banned from working with anyone under 18.
The new law also strengthens “Carly’s Law”, which focuses on reducing the sexual grooming of children online by adult predators.
The age of legal consent is 16 across Australia, except SA and Tasmania, where it is 17.
In 2024, an Australian Institute of Criminology report highlighted many of the inconsistencies across the country, including terminology and definitions of sexual offences, despite efforts to achieve national regularity.
Each state and territory approaches the problem of child sexual abuse differently.
[T]he legislation has been fast-tracked in the wake of a number of cases where those previously convicted of a sexual offence against a child reoffended.
One such case is Dylan Lloyd, who is alleged to have assaulted a 12-year-old girl while she travelled alone on a train. Lloyd had previously been convicted of assaulting a 10-year-old girl in 2021, and since then more alleged victims have come forward to police.
Cases such as Lloyd’s are preventable, as in this case Lloyd should still be imprisoned. This is one step forward. But consistency across states is needed and the long-term consequences need considering more fully.
[T]here are numerous human rights and constitutional issues with permanent detention or lifelong monitoring, and the SA government may be walking into a legal minefield now they have removed the possibility of parole.
Source: Locked up for life? Unpacking South Australia’s new child sex crime laws