Sex Offenders Registration Amendment Bill 2016

Liberty Victoria is opposed to the Bill which:

1. Fails to provide registrants with the same important protections that are provided by the Serious Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act 2009 (Vic) (“the Detention and Supervision Order Act”);
2. The threshold for making a prohibition order is too low, and will result in almost all registrants being eligible to be made subject to such orders and potentially punished by imprisonment for non-compliance;
3. The power to make conditions is too broad, and extends beyond necessary conditions to merely “desirable” conditions;
4. There is no indication that the already over-stretched Magistrates’ Court of Victoria has the resources or capacity to deal with such matters properly;
5. There is no indication that there are the resources to ensure that registrants, who will often be economically disadvantaged and suffering from various physical and/or mental health issues, will be legally represented; and
6. The Bill fails to address the broader systemic failures in the Victorian sex offender registration scheme.