Queensland sex offender register to go live on New Year’s Eve
Sex offenders will be listed in three different tiers on the website, and Purdie said all three tiers will be released Wednesday.
Tier one would include sex offenders who go underground and fail to comply with reporting obligations. The information will include a photograph, date of birth, physical description, name and known aliases.
The new record is part of Daniel’s Law, named after Daniel Morcombe, who was kidnapped and murdered in 2003.Credit:
The second stage is for repeat or very dangerous sex offenders and Queenslanders will be able to request to be provided with a photograph of an offender living in their postcode and adjacent postcodes.
Under phase three, parents and guardians will be able to request to check whether a particular person who has regular unsupervised contact with their child is a registered sex offender.
Purdie said last week that the registry show was a success.
“On the way to go live [on December 31]. “We always announced that it would be on the air before the end of the year, that the clock was ticking, and said that it would be on the air,” he said.
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Additional staff, including police detectives, will be on hand to help process requests and questions while the website is live during the new year period.
“We don’t really know what kind of volume it’s going to be,” Purdie said of the potential influx of visitors to the website.
“Frankly, every parent like me — not just a parent, but also a former child abuse detective — we believe that people should be equipped with this information, and we encourage them to look at it and put protective strategies in place to protect their young people.”
The introduction of the register has not been without controversy and concerns have been raised about the injunction.
Queensland Civil Liberties Council president Michael Cope said the new law could do more harm than good. as the names of criminals are often withheld to protect their victims.
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