REPORTABLE offenders who have completed their sentences may soon have their names, photographs and list of offences accessible by the Katherine community if the so-called Daniel’s Law is passed by the Northern Territory Parliament.
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The proposed legislation is named after Daniel Morcombe, who was murdered in Queensland in 2003 by a convicted child sex offender.
A community forum was held in Katherine last week so that feedback could be provided on a local level, but only nine people attended.
Representatives from legal organisations raised concerns about displaying personal information on a public website, however, few members of the public had their say.
Department of the Attorney-General senior policy lawyer Fiona Hardy and policy lawyer Klarin Aust hosted the forum, where one community group questioned the legislation’s true purpose.
“It’s to heighten community awareness,” Ms Hardy said.
“There are people in the community who think if someone kills a child [or] commits a serious sexual offending against a child, that they are going to be in prison forever, and that is just not true.”
I just don't understand why people want to protect the criminals; shouldn't we be protecting the victims?
- Katherine mother-of-two
While overall the feeling of the forum was against the information being available as reformed sex offenders attempted to return to society, one Katherinite said the primary consideration should not be the perpetrators of the crime.
“I just don't understand why people want to protect the criminals; shouldn't we be protecting the victims?” the mother-of-two asked the forum.
Member for Katherine Willem Westra van Holthe said Daniel’s Law was important for the Territory and planned to take the feedback he had received back to Attorney-General John Elferink.
“I’m not necessarily saying that the views of nine people at a meeting are representative of the views of the entire electorate,” he said.