Child protection is gearing up to be an election battleground, with the Opposition promising a public child sex offender registry if it wins next month.
It would be named “Daniel’s Law” after 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe, who was abducted and murdered on the Sunshine Coast in 2003.
The registry would have three tiers, including a public website with names and photos of offenders who breach reporting obligations.
There would also be an application process for parents to identify high-risk offenders in their area and the ability for parents to check adults with unsupervised time with kids.
Asked if the current government would introduce a similar registry, Premier Steven Miles said he would consider the LNP’s proposal and implement any “reasonable elements”.
The LNP’s pre-election promise comes ahead of the October 26 poll and weeks after Ashley Paul Griffith, who’s been branded a “monster”, admitted to abusing girls at childcare centres.
Griffith is due to be sentenced in November after he pleaded guilty to more than 300 child sexual offences including 28 charges of rape.
He admitted offences against multiple children while working in childcare centres across Brisbane between January 2003 and August 2022.
The Opposition said that if elected to government, an independent inquiry headed by the Queensland Family and Child Commissioner would be set up.
“A monster was able to carry out his heinous crimes within the current system and we must do everything in our power to fix the failures of that system,” shadow attorney-general Tim Nicholls said.
Opposition leader David Crisafulli accused the premier of failing to keep Queensland children safe.
But Mr Miles rejected this, saying the government had met its obligations on child safety and was improving the system.
“Despite increased demand, the child safety system now is much stronger and more robust,” he told parliament.
He said the child safety department received more than 140,000 reports over the past year, sparking 28,000 investigations.
Mr Miles said there was now better, faster information sharing between agencies, with child safety centres undergoing quality upgrades and improved training.
“We’ve made extensive changes to systems and processes to help ensure more children are protected and safe from harm,” he said.
It follows a 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which found widespread and systemic failures across Australia.
It made a raft of recommendations for states and territories to meet child safety standards, and implement independent oversight bodies.
It also recommended a reportable conduct scheme for kid-centric organisations to have to report and investigate any worker conduct concerns.
A bill implementing the recommendations from the Royal Commission was expected to pass through Queensland parliament on Wednesday.
LNP child protection spokeswoman Amanda Camm said the government had taken seven years to get the recommendations to this stage.
“It’s unacceptable that it has taken this long,” she told parliament.
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