COMMUNITY PROTECTION (OFFENDER REPORTING) ACT 2004 - SECT 85G
COMMUNITY PROTECTION (OFFENDER REPORTING) ACT 2004 - SECT 85G
85G . Commissioner may publish photograph and locality of certain persons
(1) In this section
—
Department of Corrective Services means the
department of the Public Service principally assisting the Minister in the
administration of the Prisons Act 1981 ;
photograph includes a digital image;
prescribed offence means a Class 1 offence, a
Class 2 offence or a sexual offence, as defined in the Evidence Act 1906
section 36A.
(2) Subject to this
section, the Commissioner may publish a photograph and the locality of a
person, other than a person who is a child —
(a) if
—
(i)
the person has been convicted of a serious sexual
offence; and
(ii)
the person is subject to a HRO supervision order; and
(iii)
that order does not provide that the person’s
photograph and locality are not to be published under this section;
or
(b) if
—
(i)
the person, after becoming a reportable offender, commits
and is found guilty of a prescribed offence; and
(ii)
any offence committed by the person, including the
prescribed offence, is a Class 1 offence or an offence committed against a
child under The Criminal Code section 323 or 324;
or
(c) if
—
(i)
the person has been found guilty of an offence punishable
by imprisonment for 5 years or more; and
(ii)
on application by the Commissioner, that publication is
authorised by the Minister on being satisfied that the person poses a risk to
the lives or sexual safety of one or more persons, or persons generally.
(3) If the
Commissioner proposes to publish the photograph and locality of a person under
subsection (2), the Commissioner —
(a) must
give the person written notice of the proposal and the reasons for it; and
(b) must
inform the person in that notice that he or she has a specified period (of not
less than 21 days) to make submissions or be heard in relation to the
proposal; and
(c) if
subsection (2)(a) applies in relation to the person, must give written notice
of the proposal to the chief executive officer of the Department of Corrective
Services.
(4) Before publishing
the photograph and locality of the person, the Commissioner must have regard
to —
(a) any
submission made, or information or document provided, by the person within the
period referred to in subsection (3)(b); and
(b) if
notice is given under subsection (3)(c), any submission made by the chief
executive officer of the Department of Corrective Services within the period
of 21 days after that notice is given.
(5) For the purposes
of subsection (2)(c), it is not necessary that the Minister be able to
identify a risk to a particular person or particular persons or a particular
class of persons.
(6) In determining
whether to authorise publication under subsection (2)(c), the Minister may
take into account the following —
(a) any
medical, psychiatric, psychological or other assessment relating to the
person;
(b) any
information indicating whether or not the person is likely to commit a
prescribed offence in the future;
(c)
whether or not there is any pattern of offending behaviour on the part of the
person;
(d) the
person’s antecedents and the seriousness of his or her total criminal
record;
(e) the
person’s age and the age of any victims of any offences committed by the
person at the time those offences were committed;
(f) the
difference in age between the person and any victims of those offences;
(g) any
other matter the Minister considers relevant.
(7) The Commissioner
must provide with an application under subsection (2)(c) any information
available to the Commissioner that is relevant to the Minister’s
determination whether to authorise publication.
(8) The fact that an
offence in respect of which a person has been found guilty becomes spent does
not affect the consideration of the offence as part of the person’s
total criminal record for the purposes of subsection (6)(d).
[Section 85G inserted: No. 1 of 2012 s. 5;
amended: No. 29 of 2020 s. 94.]