Australia’s convicted paedophiles to have passports withdrawn

Laws being introduced in Australia this month will prevent convicted paedophiles from travelling overseas.

In what the government is calling a 'world first,' the legislation is expected to affect approximately 20,000 people on the National Child Offender Register in an attempt to crackdown on child-sex tourism. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan said,

“This is the strongest crackdown on child sex tourism ever. No country has ever taken such decisive action to stop its citizens from going overseas, often to vulnerable countries to abuse kids.”

 

"It sickens me" @steveheraldsun on @theheraldsun story that convicted paedophiles will have their passports cancelled #HeadsUp pic.twitter.com/VsWXf2J5LJ

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 29, 2017

According to the Australian government nearly 800 child sex offenders travelled abroad in 2016 with around half of them travelling to South-East Asia or breaching duties which require offenders to inform authorities of their movements. The effort comes after numerous high-profile cases in Australia which saw people travelling to different parts of Asia to abuse children. Anti- paedophile senator, Derryn Hinch said he was over the moon.

“People say what about their civil rights? Well when you rape a child, you lose some of your civil rights, from my point of view.”