A ban on Internet access for as long as eight years is one of several penalties for child sex offenders being praised by Northern Territory lawmakers and law enforcement.
This came as the Northern Territory government hailed a new child sex offender register in which those convicted of child sex crimes will have their personal details – name, address, vehicle registration, place of employment, and photograph – put into a national police database
Northern Territory Police Minister Paul Henderson told reporters the register and rules will help protect children from sex crimes and "put people who have been convicted of these types of offences on notice that once they are released, that police will have details of their whereabouts and police will be able to use this information to either eliminate people from their inquiries or bring people in for questioning in the event a child sex offence occurs."
The information included in the register will stay between eight and 15 years, according to the severity of the crime which got a convict onto the register in the first place, officials said.
"Police are currently drawing up notices for people immediately captured by the legislation and they are towards people who are presently serving a period of imprisonment for a child-related sex offence, or those that are on a supervised sentence," said Northern Territory Det. Supt. David Price. "Those people will be served with a notice requiring them to report to police within seven days."
