Police officers will be able to enter the home of a child sex offender to search their digital devices without a warrant under new laws to be introduced in Queensland.
In an effort to crack down on rising child sex offences, police will be able to require reportable offenders to disclose their use of hidden application devices and their media access control (MAC) address, the unique identifiers assigned to electronic devices.
Police are currently required to ask for an offender's consent to inspect their devices.
Offenders who fail to comply with police will face penalties of up to five years in prison.
Police Minister Mark Ryan said since the start of the COVID pandemic, child sex offenders had been using new web technology to target children.
"It is a very alarming and disturbing trend," Mr Ryan said.
"Currently advanced anonymising software exists, such as virtual private networks and hidden phone applications, allowing these predators to remain invisible online, hiding evidence of their child sex offending."
Changes to help prevent reoffending
The legislation, said to be an Australian first, will be introduced into parliament this week.
Mr Ryan said the new laws were a tool necessary for police to pursue child sex offenders.
"These offenders are the lowest of the low, and I am determined they'll have nowhere to hide," he said.
"As technology changes, it is critical police are given the tools they need to keep the pressure on child sex offenders.
"The QPS [Queensland Police Service] has been doing an outstanding job in its seemingly never-ending quest against this despicable behaviour.
"It is incredibly complex, and stressful, for the officers and any way in which the government can help legislatively we absolutely do that."
Crime and Intelligence Command Detective Acting Chief Superintendent Denzil Clark said it was hoped the new laws would help prevent repeat offending.
"The current legislation certainly creates difficulties for us when it comes to entering a premises to conduct a device inspection and technology is being used by our offenders to defeat our examination of devices," he said.
"So this legislation will go a very long way to even up the playing field to allow us access to these premises to inspect these devices and to hold these offenders accountable."
Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston praised the new laws and said police needed the tools to keep up with the technology assisting offenders.
"Anything that the government can do to give more power and authority to the police, to investigate child sex crimes has to happen," Ms Johnston said.
"We have to stop elevating the human rights of adults over the human rights of children,
"For those of us working in this sector, we're seeing this spiral out of control, and it's frightening."
Ms Johnston urged authorities to go further still.
"Don't let them out in the first place straight away, we've got the mechanisms in law to detain sex offenders past their release date, if they're deemed to pose an ongoing threat to the community, but the courts don't use it."
"Even when professionals are saying that a person still poses a risk still, they're being released.
"We shouldn't have to be chasing them around and putting bracelets on them, we as a community should know where dangerous sex offenders are, and that should be behind bars."
