DANGEROUS SEXUAL OFFENDERS ACT —OFFENDER
DECLARATIONS — DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
1223. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Leader of the House representing the Attorney General:
I ask this question on behalf of Hon
Michael Mischin, who is away on urgent parliamentary business. I thank the
Leader of the House for indulging me in allowing me to ask this question. She
will understand why in a minute. This is a clanger!
Hon Sue Ellery: Yes.
The PRESIDENT: If it is a clanger,
maybe the member does not need to ask it!
Hon PETER COLLIER: I really,
really do, Madam President.
I refer to the Attorney General's
response to question without notice 1180 of 3 November 2020 regarding the
operation of the Dangerous Sexual Offenders Act 2006, which was repealed only
on 26 August 2020.
Hon Sue Ellery: Don't!
You have a lot to read, so don't lose it yet.
Hon PETER COLLIER: The
question is as follows.
(1) Is the
Attorney General telling the Parliament that neither he, his department nor the
Director of Public Prosecutions can supply any of the bare statistical
information sought for any of the past 14 years about —
(a) the number of applications made by the DPP to have
someone declared a dangerous sexual offender;
(b) how many applications were
successful either at first instance or on appeal;
(c) how many such
offenders were detained in custody and released on conditions;
(d) how many detained in custody were
subsequently released on conditions;
(e) how many were the subject of
contravention proceedings by the DPP; or
(f) how those offenders were dealt
with for those breaches?
(2) If that is not so, can the
Attorney General provide what information he can?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
Good effort, Leader of the
Opposition! I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) As noted on 3 November 2020 in response to
question without notice 1180, the questions asked by the member require a vast amount of information to be
scrutinised, spanning back 14 years from the commencement of the now repealed
Dangerous Sexual Offenders Act 2006. Some of those records are not
computerised. In addition, the Corrective Services branch of the Department of
Justice deals with breaches of conditions and the Western Australia Police
Force prosecutes them.
The member may also wish to refer to
charts 14 and 15 in the 2019–20 annual report of the Office of the
Director of Public Prosecutions, which includes statistical information about
offenders subject to ongoing orders and applications made by the office under
the Dangerous Sexual Offenders Act 2006. For ease of reference, I shall table
copies of said charts.
I reiterate that if the member has a specific
question about a particular dangerous sexual offender or seeks statistical
information for a particular year, the Attorney General will consider this
request.
[See paper 4561.]