We cover Australia on occasion here at the Shiitakes but no one from Down Under has won an award. Could this change?
https://www.9news.com.au/national/sex-offender-register-why-queensland-woman-wants-to-build-her-own-public-database-a-current-affair/6b5d477d-f89d-442f-8080-a1ec3e6fe27b
Queensland woman’s plan to ‘beat Dutton’ to building controversial sex offender registry
By A Current Affair Staff
7:43pm Jun 27, 2019
A single mother has vowed to launch her own register of child abusers and violent offenders, claiming she will beat the government to the punch.
Queensland woman Tania Roy started her Facebook page Australian Sex, DV Offenders and Child Abusers Exposed five years ago, after she became aware of a sex offender living in her community.
The page has grown to have nearly 50,000 followers, with posts scheduled for nearly every hour of the day.
"I get up every morning about 2.30am, and I start doing online searches ... and I look for offenders in the community and I structure a post," she said.
"I go through police media sites, I go through my inbox, and I do media searches."...
In the five years Ms Roy has been running the page, she's named and shamed thousands of offenders.
But she claimed she had never once named an innocent person, or faced any legal repercussions.
"I look after it like it's one of my children," she said.
"I make sure it's run properly, I make sure I don't break the law in anything that I do, and I make sure nobody else does."
Now, she is working with a web developer to launch her own online register of child abusers and violent offenders.
Prior to this year's federal election, the government committed to producing a public register of child sex offenders at a cost of $7.8 million.
At the time, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton claimed there were "very good" examples of how such a registry could work.
It is still in the planning stages, needing new legislation to be passed, and the participation of state and territory governments.
"We're now relying on the politicians to pass a bill," Ms Roy said.
"I don't have any faith in them passing this bill whatsoever."
She told A Current Affair her register was designed to list the name and the details of offenders in the community, and their location - down to a suburb.
"Not a street, not a house, no phone numbers, nothing like that will happen," she said.
But criminologist and former police detective Terry Goldsworthy said there was no evidence public registers worked.
"The studies are clear, very clear I think, that these kind of things don't necessarily aid in community protection, reduction of offences, et cetera," he said.
"What they are good for though, is allowing politicians to beat their chest to say, 'look how hard we are on crime'."
But Ms Roy is determined, and claims hers will be up and running in a couple of months.
"I'll do it, and I'll beat Dutton to it," she said.
She said the thanks she got for her work told her people were "relieved somebody's out there fighting for them".
In a statement, Queensland Police said they had managed Queensland’s Child Protection Offender Register since 2005, and that public safety and the protection of Queenslanders remained the top priority.
The Land of John Bunting Yes John Bunting and the Snowtown Murders killed people based on allegations he said were Sex Offenders.
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