The two new offences (Criminal Code, Chapter 22 – Offences against morality) include:

• ss. 229BB – Failure to protect a child from a sexual offence: will make it an offence to fail to protect a child from a sexual offence in an institutional setting. The new law has been implemented to address issues such as offenders being moved from one institution to another and continuing to perpetrate child sexual abuse, or institutions placing their reputational requirements above the safety and wellbeing of a child or young person. The offence will be punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment for an ‘accountable person’ who fails to protect a child from a sexual offence.
• ss. 229BC – Failure to report sexual offending against a child to police: will make it an offence for any adult not to report sexual offending against a child by another adult to police. This obligation extends outside of the workplace to our responsibility as members of the Queensland community to protect children. The offence will be punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment for any adult who fails to report child sexual abuse to police.

The offences recognise the difficulties victims have in disclosing or reporting abuse, the vulnerability of children, and the risk that perpetrators of child sexual abuse may have multiple victims and may continue to reoffend against particular victims over lengthy periods of time.

The Criminal Code amendment does not replace the mandatory reporting obligations of doctors and registered nurses under the Child Protection Act 1999 (Qld) (the CP Act). The CP Act reporting requirements remain when there are concerns that a child:

(a) has suffered, is suffering, or is at unacceptable risk of suffering, significant harm caused by physical or sexual abuse; and

(b) may not have a parent able and willing to protect the child from the harm.

The Department of Justice and Attorney-General are responsible for leading the distribution of central information for the new legislative amendments to agencies and have made the following resources available to Queenslanders: www.qld.gov.au/protectchildren or https://www.qld.gov.au/law/crime-and-police/types-of-crime/sexual-offences-against-children.