A pedophile was arrested at Sydney Airport, as he attempted to fly out of Australia, under laws that went into effect the same day that prevent registered child sex offenders from traveling overseas to abuse children.
Visiting Sydney Airport this morning, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the laws gave her the authority to deny a passport to a child sex offender, cancel existing passports, or order the surrender of a foreign passport.
“Registered child sex offenders have reporting obligations in Australia because of the ongoing risk that they present to children in Australia, but we are aware that they have a high propensity to re-offend if they are in the country where they not monitored and where child sex exploitation is rampant,” Ms Bishop said.
“These laws are designed to protect children at home and abroad.”
The laws are part of an array of proposed legislation, to ensure that pedophiles serve serious prison time, don’t get let out on bail or early parole, and are continually monitored after their release from prison. According to the Australian Justice Minister, the laws constitute the first efforts to crack down on child sex tourism anywhere in the world. Given the fact that many countries in Southeast Asia have minimal or non-existent laws against child sex abuse, or don’t enforce the laws if they do exist, the Australians felt it was their responsibility to prevent child sex abuse abroad by Australians.
Australia is only half a world away geographically, but it’s a world ahead of the U.S. in this and other matters.
A case in point: gun control. In 1996, a 28-year old man killed 35 people and wounded 18 others in what was called the Port Arthur Massacre. Within two weeks (!), all of the states in Australia immediately passed the identical gun laws banning semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, and making it more difficult to purchase weapons. The newly banned weapons were bought back by the government and then destroyed. Thousands of people handed in non-banned weapons. In all, over 700 000 guns were removed and destroyed.
Australia's revised gun laws also required that all firearms be individually registered to their licensed owners, that private firearm sales be prohibited and that each gun transfer through a licensed arms dealer be approved only after the police are satisfied of a genuine reason for ownership. Possession of firearms for self‐defense in Australia is specifically prohibited. The federal government restricts gun imports. In 2002, additional laws were enacted, limiting magazine to 10-round capacities, limiting barrel length and bullet caliber.
There have not been any mass murders in Australia since 1996, although in 2002, a mentally ill student killed two students and injured five others with illegally obtained weapons.
The homicide (murder and manslaughter) rate is down significantly, as are the suicide rates.
So, Australia, with its live-and-let-live ethos, is safer and more protective of its children than is the U.S., and particularly the heavily “Christian”, evangelical states.
In other words, there are solutions, if our politicians would address our national problems, and put solving them above their narrow, personal and political interests. It should be noted that the Prime Minister who pushed for the laws in 1996 and his Deputy, who was nationally associated with them, were vilified after the laws were passed, and their party lost 12 seats in the next election. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister was re-elected four times, and became the second-longest serving PM in Australian history; the Deputy also had a long, distinguished career in government.
Australia: a highly civilized, responsible country.