A convicted child sex offender who ran demonstrations at the Perth Royal Show this year has prompted calls to make Working with Children Checks mandatory for events around the nation.
The ABC has confirmed the man, a farmer who owns a number of businesses, was jailed for two years in 2014 for repeatedly sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy and also breaking his hand.
He was acquitted of one count of sexual penetration of the same child.
The offender was spotted by the victim’s mother as he gave a demonstration to a crowd of children at last month’s show, which attracted record crowds.
Deborah says she felt ill when she spotted her son’s abuser at the Royal Show. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)
“I felt physically ill, I was absolutely, just shocked,” said the victim’s mother, who we’re calling Deborah.
“I wanted to yell out to all the parents, and I thought, ‘I can’t do that’.”
‘Such a simple step’
Deborah is speaking out because she wants safeguards to prevent people with child sex convictions being allowed to own and operate stalls and exhibits at these types of shows.
The Perth Royal Show requires volunteers to have Working with Children checks [WWCs], but not commercial exhibitors.
“As a parent I would assume that an organisation such as the Royal Agricultural Society [WA] would take those steps in making sure all those vendors are safe people by doing police checks, working with children [checks],” she said.
“To not have done that, to me, is just disgusting — it’s such a simple step.”
The rules vary around the country, with most jurisdictions only making the checks mandatory for volunteers, while commercial stallholders are exempt.
In WA, the Department of Communities’ Working with Children Screening Unit is responsible for issuing the checks.
The department says anyone convicted of Class 1 child sex offences, such as those committed by Deborah’s son’s abuser, would not be issued a WWC card.
Deborah wants safeguards to prevent people with child sex convictions being allowed to work at agricultural shows and other events where children are present. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)
He also remains a reportable offender under WA law, which means he must disclose personal details, including his computer passwords, residence and address where he works to police, and update them if they change.
He must also disclose any unsupervised contact with children.
Offender in court again this week
An ABC investigation has established this man was convicted for breaching his reporting obligations three times this year, the most recent offence of failing to update his change of address landing him in court this week.
When approached outside court by the ABC, the man denied he had unsupervised contact with children at the Perth Royal Show.
The convicted child sex offender appeared in a Perth court on Wednesday after breaching his reporting conditions. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)
He declined to answer questions about how appropriate his attendance was, given his criminal history.
The ABC is not suggesting he has reoffended against children, and the Royal Show said it had no reports of any incidents.
Police contacted by organisers
The Royal Agricultural Society WA, which runs the Perth Royal Show, said it contacted police after the ABC alerted them to the offender’s presence.
Marketing for Perth’s Royal Show is targeted towards children and families. (ABC News: Gian De Poloni)
“Given the concerning nature of the claim, we immediately contacted the police who are unable to legally release any information about this allegation,” chief executive Robyn Sermon said.
“No related matters were reported during the Show.”
Ms Sermon said the show had a large security and safety team present and used CCTV to monitor the grounds.
“We regularly seek advice from the Working with Children Screening Unit WA and our current practices go over and above legal requirements,” she said.
The ABC asked what steps the society would take to ensure convicted child sex offenders would not work at future shows.
“We frequently review our processes, and given the serious nature of this allegation, will seek further advice from police and the Working with Children Screening Unit,” Ms Sermon said.
Police Minister Paul Papalia said on Thursday police had contacted the Royal Agricultural Society and were working with them to review their procedures “to ensure the safety of everyone”.
Liberal party leader Libby Mettam said the safety of children must be paramount.
“How on earth is it possible that such an individual was able to bypass an obligation to have a working with children check, with such a concerning background,?” Ms Mettam asked.
Call for more scrutiny
Child safety advocates want the rules to be tightened up around the country.
Many of the shows said commercial stallholders were governed by the same rules as any other shop front or business and may not be required by law to hold working with children clearances.
- The Sydney Easter Royal Show requires stallholders who interact with children to provide a copy of their clearance, while Adelaide warns stallholders may be audited.
- Brisbane doesn’t require checks for either volunteers or stallholders but say they can’t make them mandatory under state law.
- The Royal Hobart Show encourages private stallholders to have one and said it’s looking to tighten up the rules, while Darwin said it’s moving to implement checks across all its shows.
- The Melbourne Royal Show did not respond directly to the ABC’s questions about private stallholders, except to say it requires them to follow relevant laws.
Chief executive of national child protection advocates Act for Kids Dr Katrina Lines said all adults aged over 18 should hold a WWC “in any situation where they have unsupervised contact with children as part of their employment”.
“This should be enforced across all Australian states and territories,” she said.
Survivors and Mates Support Network chief executive Craig Hughes-Cashmore agreed.
“You’ve got kids running around, often unsupervised,” Mr Hughes-Cashmore said.
“I think as a community, really, we should actually insist that environments like that do have Working with Children Checks.
“They’re not the be all and end all, they’re not going to stop all risk but I think they certainly help, and they certainly bring about awareness as well.”
The Perth Royal Show beat all attendance records this year. (Supplied: Perth Royal Show)
Fighters Against Child Abuse Australia president Adam Washbourne said he was shocked such checks were not mandatory at these events.
“As a parent, you have an expectation that a show aimed at (being) a family friendly event or a show aimed at children would have safe people working for it,” Mr Washbourne said.
In 2015 a Royal Commission recommended implementing a national register and harmonising rules around Working with Children Checks, but that hasn’t been implemented.
‘It destroyed him’
Deborah hopes by speaking out she’ll prompt change.
“My loving child who was, you know, outgoing, go-lucky child who would just giggle and laugh at all sorts of things, he was a great sportsman,” she said.
Deborah says mandatory working with children checks would be a simple way to protect children. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)
“[The abuse] destroyed him, absolutely destroyed him, he became a shell of a person.”
She said his abuser should have known it wasn’t appropriate to go to a child-focused event.
“I don’t know how a person who’s done this to a child could actually allow themselves to be anywhere near other children,” she said.
“This man was so convincing … he knew how to groom him, he knew exactly what to do.
“You don’t let people like that near children.”
