<p>
	The move is an attempt to crack down on child sex tourism.</p>
<p>
	Convicted paedophiles will have their passports cancelled to prevent them travelling overseas to offend again under tough new laws which Australia has hailed as a &ldquo;world first&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	Legislation will be introduced to parliament this month making it illegal for registered offenders to leave or attempt to leave the country as part of a crackdown on child-sex tourism.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;The new laws will prohibit registered child sex offenders from leaving Australia or holding Australian passports,&rdquo; Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;Last year alone, almost 800 registered child sex offenders travelled overseas from Australia.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
	She said many of them &ndash; who often go to developing countries in Asia &ndash; were in breach of obligations to notify police that they were travelling, with half of them considered as having medium-high or very-high risk of reoffending.</p>
<p>
	The move follows several recent high-profile cases of child exploitation overseas, including by Australian Robert Ellis who was convicted last year of sexually abusing 11 Indonesian girls on the resort island of Bali.</p>
<p>
	Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the new laws were &ldquo;the strongest crackdown on child-sex tourism ever&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;No country has ever taken such decisive and strong action to stop its citizens from going overseas, often to vulnerable countries, to abuse kids. So this is absolutely a world first,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>
	Keenan estimated the government would deny passports to around 20,000 people who have served their sentences but were still monitored under the Australian National Child Offender Register.</p>
<p>
	Some 2,500 new cases were expected to be added every year.</p>
<p>
	Senator Derryn Hinch, who has long campaigned for the measures, said he was &ldquo;over the moon&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;It would be the best thing I&rsquo;ve achieved in my time,&rdquo; he told Fairfax Media, labelling the trips taken by offenders as &ldquo;child rape holidays&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	People say what about their civil rights? Well when you rape a child, you lose some of your civil rights, from my point of view.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by TheJournal.ie on the 30th May 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.thejournal.ie/paedophiles-australia-3416127-May2017/">http://www.thejournal.ie/paedophiles-australia-3416127-May2017/</a></p>
