Trying to contact the registry or CPOR?
We are a private criminal defence firm (not the Queensland Police Service and not the registry) and we cannot take reports, update reporting details, or process register access applications. To save you a call:
- Reportable offenders: contact the Child Protection Offender Registry (CPOR) on 1300 552 931 (Monday–Friday, 8am–4pm) or report online via the QPS portal.
- Public register access (Daniel’s Law): applications are made through the Queensland Police Service, not through any law firm.
If you want confidential legal advice (about your reporting obligations, a failure-to-report allegation, or how the register affects you), that is exactly what we do: get in touch.
Overview of the Act
Daniel’s Law commenced on 31 December 2025, when the Community Protection and Public Child Sex Offender Register (Daniel’s Law) Act 2025 came into force. It is named in honour of Daniel Morcombe, the Sunshine Coast teenager tragically abducted and murdered in 2003, and was a key election promise of the Crisafulli Government, introduced to Parliament as a Bill in August 2025 and passed after review by a parliamentary committee.
The Act establishes Queensland’s first public child sex offender registry, formally titled the Community Protection and Child Sex Offender Public Register, giving parents and community members tiered access to information to help protect children.
Daniel’s Law follows two decades of advocacy by Daniel’s parents, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, through the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, for stronger child protection measures. The government frames it as part of a broader “Making Queensland Safer” agenda, which also includes a reportable conduct scheme for organisations working with children, a review of the “Blue Card” working-with-children check system, and a Child Safety Commission of Inquiry.
If reporting obligations, or the public register, affect you or someone in your family, you can speak to us confidentially about what they mean for your situation, day or night, without judgement.
The three-tier disclosure framework
Daniel’s Law operates through a three-tier disclosure scheme, administered by the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and modelled in part on Western Australia’s public offender registry established in 2012. Each tier discloses a different level of information, with different safeguards:
- Tier 1 (public website): a publicly accessible website, danielslaw.qld.gov.au, listing reportable offenders who have failed to comply with their reporting obligations (or a supervision order) and whose whereabouts are unknown to police. It functions as a “most wanted” list for non-compliant registered offenders, showing the offender’s full name, photograph, and year of birth.
- Tier 2 (local area photo access): an online application through which Queensland residents can apply to view photographs of certain high-risk reportable offenders (including lifetime and 20-year reporters) living in their local area. Names, exact addresses and other personal details are not disclosed at Tier 2, only the photograph.
- Tier 3 (child-specific enquiries): a mechanism for parents and guardians to formally ask whether a specific person who has unsupervised contact with their child is a registered reportable offender: for example, a new coach, tutor, or family acquaintance. Where the person is a reportable offender, the parent may be given a “yes” answer; otherwise, no further detail is disclosed.
Only the Police Commissioner can add someone to Tier 1, and the legislation limits what can be disclosed at each tier.
Who is a “reportable offender”?
Daniel’s Law builds on Queensland’s existing reportable-offender scheme under the Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) Act 2004 (Qld). It does not create a new category of offender, only a new layer of public disclosure about offenders already required to report to police. A “reportable offender” is generally anyone sentenced for a broad range of sexual or other serious offences against children, who must then keep police informed of their whereabouts and other personal details for a set period, sometimes life. We cover who this applies to, and for how long, in detail in our reportable-offender explainer.
Safeguards and offences for misusing the register
Recognising the sensitivity of publishing offender information, Daniel’s Law is paired with new criminal offences aimed at deterring misuse of the scheme:
- Intimidating or harassing an identified offender (including inciting others to do so), for example organising or encouraging a group to target an offender’s home, or posting their profile encouraging others to confront them, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
- Unauthorised sharing of information obtained from the register (forwarding, posting publicly, or otherwise distributing identifying information obtained through Tier 2 or Tier 3 without QPS authorisation) carries a maximum penalty of 3 years’ imprisonment.
These offences reflect the stated intent that Daniel’s Law is “not about enabling vigilante action, but about community empowerment within the rule of law.”
Advocacy and legacy
Bruce and Denise Morcombe have been the driving force behind Daniel’s Law, and its name is a tribute to their son’s legacy. Since Daniel’s abduction and murder in 2003, the Morcombes have transformed their personal tragedy into a public mission, establishing the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and advocating relentlessly for child safety education and tougher laws against predators.
A public offender register was one of their long-standing proposals. Upon the law’s introduction, the Morcombes said they were “deeply proud that Daniel’s name will live on through this legislation, giving parents across Queensland the ability to better protect their children.” Their hope is that Queensland’s example spurs similar reforms across Australia, so children in every state have this layer of protection.
Policy cohesion: the “Making Queensland Safer” agenda
Daniel’s Law does not stand in isolation. It sits alongside a broader Queensland child protection agenda, which as flagged when Daniel’s Law was introduced was expected to include:
- A reportable conduct scheme for organisations that work with children, intended to close gaps in how institutional (rather than individual) abuse is detected and managed.
- A review of the Blue Card system (the preventative working-with-children check), intended to work alongside Daniel’s Law: Blue Card screens potential caretakers before any offence, while Daniel’s Law discloses information about offenders after conviction.
- A Child Safety Commission of Inquiry, reviewing the child protection system more broadly.
- Interstate and national data-sharing, given Daniel’s Law draws on the Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR), which police nationwide already use to share information.
(As at publication, some of these companion measures were still rolling out; if a specific initiative matters to your situation, ask us for its current status.)
Privacy, human rights and effectiveness: our view
Civil liberties groups and the Queensland Human Rights Commission raised concerns during the Bill process that naming offenders publicly could harm privacy and reputation, and in some cases indirectly expose victims. The Act overrides aspects of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld), only the second time such an override has been used in Queensland, with a five-year sunset clause requiring review, and it limits judicial review of disclosure decisions to narrow grounds (jurisdictional error).
The Queensland Law Society’s submission on the Bill noted that “many of the submissions to the committee pointed to research that indicates registers of this kind have not been found to enhance community safety, and may instead contribute to stigma, acts of vigilantism, misinformation and reduced rehabilitation outcomes.”
Our view, as experienced criminal defence lawyers, is that this scheme is unlikely to meaningfully protect the community from harm. Public registers of this kind have consistently shown little effect on reoffending in the research literature: some evidence points to a small deterrent effect for people not yet convicted, but not for people already convicted, where stigma can in some cases increase the risk of reoffending. Most people who go on to commit an offence against a child are not on any register at all, so the practical safety value of checking it is limited, while the risk of the register being misused for harassment or vigilantism is real, which is precisely why the misuse offences above exist and carry serious penalties.
FAQs
How do I check the Daniel’s Law register?
The public Tier 1 list is published at danielslaw.qld.gov.au. Tier 2 (local-area photos) and Tier 3 (a specific-person check) require an application through the same scheme; they are not simply browsable.
Does the register show every reportable offender in Queensland?
No. Only offenders who have failed to comply with their reporting obligations or a supervision order, and whose whereabouts are unknown to police, appear on the public Tier 1 website. Most reportable offenders, including people fully complying with their obligations, are not named publicly anywhere.
Can I find out if a specific person is a registered offender?
Only through the Tier 3 process, and only if you are a parent or guardian asking about a person who has unsupervised contact with your child. You will be given a yes-or-no answer, not the person’s offence history or other details.
Does this apply to people who are no longer reportable offenders, or who were never reportable offenders?
No. It only applies to current reportable offenders. People who have completed their reporting requirements, or who were convicted before the reportable-offender scheme began in 2004, are not captured. The Explanatory Notes are explicit: “Section 8 of the CPOROPOA outlines when a person stops being a reportable offender. The Police Commissioner must not disclose information where a person is no longer a reportable offender.”
What happens if I share or misuse information from the register?
You risk prosecution: up to 10 years’ imprisonment for intimidating or harassing an identified offender (or inciting others to), and up to 3 years for unauthorised sharing of register information (see above).
If you or a family member has questions about reporting obligations, the public register, or has been charged with a sexual offence or CEM offence, contact us for confidential, non-judgmental advice, available 24/7 for urgent matters.
This article is general legal information, not advice about your situation.
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