Jail time for doctors who fail to report suspected child sex abuse
Under changes to Queensland's criminal code all adults face three years behind bars if they 'allow abuse to continue'
Doctors and other healthcare professionals in Queensland could spend up to three years in jail if they fail to report suspected child sex abuse to police, under changes to the state’s criminal code.
It is now an offence for any adult not to report sexual offending against a child under 16 years – or 18 if they have a cognitive impairment – under amendments that came into effect on 5 July.
The amendments were introduced by the Queensland Government as a response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.
A failure to report abuse “allowed it to continue,” the state government said in a summary of the changes
