The Upper House yesterday passed amendments to the Sentencing Act 2017 that ensure repeat child sex offenders are automatically sentenced to indefinite detention.

The laws – described by Premier Peter Malinauskas earlier this year as “the most draconian laws of any type anywhere in the country” – also mean repeat child sex offenders will be monitored electronically for the rest of their lives if a court decides they can re-enter the community.

Repeat child sex offenders under indefinite sentences will only be released if they can satisfy the court that they are willing and able to control their sexual instincts.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the state government would work with South Australia Police, the Courts Administration Authority and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure the laws are “as effective as possible”.

“We went to the last election promising to ensure the community was protected from these vile monsters who prey on our children. We said we would lock them up and throw away the key and that is exactly what we are doing,” Maher said.

“This is a significant step forward in delivering on this important law and order policy. These laws will help keep the community safe and ensure serious repeat offenders are kept behind bars until the courts are satisfied that they do not pose a threat to the community.

“This government will do everything in its power to keep the community safe, and this nation-leading reform demonstrates just how seriously we take that commitment.”

The Premier acknowledged the seriousness of a penalty of indefinite detention when the laws were first unveiled by the Malinauskas government in January.

“We have to pass laws that themselves will stand up to judicial scrutiny, whether it be state courts or high courts. Indefinite detention for anybody is very serious,” Malinauskas said at the time.

“It is the most consequential type of law that can ever be passed and there have been a whole range of legal precedents for courts striking down these tough laws. We have been able to pass indefinite detention under some circumstances previously – we are of the view that we should pass those types of laws in this state.

“If we were able to get this through Parliament, they will be the most draconian laws of any type anywhere in the country. The objective is about protecting those in the community who deserve to be able to catch a train without fear that someone has been released from custody who is a repeat child sex offender.”

Also in January, the national criminal justice spokesperson for the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) Greg Barns SC said the laws were developed without consultation with the legal community and would result in injustice.

“These new laws will result in injustice and are a dangerous breach of the separation of powers by interfering with judicial discretion,” said Barns, a former national president of the ALA and an advocate for Australia adopting a Bill of Rights.

When the Bill was introduced in March, the Law Society of South Australia raised serious concerns about the move to keep repeat child sex offenders in jail indefinitely.

In a letter sent to Maher, seen by InDaily, Law Society of South Australia president Alex Lazarevich said the “proposed sentencing arrangements risk creating a criminal law system that evaporates any incentive to plead guilty, creates a significant impost on the State, exacerbates congestion in the courts, causes injustice and risks constitutional challenge”.

“The Society’s position is that mandatory sentencing is to be avoided,” he said.

By threatening those who are repeated child sex offenders with a life imprisonment sentence, Lazarevich said the proposed arrangements “may evaporate entirely any remaining incentive for a serious child sex offender to plead guilty”.

“Under the current scheme there is already little incentive to enter a plea of guilty as a result of reductions made to maximum discounts and mandatory non-parole periods for repeat offenders,” he said.

“There must be at least some tangible benefit to the accused person guiding their decision to accept the adverse consequences of admitting a serious criminal offence.”

Maher said this latest piece of legislation builds on the state government’s “tough new changes to child sex offender laws” including the establishment of a public child sex offender register, increased penalties for a range of child sex abuse offences, and tougher penalties for offenders who communicate online with police officers posing as fictitious children.