But others are just as opposed, saying the consequences of it travel far and wide. Others, rightly, have questioned why such a register wouldn’t exist for other categories of felons - such as domestic violence offenders. But that’s not the point here. What’s more salient is why Dutton is supporting it now, as his government careers towards a cliff fall. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video This is an issue Independent Victorian senator Derryn Hinch has been campaigning on, for years. Indeed, as he reminded everyone yesterday, it is the reason he entered politics.

Dutton raised the issue this week because anything that might be a populist vote-winner is worth supporting. Tie your kitchen sink down, because it could be promised to someone soon too. Every government’s term has a turning point but here are the simple marks of a government in serial decline. And Scott Morrison’s government ticks every one of them. Good policies are offered too late. Peter Dutton’s support for a national child sex register is a case in point. It might remind you of John Howard’s carbon emissions trading scheme in 2007. Even the simple things go wrong. Remember the husband of former minister Jackie Kelly being caught stuffing bogus pamphlets into letterboxes ahead of the 2007 federal poll? It’s a bit like someone photoshopping odd shoes onto the prime minister’s feet for his official government website. Good and talented people start to appear as though they are paying more attention to their post-political lives than in their party holding government. Martin Ferguson was one of a handful who did it in 2013 - and Julie Bishop looks very much like she’s doing that now.