Australia has a major problem with a combination of bad laws and magistrates who issue mind-boggling decisions.

Last week, an international student was let off with a slap on the wrist by a Melbourne magistrate despite being caught with more than 100 videos of women in public toilets. Bao Phuc Cao claimed he was confused about his gender and got off virtually scot-free. He pleaded guilty but was only given a community corrections order (CCO).

Under the Migration Act, being sentenced to imprisonment for a year or more results in mandatory visa cancellation, however Home Affairs may still cancel a person’s visa on character grounds if they have been charged with an offence or may be a risk to the Australian community.

Alarmingly the man is a biomedicine student at The University of Melbourne, who has been in court at least two other times for illegally filming women in vulnerable situations.

Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz did not record a conviction for Cao, even though he had previously been sentenced to a community corrections order in May last year for “effectively identical offending” against one known victim.

The prosecutor said police had seized Cao’s phone containing “over 100 different videos” of unknown people whom he had secretly filmed.

The court was told the Docklands victim “panicked” after she noticed Cao’s phone pointed at her from under a cubicle wall.

Security was informed and swooped on Cao, who was in a nearby toilet cubicle.

When asked by police why he was in the women’s toilet, Cao told officers, “I’m not sure about my gender."

Ridiculous laws that state a person can change their sex or gender give vile men like this a free pass to impose themselves in women’s sex-based spaces. The same laws that defy nature allow magistrates to impose, or rather not impose, penalties that make no sense and put women and children in harm’s way.

Commentary Australian Greens (@GreensAU2 on X) posted this meme shortly afterwards with the comment, "what radicalised you?"

It had a photo purportedly of Cao with the caption, “Secretly filmed 150 women (including underage girls in bathrooms), no conviction”. And a photo of me with the caption "misgendered someone, fined $95,000”.

The image went viral with many international users picking up on it including actor Kevin Sorbo.

There is a serious problem in Australia. It is up to us, the voters, to rectify it by lobbying the government to change bad laws or vote them out at the next election.

Image: Nine News / AAP