“He is doing so,” Mr Speakman said.

The issue arose on Monday after a Sydney newspaper report said a Dubbo man pleaded guilty to 10 counts of historic child-sex crimes and a judge in the Dubbo District Court had imposed a suspended two-year jail term.

Mr Speakman said on Monday he had asked the DPP for a brief on the matter.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said: “The DPP is the appropriate prosecuting authority to decide whether an appeal has sufficient prospects for success.

“If the DPP declines to appeal, I will consider whether to exercise my power to commence an appeal. Research so far suggests that Attorneys General in NSW have only used this power twice in 30 years in these circumstances.

“I asked the DPP to contact the victims of this crime as soon as possible in order to hear from them personally on their desire to have suppression orders lifted.

“I am able to confirm the DPP has already lodged an application to have the suppression order lifted and the matter will be listed again in the near future.

“I have written to the Commissioner of Police to ask him to consider whether a Child Protection Prohibition Order ought be imposed on the offender.”

He said the victims are being supported by Victims’ Services within the Justice Department.

“This government has also acted to abolish Labor’s suspended sentences, ensuring that any child sex offender sentenced to imprisonment will spend their sentence behind bars.

“The Opposition Leader is playing politics with the victims of child sexual abuse, an abhorrent crime,” he said.

Opposition Leader Luke Foley demanded in Question Time in the NSW Parliament on Wednesday that Mr Speakman “lodge an appeal against the manifestly inadequate sentence imposed on a child sex offender in Dubbo”.

“Once again he refused to commit to an appeal,” Mr Foley said in a statement.

“Under Section 5D of the Criminal Appeal Act the state’s chief law officer can lodge an appeal against this soft sentence.

“The Attorney General finally admitted in Parliament today there is no fixed time limit on any appeal by him against the leniency of a sentence.

“Instead of taking the issue seriously dozens of Liberal and National MPs laughed uproariously.

“A bloke convicted of sex crimes against two young girls is free to walk the streets and government members find that a laughing matter. I don’t.

“And I will not rest until the Attorney General does the right thing and appeals this sentence,” he said.