Hinch could name sex offenders in Senate

Senate hopeful Derryn Hinch might use parliamentary privilege to name sex offenders if he's successful in the upcoming federal election.

Derryn Hinch in Melbourne in February 2015. He has said on radio he may use parliamentary privilege to name sex offenders. Source: AAP

Federal Senate hopeful Derryn Hinch is open to using parliamentary privilege to name convicted sex offenders.

The outspoken broadcaster - who is an odds-on chance to win a Victorian upper house seat on July 2 despite never having voted himself - has spent time in jail for breaching court suppression orders.

Asked if he would name offenders if elected, Hinch told 3AW on Wednesday: "If I have to, I will."

The 72-year-old needs about 300,000 votes to be elected but has never voted himself.

"I've finally found something worth voting for," he quipped on Wednesday.

"The main reason (for not voting previously) is I consider compulsory voting to be undemocratic."

Hinch has long campaigned to name and shame pedophiles and end suppression orders for sex offenders.

He was jailed in 2014 for contempt of court after he published the criminal history of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher's murderer on his blog.

Hinch also spent five months of 2011 under house arrest and was banned from public communication after breaching court suppression orders by naming sex offenders.

"The courts get it wrong ... I think I can save kids in parliament," he said on Wednesday.

MPs and Senators are immune from civil or criminal action when speaking in parliament.