Page 2768 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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I want to state very clearly—and this is an important point—that this legislation is not aimed at the innocent or foolish young person. It is not aimed at people who share images, who are adults, with consent. It is designed as a protection against abuse. I would like to encourage the government, as Ms Le Couteur did, to engage in education for young people and police to make sure these laws operate as intended. We do not want innocent people caught up in these laws. We have done everything that we can collectively to make sure that the legislation we are passing today will not do that.
This has been a very good process, I believe. I would like to acknowledge everybody’s role in this, and particularly that of the government and the very good consultation between my office and that of the Attorney-General. I refer in particular to Mr Dave Ferguson, who has been excellent to deal with. The work that has happened there, with the amendments that are coming forward, enhance the legislation that I tabled. I would like to thank those in my office for their efforts, particularly Mr Ian Hagan, as well as Jessica Hynson in that process.
I would also like to thank the Greens. I acknowledge the role that Ms Le Couteur in particular has played in this. They have been engaged in this process for a long time; I acknowledge that. I acknowledge the petition, and the work that Ms Le Couteur has done within the community. Certainly, in this case, this is not an exercise in point-scoring. It is not a matter of who got there first; it is a matter of looking at how we deal with this in the best way. I thank the other parties for dealing so cooperatively in this sense. I particularly thank her staff in the dealings that we have had, including Veronica, Travis Jordan and the Greens chief of staff, Indra.
Others that have been involved extensively in discussions with all parties include the Law Society, and particularly Dianne O’Hara; the Bar Association, and particularly Ken Archer; and the commissioners of the ACT. With respect to the responses provided by the Human Rights Commission—Helen Watchirs, John Hinchey, Jodie Griffiths-Cook and Karen Toohey—they put in a joint submission. It was excellent; it really informed our legislation and many of the changes we made, going from the exposure draft to the bill that was tabled. They put in an excellent submission.
I also thank the drafters at PCO who have worked hard on this bill, including Savvas Pertsinidis, Bianca Kimber and their staff. I know there have been a lot of changes and a lot of parties involved in this, so they must have been busy with the drafting. I also note the members of the public who contributed. I know that many people got involved by way of Ms Le Couteur’s petition. We have had a number of very good responses on the Canberra Liberals have your say website that have also been informative.
I also thank the people who are on the front line of services, including the Women’s Services Network, the Women’s Centre for Health Matters and ACTCOSS, who have raised some very pertinent points with us that we have incorporated, and we are happy to continue with those conversations.
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