Page 785 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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literature increasingly advocating for parent-focussed child sexual abuse prevention efforts;
(b) well-informed parents and other primary caregivers are considered necessary in order to supplement school-based and other programs targeted at children because such parents and caregivers can:
(i) repeat and reinforce correct information;
(ii) aid in prevention by recognising risk factors and warning signs;
(iii) react helpfully to disclosure or discovery of abuse; and
(iv) relieve some of the burden of prevention currently placed on children;
(c) many Australian parents and other primary caregivers report feeling unprepared to teach correct and appropriate information to children, to recognise the signs of child sexual abuse or to respond correctly to suspected abuse;
(d) the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has recommended “prevention education for parents” that aims “to increase knowledge of child sexual abuse and its impacts, and build skills to help reduce the risks of child sexual abuse”;
(e) the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry concluded that “more can be done to prevent child sexual abuse, particularly through the provision of information and education to parents and caregivers of children”, and observed that “the range of existing expertise and resources already available through organisations like Child Wise and Bravehearts would enable this action to be implemented without delay”; and
(f) the current National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children states that “a focus on early intervention and prevention is more cost-effective in the long-term than responding to crises, or treating the impacts of abuse and neglect”; and
(3) calls on the Government to:
(a) at an appropriate time, provide all first-time parents and other primary caregivers in the ACT evaluated information packets that address child sexual abuse, including how to recognise offender tactics, potentially risky situations, and warning signs as well as how to helpfully respond to suspected abuse and actual discovery of abuse; and
(b) work with nationally recognised and accredited organisations such as Bravehearts and Child Wise to make sure that such information packets contain correct and appropriate information and reflect best practice.
I rise today to speak to the motion I have put forward in my name regarding better equipping parents and other primary caregivers to both prevent and, if necessary, respond to child sexual abuse. This is a most serious topic and I feel a great weight of responsibility as I address it. This is especially the case as we have with us in the chamber today a mother and her child, both of whom have been deeply affected by this issue. These two brave Canberrans are here today not by invitation but rather on their insistence. I wish not only to acknowledge their presence but to honour them for their courage, their resilience and their desire to turn private tragedy into a public matter for public good.
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