Page 791 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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I have moved my amendment because I think it is important that we reflect on up-to-date figures and information, and because I think it is important to acknowledge the depth of work that has occurred through the Royal Commission into Institutional Reponses to Child Sexual Abuse and the commitment of governments around the country, including the ACT government, to take its recommendations seriously and respond to them in a considered and timely way. Also, I think it is important to highlight that evidence-based information is available for parents and carers.
It is certainly valid to have a conversation about where, when and how parents are provided with this information and about whether we need to do more to promote the availability of this information to ensure that parents have better access to it at the times it will be most useful. As per the final part of my amendment, the government is happy to consider improvements that can be made in this regard. We are happy to consider whether the information currently available could be supplemented with resources that make it easier for parents to have these important conversations with their children. But we should not give Canberrans the impression that information is not currently available to parents or that they cannot access support.
As members of this place and of the community, we should use the opportunities we have to promote resources such as ParentLink that provide clear, evidence-based information on a wide range of topics, including protecting children from sexual abuse. The question of whether those resources could be supplemented and could be better linked and better promoted—including through the blue book which is provided to all new parents on the birth of a child—is one that is worth considering.
It is a tragic and shocking fact that more than 5,000 children and young people in Australia are the subject of substantiated sexual abuse reports in their families or out of home care every year. In 2016-17 5,861 Australian children or young people were the subject of substantiated sexual abuse reports in their families or out of home care. The most recent personal safety survey reported by the ABS in 2016 found 1.4 million Australians aged 18 years and over reported having experienced sexual abuse before the age of 15. Sexual abuse, as Mrs Kikkert said, has devastating effects on children and young people, their families and indeed their communities. These effects can last for a lifetime.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established to enable survivors of sexual abuse as children in institutional contexts to tell their stories, with significant and appropriate support, and to provide a critical and thorough examination of how we as a nation can address the wrongs of the past and prevent these terrible things from happening in the future. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the royal commission on 12 November 2012. At the time, Ms Gillard said:
These are insidious, evil acts to which no child should be subject. The individuals concerned deserve the most thorough of investigations into the wrongs that have been committed against them. They deserve to have their voices heard and their claims investigated. I believe a Royal Commission is the best way to do this.
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