Page 2188 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2018
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the experiences of those survivors who came forward as well as acting upon the commission’s final recommendations.
There is no higher priority for government than ensuring children’s safety. It is at the heart of what we do. We recognise the rights of children and young people to grow in safe and stable environments and the responsibility of our community to contribute to their safety, protection and wellbeing. The reportable conduct scheme is an important part of the broader ACT safety net that protects children. It helps organisations to respond correctly and appropriately to allegations of employee misconduct involving children, through external, independent oversight of their practices and procedures.
The importance of keeping children and young people safe and protecting them from harm cannot be overstated. We know that when children experience sexual and other abuse, the exposure to toxic stress quite literally poisons the brain, with disruption of the development of brain architecture that lasts well into adulthood. It affects psychological and social functioning, self-esteem, mental health, personality, sleep, health risk behaviours including substance abuse, self-harm, and life expectancy.
We must focus on early intervention and prevention to support better outcomes for children, young people and the wider community. That is why reporting conduct that causes this harm is so important. We expect it of teachers. We expect it of health professionals. And today, with this bill, we expect it of religious bodies, including ministers of religion and religious leaders.
I note that the Catholic Church has raised some concerns with these changes, specifically the changes regarding the confessional. The ACT government has been reasonable on this matter, allowing for a nine-month lead-in time to March 2019. The argument of the Catholic Church, that it will be breaking the seal of sacrament surrounding the confessional booths if we go ahead with these changes, shows how out of touch the Catholic Church is with the community, with victims, and with their responsibility to ensure that they are a child-safe organisation, which, I remind Archbishop Prowse, starts at the very top of organisations. We cannot allow children to suffer from institutionalised sexual abuse, and we will not allow children to suffer because of the silence of the church or any religious body.
That is why our government will provide safeguards to protect every child through greater reporting. Today we take the side of children over the church. It is our obligation to do so, because the rights of the child are paramount. Our government’s priority is protecting children, protecting vulnerable people. Our priority is not about upsetting the sensitivities of religious bodies that we know, through the royal commission, have a history of abuse of children in communities across Australia, and in my community at Marist College.
Archbishop Christopher Prowse wrote in the Canberra Times today:
… what sexual abuser would confess to a priest if they thought they would be reported?
I ask: what supposed pillar of moral authority thinks that they should be exempt from reporting on the most serious crimes against children?
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