Page 4414 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2019
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I want to take a moment to thank the Victims of Crime Commissioner, Heidi Yates, for her tireless advocacy in relation to the establishment of an intermediary scheme and for the work she did in helping ministers and MLAs to understand the benefits of intermediary schemes, including bringing people in from other jurisdictions to talk to us about the experiences there. That gave us a really deep understanding of the very real impact intermediaries can make in ensuring that children and people with disabilities can give the very best evidence to the court in these very sensitive and difficult matters.
The amendments in this bill send a clear signal that the ACT government is committed to taking action to ensure our society is safer for children and responds appropriately to those who have experienced violence. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (5.50): For the past three years it has been my privilege to speak in defence of the rights of children. I am grateful for the opportunity to do so again today. Only a few months after becoming a member of the Legislative Assembly I raised concerns about whether the government’s Family and Personal Violence Legislation Amendment Bill adequately protected kids. Between then and now I have repeatedly advocated for the right to have care and protection decisions involving children subject to external merits review.
Multiple times I have stated that kids in ACT schools have the right to be safe. I have called on the government to work with accredited organisations to provide new parents with better information about preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. I have raised concerns about kids in the territory’s out of home care system. I strongly supported legislative changes designed to make it harder for people to hide the abuse of children. I have unashamedly defended the rights of children in our youth detention centre. In all cases I have advocated for the voices of kids to be heard.
Just last month I specifically called on the government to tell us how children and young people’s voices have been included in ongoing consultations. Today I rise to support young people’s voices once again. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard many examples of the difficulties and traumas faced by child victims and witnesses within the criminal justice system. The clear recommendation was to introduce intermediaries tasked with making sure that kids both understand questions and are heard clearly. This bill establishes the legislative framework that will make this happen, and I am deeply satisfied to be able to support it.
One of the concerns I had when I first learnt of this proposal was that it might be too limited in application. I am pleased, therefore, that the bill we are debating today prescribes the appointment of intermediaries for child complainants in sexual offence proceedings and for children who have witnessed a homicide and also allows the appointment of intermediaries for any others who may struggle to be heard and understood by police officers, magistrates and/or juries.
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