Tuesday, 7 May 2024

Child sexual abuse

Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (12:14): My question is to the Premier. Last week the opposition put forward a bill to remove a legal loophole to stop perpetrators of historical child sex offences from walking free on suspended sentences. This reform was recommended by a royal commission in 2017 and accepted by the Labor government in 2018 but six years later is still being exploited by paedophiles in this state. Why is the Premier blocking the closure of this legal loophole?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (12:14): I thank the member for Malvern for his question, and at the outset can I acknowledge the survivors and those impacted by historical sexual child abuse. We are as one when we utterly condemn these horrendous crimes against some of our most vulnerable in our community. I want to say to the member for Malvern – and I am sure he is aware of this – that our laws already align with the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Judges are already required to consider current sentencing practices when sentencing someone who has committed child sexual abuse.

I simply make this invitation to the member for Malvern: in the interests of making genuine reform and change in this area, I would suggest that we reach out outside of this chamber, not bring these matters immediately to the floor of this chamber. As the member for Malvern knows well, it is the responsibility of government to bring bills to the floor of the Parliament, because we have the resources to make sure that the bills that are drafted and come to the Parliament, particularly on these complex areas, do not contain other unintended consequences. That invitation stands for the member for Malvern, who I understand may be interested in genuine reform, and I suggest he works with the Attorney to achieve it.

Michael O’BRIEN (Malvern) (12:16): This year the Labor government in this chamber prioritised a bill to fix typographical errors in legislation instead of closing a legal loophole that allows convicted child sex offenders to benefit from suspended sentences. Given six years have passed since the Labor government committed to changing this law, how much more pain will victims of historical child sexual abuse be forced to endure before the Premier acts?

The SPEAKER: The question is a rhetorical one. I will allow it to go through because it does relate to the primary question.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (12:16): My answer to this question is the same as the answer to the substantive question. We have a big and busy legislative program, where we are implementing election commitments, where we will be introducing a raft of budget bills later this afternoon, and we will continue to work on areas of reform in our justice system, particularly where it is focusing on supporting the most vulnerable members of our community.