Thursday, 22 February 2024

Child protection

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (18:35): (740) My adjournment matter is for the minister for child protection and family services, and the action I seek is for child abuse prevention education to be a mandatory requirement of the working with children check. Right now no education or training is required to receive the check. In comparison, to serve alcohol to adults you must undertake up to 10 hours of training, then you must pass a test. It should not be easier to be trusted with children than to pour a beer at a pub.

This morning I joined my staffer Emma and the Australian Childhood Foundation in speaking to the media about her call for this reform. Emma is a survivor of child sexual abuse. She and the foundation today released a report built on findings from 340 survivors who were asked what could have kept them safe from childhood sexual abuse. It is from this wisdom, sadly obtained through their survival of horrific abuse, that this call for reform has come. The least we can do for survivors is listen when they tell us how our systems have failed them. In doing so we have a chance to protect children today and tomorrow.

Nearly 30 per cent of Australians have experienced childhood sexual abuse. It is a horrendous statistic, but we cannot just think in numbers. Emma has allowed me to share part of her story in this place tonight. At nine years of age Emma began to be sexually abused by someone she was told to trust, respect and obey. The person who abused her had a working with children check. It went on well after her 10th birthday, and Emma’s mental health rapidly declined. Before she left primary school she was medicated for depression, OCD and anxiety. She was left self-harming. She experienced suicidal thoughts. By 16 years of age she was in a psychiatric ward. Every survivor who contributed to this report has their own devastating story. This is a crisis we all should care about, no matter where we sit on the political spectrum.

The working with children check is regarded by this government as a key piece of legislation governing how we protect and promote child safety. It is not working. The check cannot deter those seeking to harm children; the insidious nature of perpetrators makes that nearly impossible. But a check could do something powerful: it could educate those with one about how to notice signs of abuse, potential perpetrators and how to respond. It could teach them to build children’s autonomy, not unintentionally break it down. I am not sure how the government could possibly say no to this reform or to these survivors, and I hope that the minister will commit to meeting Emma and the foundation to discuss it with them further.