Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Motions

Ombudsman referral

Debate resumed.

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:01): I rise today to speak in this house on motion 989, which is regarding the allegations of child sexual abuse by a Melbourne childcare worker and the important step of referring this to the Ombudsman, noting the importance of the working with children check system and the need for further investigation. I know Ms Crozier here in the house was part of an investigation that took place many years ago, and there were recommendations that came out as a result of that inquiry and some of those were not actually implemented. For me, I find in current situation the government are lagging in time to make a decision. I know they are saying that they are trying to do it as rapidly as possible, making informed decisions, but can I say, as a mother of four children on behalf of all the parents who cannot be here in Parliament, and as a grandmother just recently of one, this situation is incredibly distressing.

Parents need to know that when they drop their children off at childcare centres their children are going to be safe, and many parents do not know the presenting signs of abuse. They would not recognise them when their baby or their child comes home. What is worse about this situation is that the allegations that have been made are about babies and toddlers – little ones who have not even yet formed the ability to speak. Their only way of being able to communicate may be to cry, and that cry may have been misunderstood. The importance of acting swiftly and acting now is upon us, and I think it is a grave situation when a government on something as serious as this takes even a week or a month to consider what it is going to do, given that this is not a new situation. It is not a new problem to have young people – children – being abused in care. There should be safeguards that protect children, and they should have been in place to protect children.

Let me say that in schools in Victoria there are a number of safeguards that are put in place that make it much harder for abuse to take place within our Victorian schools and within our Australian schools, although it does happen. But it seems that it is sadly lacking in child care, that in child care where we have people working for pittance – great people who love children working for very, very little money – we have the threat that there are also predators who are able to slip through the system and completely abuse vulnerable babies, toddlers and little children who cannot defend themselves, cannot speak for themselves and cannot ask for their rights.

I think that it is really an appalling situation when I hear members across the chamber try to accuse us of politicising something when it is very clear that we are speaking up on this because we need immediate action. Members of Parliament are taking this incredibly seriously, as they should, because vulnerable Victorians have been and still are at risk while this government is taking its time to formulate what it will do. I also need to note that in the other place we attempted to bring in some more stringent rules for working with children checks, and sadly, this government and many members of Parliament from around my area failed to support them. The member for Cranbourne, the member for Narre Warren South, the member for Narre Warren North, the member for Frankston, the member for Carrum, the member for Mordialloc, the member for Clarinda and the member for Dandenong failed to support changes that the opposition tried to bring in instantly, immediately, to put safeguards in place for working with children checks. It is a tragic thing that the opposition and the crossbench are having to push the government to act now.

This motion is incredibly important, and my heart and my condolences go out to all the families that have been affected by child abuse in care and those who have the fear of not knowing whether their child has been and what those implications are. These abuses may have been taking place over many decades, hence the inquiry that took place over 10 years ago, actually, under the Ted Baillieu government, when they pushed to have that inquiry and to put things in place and recommendations were made to the Ombudsman. Not all of those recommendations were followed, and shame on this government that it should lag behind and think that our most vulnerable are not worthy of stringent care and respect.

To every mother out there and every father who has that protective instinct – and I can say that I have very strong maternal instincts; this hits at the very core of who I am as a person, because out in our community this government has been saying it is going to bring in people that have been victims, from institutional care, of abuse and apologise. Well, an apology means nothing if we are going to continue to allow vulnerable people to be abused, if there are not put in place the proper safeguards to protect our vulnerable Victorians. And what happens to all of those people that have been abused in the past – they relive the pain of their own situation when they know that there are others out there who are going through and are suffering through something similar. It can never be downplayed, the impact that this has on people long term going forward. The way this plays out in a person’s life – and I can say this as a former school chaplain and as a former social worker and as a former youth worker and as a former secondary school teacher – is massive.

It impacts and impairs their ability sometimes in their sexuality, in their identity, in future relationships or even being able to have long-term relationships. There are so many impacts. It can impact their personality. It can impact their ability to study, their ability to do something else with their life. Very few of them come out of it in a way that they are able to give back at the level that they would like to be able to give because of the pain. It is very real, and it just breaks my heart to think that we have so many Victorians that are now allegedly and possibly at risk because of this lack of safeguards that could have been put in place at a more stringent level had the Liberals still been in government and would have been in place because of the great work that had been done. I know Ms Crozier headed that up, and she has spoken about it. It could have been in place and would have been in place had we continued to be in government.

All I can say is that everyone that is at home expects us to do stuff immediately when things like this happen. That is why this motion is so important, because it does that. I will just bring up – I have only got time for one point here. It notes:

… with concern the allegations of child sexual abuse by a Melbourne childcare worker, the significant impact on affected families, and the testing of over 2,000 children following the individual’s employment across at least 24 centres …

That is just one person’s employment. How many others have slipped through the cracks? How many other people, children now grown up, are having to deal with the pain and the suffering of what they were subjected to in child care or in any other situation where they were vulnerable?

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (14:12): I want to thank those that have contributed to the debate and Ms Gray-Barberio for acknowledging the responsibility of government and the secrecy that they do have in relation to these very important issues – I think you articulated that extremely well – and the failings of the government and the reasoning why the Liberals and Nationals have moved this motion for a true independent in the Ombudsman to conduct this review, given that the quality assessment and regulation division (QARD) is not included in the government’s own rapid review. It is quite shameful that the minister has not been responsible for the role that she undertakes in the protection of children given everything that has been said – the warnings that had been provided by the Ombudsman in 2022 and the government failing to act on those, failing to acknowledge these gaps that have led to catastrophic failings. And look where we are. That is on the government’s head. I have highlighted the minister’s responsibility. She has abrogated all responsibility, and I think that is absolutely shameful. So it is important that we do have an independent review of what has gone on.

I know there were some inane interjections from members of the backbench when some of my colleagues were contributing to this important motion. It was really quite extraordinary. But also what were extraordinary were some of the contributions around the sector, demonising the private sector. Not everybody working in these centres is guilty of these horrific crimes or alleged crimes.

Michael Galea: No-one said that.

Georgie CROZIER: Well, Mr Galea, Ms Ermacora was blaming the former federal Liberal government. She made no mention of the government’s own failings. Privatisation – she was blaming the private sector. And through you, Acting President, Ms Terpstra and her ridiculous interjections throughout this important debate have been an absolute disgrace. I was writing them down as she was –

Michael Galea: On a point of order, Acting President, at no point in her contribution did Ms Ermacora impugn the entire childcare sector or all the workers in the sector. She did not at any point cast those aspersions that Ms Crozier is saying. I would ask Ms Crozier to correct that.

Georgie CROZIER: On the point of order, Acting President, I did not say that. She was referring to the privatisation of the sector, and I am saying not everybody that works in the sector is committing these alleged crimes. I am making the point there were some extraordinary contributions. This is a very important issue, and I am shocked that the government would even want to try and carry on like they have throughout this entire debate on this motion. Can I continue, please?

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): You have got 2 minutes.

Georgie CROZIER: This is an important debate. This is about the safety of our children when the government has failed to protect the most vulnerable. They were warned by the Ombudsman in 2022. They did not take up those warnings. We warned them back in 2022. I read in what Michael O’Brien –

Sonja Terpstra interjected.

Georgie CROZIER: Ms Terpstra – Acting President, I say again, this is what is wrong with this government. They think they can get away with these massive failures of the system because of what has gone on. It is shameful.

Sonja Terpstra: On a point of order, Acting President, I do have the right to interject. If Ms Crozier would like to make a point of order, then she should make it, rather than constantly casting aspersions on government and saying we are doing things that we are not. I support Mr Galea’s previous point of order in this regard, that this has been a wideranging debate. The government is concerned about this matter, but we cannot sit here and listen to Ms Crozier say things that were not put on the record.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): I think we have got 1 minute left, and I would ask that Ms Crozier –

Georgie CROZIER: As I was saying, this is a very important issue. It is a very sensitive issue – it is, absolutely. I know the government does not agree with the motion. It was clear from their wideranging contributions. One speaker did not even mention the motion, and that is how they ignore what has gone on. It is so incredibly unfortunate that the government have not taken responsibility for where they have failed – where they have failed children, where they have failed families – and fixed the problems. That is why on this side of the house we say that there must be a fully independent review of what has gone wrong and that the regulator within the department must be included, because the government has not included QARD. It is extraordinary that their own regulator is not included in the government’s own review. I urge all members to support this important motion and get the Ombudsman to do their work.

Motion agreed to.