Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grey for that question. He knows that there are no worse crimes than those that are committed against the young and the vulnerable. All of our children have the right to be protected from those who would seek to exploit them.

It is particularly appalling if it is parents who are involved in breaking this bond of trust. Recently, a 27-year-old Sydney man was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for marrying at 12-year-old girl in a backyard ceremony which was only discovered when she presented to hospital with pregnancy complications. Despite being told by members of his community that it was illegal to marry this girl, the man deliberately pursued her. Very sadly, in this case, it was the parents who worked to conspire to force this child into the marriage.

We have specialist teams within the Australian Federal Police who deal with allegations of forced marriage. They are highly trained to do so because they are obviously dealing with very vulnerable victims. They work with other government agencies and with the non-government sector to ensure that the victims are referred to people who can provide them with the appropriate additional care and support.

Since the introduction of legislation to outlaw forced marriage in March 2013, there have been a total of 36 referrals to the Australian Federal Police. The AFP takes these investigations very seriously. I would encourage anyone with information about a forced marriage or a suspected forced marriage to contact the police immediately. We are also working with the non-government sector to raise awareness of this crime. Last year, I launched a forced marriage community pack which includes a range of materials to help and assist people who may be at risk of forced marriage. The government has also funded, to the tune of almost half a million dollars, three community organisations that will work to prevent and address this crime.

I have also introduced legislation in the House that makes it clear that those under the age of 16, children, can never be presumed capable of consenting to a marriage. Anyone who forces a child under the age of 16 into a marriage will be committing an offence. The government is also increasing penalties for those who cause girls to enter into a forced marriage to be in line with the most serious antislavery offences.

Forced marriage places girls and women at risk of emotional and physical abuse. It has absolutely no place here in Australia. The nature of this crime is that those who have been forced into marriage are the most vulnerable in our community, and we will do everything we can as a government to continue to work to protect all of our children.

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