Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Crimes Amendment (Powers, Offences and Other Measures) Bill 2015. The bill is broad in scope. Its general intent is to improve and strengthen the ability of law enforcement and criminal justice agencies to investigate, prosecute and appropriately sentence offenders. Amendments to a total of 15 acts are proposed, most notably the Criminal Code Act 1995. Crucially, this bill amends the Criminal Code Act to introduce mandatory minimum sentences of five years imprisonment for firearm trafficking offences. Schedule 6 of the bill will give effect to mandatory five-year minimum sentences for two categories of offences. The first category is the existing offences of trafficking firearms and firearm parts within Australia. The second is the new offence of trafficking firearms into and out of Australia, which was included in the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Psychoactive Substances and Other Measures) Act 2015.

These amendments should come as no surprise to members. After all, they were detailed in the coalition's law and order pre-election commitments contained in the document The coalition's policy to tackle crime. We promised to send people to jail for a minimum of five years if they were caught bringing illegal firearms into Australia. With this bill, we are delivering on that commitment. This is yet another example of a government that is listening to the people of Australia; a government that made clear promises on law and order before the election and is determined to deliver on them despite Labor's daily attempts to obstruct and oppose. I am proud to be a part of a government that actually did the policy hard yards in opposition. We put a fully-formed plan to the people at the last election and were duly elected. The Australian people will not reward an opportunist opposition that fails to outline even the most basic details of what they plan to do if elected. This is something that Labor just has not learnt.

The main purpose of my contribution to the debate on this bill is to highlight and champion amendments that address the truly abhorrent practice of forced marriage. It is scarcely believable that in the 21st century in a free, fair and open society such as Australia there would be men who still believe that young girls and women are property—property that can be acquired without consent. That is what forced marriage is. It is akin to underage sex trafficking. It is akin to slavery. It is a practice that should have been left behind in the Dark Ages. Yet in recent years we have learnt through a few high-profile examples that forced marriage is still a reality for some young Australian girls. In quiet ceremonies in suburban backyards, or during sudden unexplained trips overseas, girls are being forced into marriage arrangements not of their choosing or to which they are too young to legally consent.

It is difficult to estimate just how prevalent the practice is. Due to the nature of the crime, it is believed that many cases go unreported because the victims are too afraid to speak out, and the cases that do come to the attention of authorities are often by chance. Take the example of a recent marriage between an 18-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl in the backyard of her father's home in Western Sydney. Tragically, the arrangement only came to the attention of authorities when the girl presented at her local public hospital believing she had suffered a miscarriage. The Child Abuse Squad was alerted, and the husband was arrested and charged. Another high-profile example involved a girl of 12 being forced into marriage with a 26-year-old foreign national in a clandestine ceremony in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. Media have reported that the man only came to the attention of authorities when he applied for guardianship of his so-called 'wife'.

Recent research by the National Children's and Youth Law Centre has estimated that there may have been as many as 250 child bride cases across Australia in recent years. The chief executive of the New South Wales Immigrant Women's Health Services, Dr Eman Sharobeem, estimates that there are at least 60 child brides living in south-west Sydney alone. The potential consequences for girls forced into marriage arrangements extend beyond the mere act of marriage itself. Plan International reports that forced marriages can often be accompanied by violence, abuse and forced sexual relations. It can also lead to early pregnancy, which brings with it an increased risk of birth complications. More broadly, forced marriage institutionalises subservience. This can mean a withdrawal from society, a withdrawal from education and a loss of control over personal finances. It can lead to depression, social isolation and anxiety.

That is why I am pleased that this bill provides a strong legislative response to the despicable practice of forced marriage. It does this in two ways: by both broadening the definition of forced marriage and increasing the maximum penalties available to the criminal justice system. This bill broadens the definition of forced marriage by making it clear that forced marriage offences apply where a person is incapable of understanding the nature and effect of a marriage ceremony, including by reason of their age or mental capacity. The effect of this will be to ensure that it will be more difficult to argue—as in the case of the 12-year-old girl in the example I identified earlier—that forced marriage laws do not apply to cases in which underage girls are alleged to have provided consent. The bill also strengthens the maximum penalties for forced marriage. Forced marriage offences currently carry a maximum penalty of four years' imprisonment for a base offence and seven years' imprisonment for an aggregated offence. This bill increases the penalties to seven years and nine years respectively. This ensures that penalties for forced marriage are brought in line with the most serious slavery related facilitation offence of deceptive recruiting.

Of course, a comprehensive response to forced marriage requires more than just tough laws. In this respect I commend the leadership of the Minister for Justice in investing $350,000 with Anti-Slavery Australia to expand the methods by which legal advice can be made to people facing forced marriage. Legal advice will now be able to be provided via email and text message so that it has the best chance of reaching the people who need it most. The coalition government has also launched the Forced Marriage Community Pack. The pack includes a range of materials about forced marriage for use by people in, or at risk of, a forced marriage, as well as for the general community, the media and other service providers. Ending forced marriage in Australia is a goal that transcends politics, and for this reason this bill should be supported. I commend the bill to the House.

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