Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on what is expected to be the last day of this 44th Parliament to stand up for a young woman and help her fight for justice: 32-year-old Megan McLean, a constituent in Corangamite. In 2004, whilst studying in New Zealand as a young paramedic, Megan was brutally raped and abducted. The perpetrator, Akeel Hassan Abbas Al Baiiety, was an Iraqi asylum seeker who had been granted New Zealand citizenship. At the time he attacked Megan, he was on parole for raping two other women and attempting to rape a third woman, for which he was jailed for nine years in 1998. The New Zealand government subsequently revoked his citizenship. Meg's attacker was convicted and sentenced for abduction and rape—for what he did to Meg—in 2005 for seven years and is on preventative detention. Like the man who killed Jill Maher in Brunswick—that absolutely shocking case—Megan McLean's attacker should not have been out on parole. He was a monster.

Meg is still living with trauma and with terrible internal injuries she suffered—injuries that I am not able to speak about. Each year, Meg is required to travel to New Zealand to give evidence to the New Zealand Parole Board in order to ensure this perpetrator is not released. Meg is now a paramedic. She is married with two children and pregnant with her third child. Despite the incredible struggles she faces every day, she is doing an amazing job coping.

She did receive some initial compensation, but the fact is that she has incurred tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills, which has left her and her family under severe financial stress. I have made various representations to our government on behalf of Meg, and I want to thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs for taking this matter up with the New Zealand government. The foreign minister wrote to New Zealand minister responsible for the Accident Compensation Corporation in New Zealand seeking financial support and help to assist Meg with her rehabilitation. However, a key issue is that there is a statutory ban on the ACC, the compensation body in New Zealand, paying for overseas rehabilitation. Section 128 of the Accident Compensation Act 2001 limits this payment for rehabilitation outside of New Zealand and there is only a very limited exception relating to the provision of attendant care.

Today, as part of this fight for justice, I call on the New Zealand government to overturn this ban, so that Australian victims of crime in New Zealand are able to receive ongoing treatment for the injuries they suffered in New Zealand and are now paying the price for in Australia. The Australian-New Zealand relationship is a very special one, and when Australians suffer, as Meg McLean has suffered so terribly, our close neighbour and very close friend must stand by us. The New Zealand justice system has badly failed Meg, and now we need to ensure that this wrong is righted.

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