Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I want to take this opportunity today to make a few additional comments about the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017. This bill comes with a long history. In the year of the 10th anniversary of the murder of Carly Ryan, I am pleased that this bill is finally in a form that can be passed by this parliament. Labor is particularly pleased that the offence provision in this bill will enable police to investigate and intervene earlier during an investigation before any abuse of children occurs and will capture a broader range of preparatory conduct than existing procurement and grooming offences in the Criminal Code.

The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee has reported on the bill this afternoon after a number of hearings at which the committee heard from multiple submitters about the operation of this bill, including the Law Council of Australia, the Attorney-General's Department, the Australian Federal police and, of course, Sonya Ryan, of the Carly Ryan Foundation, who has been such a strong and powerful advocate for this reform of the law. The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee has recommended that the bill be passed without amendment.

Labor has always been clear that we support the intent of this bill. We will always ensure that our laws work to keep children safe and that our police and prosecutors have the powers and the resources they need in order to prevent harm occurring in the first place and to hold perpetrators accountable. No-one in this place disputes the importance of protecting children. That is why I was shocked that the Minister for Justice would, in comments to The Adelaide Advertiser, accuse Labor of failing to support this legislation and of 'turning a blind eye to the vile grooming of online predators'. These comments are deeply offensive and they are blatantly untrue. The Minister for Justice should have known the falsity of his comments at the time he made them.

Labor did not delay this bill. The government, well into its second term and 3½ years after it was first elected, introduced the bill to the House on 30 March this year. Since then, the government could have brought the bill back on for debate in this House during any parliamentary sitting week but clearly decided it was not particularly urgent. Labor has no control over how the government schedules its parliamentary business, and the Minister for Justice knows that. The bill was not brought back on again for debate for 60 days, not until 30 May. Debate continued in the Federation Chamber on 31 May until the government again chose to suspend debate. And then we see these despicable comments from the Minister for Justice in news reports, three days later, falsely claiming that Labor had delayed the bill.

The government has had multiple opportunities to pass the bill through the House but has delayed the bill of its own accord. To accuse Labor of delaying or failing to support it or 'turning a blind eye to online predators' not only is deeply offensive but also ignores how parliamentary processes work. Committees examine new laws, particularly new criminal laws, to ensure that they are robust and effective and that they will not have unintended consequences. The scrutiny of new legislation by Australia's elected representatives as well as by legal experts, community groups and interested members of the public often leads to improvements to legislation that ensure that those laws are strong and effective.

When I referred in my earlier remarks to concerns raised by the Law Council of Australia I did so only because Labor's wish is that this bill be as strong and as effective as it can possibly be. The bill has gone through the proper parliamentary processes, just as all bills do. It was sent to a Senate committee for proper scrutiny, just as many bills are and just as the previous versions of this bill, introduced in 2010, have been. The Senate committee has reported and has recommended that the bill be passed without amendment. It is up to the government when it wants to bring the bill on in the other place. I hope it will be brought on without further delay. I believe that the bill is scheduled to be debated in the other place later this week, and Labor will be supporting it when it is. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context