James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to start by acknowledging all of the victims of institutional child sexual abuse and those who participated in the royal commission, because, on top of the unbelievable trauma that they endured as a result of the crimes committed against them, they were also very brave, being prepared to tell their stories, speak as part of that process and help propagate an understanding of what occurred in institutions in this country specific to the sexual abuse of children. I'd also like to acknowledge current members of this parliament and members of previous parliaments who have spoken on this topic over the years and shared stories personal to them and to family members, because that, indeed, is also very brave. On such a terrible topic to be addressing, I think the small solace we can take is that, while the stories are terrible, at least they have seen the light of day, because, by knowing the truth, we can acknowledge what occurred, address what occurred to the best of our ability here in the year 2022 and, most importantly, ensure that what happened in the past and the wrongs of the past don't happen in the present and into the future.

The royal commission that led to the national apology had three extremely disturbing elements as a result of all of the various people who participated by sharing their stories. It commenced with a common thread of, first, never even being listened to. It was an era in which children felt that they couldn't raise these horrible experiences and crimes that had been perpetrated against them. They felt that it would be wrong to raise these experiences with a trusted adult. Then, second, as the previous speaker mentioned, if they did feel the confidence and bravery to raise what had happened to them or was happening to them, they felt that they wouldn't be believed. Then, third, there was the awful, awful circumstance for the first victims of some of these perpetrators, who might have spoken up and tried to report their experience—and sometimes did—of the crimes committed against them, where these perpetrators went on to repeat offend not only against those victims who sought to tell their stories and couldn't but against subsequent victims who never would've been victims if we had lived at that time in a society that did listen to those victims and did take action.

Now, I've got the greatest confidence you can have that that circumstance doesn't exist now, in the year 2022, although, clearly, we can imagine there are still people in circumstances where they are too frightened to talk about the abuse that they are enduring or have endured. There's a lot more to be done—there's no question about that—and I, like everyone here, will look for every opportunity to improve where there are suggestions for legislative reform and other actions that government can take at a Commonwealth level on this terrible, awful, disgusting topic. There's nothing I can think of that matches the disgusting nature of the sexual abuse of children, but it's important that we acknowledge and talk about the nasty chapters of our history as much as the chapters that we're proud of. The royal commission that led to the national apology is a disgusting chapter in our history, but one we have to confront, be honest about, acknowledge—of course, the apology is that acknowledgement—and use as an opportunity to make sure that no little child in the future has to go through the awful horrors that so many little children had to in the past. We don't enjoy being confronted by the need to take action on this, but we are all joined in the absolute necessity of taking action. Once again, I pay tribute to so many brave people who, on top of everything they've endured as victims of sexual abuse in their childhood, have been part of telling those stories, leading to the point that we're at today, when, in the national parliament, we mark the anniversary of this apology. In doing so, all of us commit to our common purpose to make sure that we do everything into the future to ensure that the horrors of this chapter never occur again.

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