Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to raise the issue of child safety and our responsibility as adults to protect all children. To begin with, I say that we are not islands and we do not have the leisure to see our own families as our only responsibility. If we surrender the streets outside our home to crime, because we feel safe behind the alarm and security screens of our own home, that crime will start knocking on our door next. It is far better that we control and defend the streets and the communities which surround us with a willingness to act than withdraw and isolate ourselves, thereby surrendering our streets to crime and our neighbours to their fates.

Across this nation we are used to seeing stories of children at risk of violence, neglect, abuse or sexual abuse. In our streets, our suburbs, our towns and our communities there are children at risk right now. There are children who are being abused, and that is a reality. Anyone and everyone who is aware or who suspects that children are at risk is duty bound to take action. It is not right that we merely sit back and say, 'Well, there is an agency that is responsible for that,' or 'The court can decide about that.' It is without doubt the responsibility and the duty of any adult to do what needs to be done to ensure the safety of children in these circumstances.

I recently heard of a case where the relevant government agency became aware that the mother of two young children was cohabiting with a child sex offender. This man was well known to the officers of the agency. Apparently he would begin by befriending the partner or boyfriend of a mother. He would try to take over as the partner of the mother and then target the children. The officers of the agency saw that this man was at this house. Incredibly, the action that was decided upon was to place a sealed letter on the file of the children for the next court appearance to determine custody arrangements. I have trouble reconciling that plan as a legitimate course of action. The officers were obviously concerned about the risk to the children, but they were only prepared to let the matter be known at a hearing two months later. This says something about the way these matters are treated and prioritised in the system of child protection. It is my understanding that some two weeks after the letter was written, extended family members of the children became aware of the risk and decided that they would not return the children after an access visit and would instead seek a temporary custody order to enable them to look after the children. Fortunately, these family members were not prepared to wait for the court hearing two months later, and they were not prepared to have confidence in the system and in the government agency; they were instead prepared to act decisively and immediately upon becoming aware of the risk involved. I naturally wish the family well in the future and I hope that the court will make a wise judgment and rule that the children can remain with the extended family for the long term, as it is certainly the case that such an upbringing in a positive and healthy environment stands in stark contrast to the neglectful and inappropriate circumstances that defined the early lives of the children.

I use this example to highlight that there is a problem with the abuse, neglect and otherwise negative upbringing of children all the way around this country. I do not think that it is a very widespread problem—in fact, I hope it is pretty rare—but I suspect that it is present just about everywhere. I believe that relevant agencies tasked to manage such cases must be prepared to act quickly and decisively. They must be prepared to focus absolutely on the safety of the children and take the children to safe circumstances without delay. It is also my personal belief that there are crimes and degrees of neglect that justify children being permanently removed from their parents or families.

I draw hope from the fact that next door to these problems there are people who care and who are prepared to act. All people need to be aware that if they believe there is a problem that something should be done about, then they are personally responsible for taking that action. I believe that those who suspect or those who know and do nothing are complicit in the crime. A 'Nothing to do with me' attitude will allow this evil to spread and will breed even greater tolerance, and we can never accept that.

I therefore take this opportunity to encourage Australians to be aware of what is going on around them. We should all be aware of our surroundings and be prepared to immediately act when we see or suspect crime taking place. As soon as we suspect a crime, it is then completely our responsibility to act; it is no-one else's. It is my fundamental belief that if every law-abiding citizen was prepared to take action it would be a powerful deterrent to crime in this country. The greatest deterrent to crime is the certainty of being caught, and the certainty of being caught is achieved by the willingness of all of us to act immediately upon identifying crime.