Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice. Will the minister advise the House of steps the government is taking to stop children being forced into marriage.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Brisbane for that question, and I acknowledge the keen interest that she has taken in this issue. She has raised it with me on many occasions. I know that she, like most Australians, has been shocked and horrified to read of recent cases involving the marriage of children to older men in backyard ceremonies.

In one particular example, an 18-year-old man in Sydney married a 15-year-old child bride. This was only discovered when she took herself to hospital believing she had suffered a miscarriage. Forced marriage is an insidious and hidden crime. It is illegal and there is no place for it here in Australia.

Today, I introduced legislation to make it clear that children, those who are under 16, are presumed incapable of consenting to marriage and being subject to such exploitation. As a consequence of these changes, anyone who forces a person under 16 to enter a marriage—such as through arranging or officiating over the marriage of a child—will be breaking the law.

The government is also increasing penalties for those who cause girls to enter into a forced marriage. The current penalties are set at four years imprisonment and seven years where it is considered to be aggravated, such as where the victim is under 18 years old. We will increase those penalties to seven years, and nine years where it is aggravated. This brings these penalties into line with the most serious anti-slavery provisions under the criminal code. The criminalisation of forced marriage in Australia in 2013 signalled to everyone that forced marriage is never acceptable in this country.

However, the criminal law must be supported by community measures to detect and prevent forced marriage. The government are already doing all we can to educate members of the community regarding the consequences of forced marriage, and to provide help to those who might be vulnerable to it.

We have invested $350,000 with Anti Slavery Australia to expand its legal advice service to provide direct assistance to people facing forced marriage, including by providing that legal advice through email and text message. We have launched the Forced Marriage Community Pack, which provides information and resources on forced marriage. And throughout April and May we will host a series of workshops in each capital city to raise awareness of forced marriage amongst frontline officers and service providers.

Forced marriage has absolutely no place in the Australian community. It is illegal, it is cruel and it is depraved to force an innocent child to marry somebody against their wishes. This government is reaching out to those mostly young women and girls who may feel vulnerable to forced marriage, because we want them to find help and to stay safe.

We will prosecute anybody found to be coercing, threatening or deceiving someone into marriage, and the legislation introduced into parliament today will help us continue to do that.