Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that:

(a) some young Australians are being forced into marriage against their will;

(b) child marriage and forced marriage are forms of slavery; and

(c) the Labor Government in 2013 introduced into the Criminal Code Act 1995 specific offences for forced marriage;

(2) notes that:

(a) there has been a gradual increase in people referring to community services for forced marriage since the law was introduced in 2013;

(b) investigations of forced marriage by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have increased from 3 in 2012-13 to 69 in 2015-16;

(c) the Australian Red Cross and the AFP consider that part of the increase in identifications of forced marriage is due to better community awareness and access to help; and

(d) it is crucial that community awareness continues to be raised so that young people know their right to refuse to be forced into marriage;

(3) notes that:

(a) the Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans produced curriculum materials for the Australian forced marriage Pilot Program for Australian schools;

(b) in every school that participated in the Pilot Program, girls at risk of forced marriage were identified;

(c) funding for the Pilot Program ceased in 2015; and

(d) it is crucial that the Pilot Program is continued as teachers are often the first person a child will tell of their fear of being forced to marry; and

(4) calls on the Government to immediately renew funding to further provide awareness of child marriage and forced marriage in Australian schools and the broader community.

I am very pleased to move the motion inspired by the work of ACRATH that has been circulated in my name calling on the government to renew funding to provide awareness of forced marriage both in Australian schools and in the broader community.

As a parent, I worry about my children eventually finding the right partner to navigate through life. My children are only young—seven and 11. Although, Stan is 11 going on 28. But I said 'eventually' finding the right partner. The very idea of forcing our sons or daughters to marry someone that they have not chosen is abhorrent to most parents. Sadly, this is a very real scenario for some young Australian girls. I am talking about forced marriage, not arranged marriage. I am talking about a marriage where one of the parties has not fully consented to enter the marriage. In some cases the victim is subjected to a complex family dynamic where pressure and coercion is exerted over many years. The victims know that they are expected to fulfil this gendered role and can feel powerless to resist the pressure from their family. They are deprived of their right to fully and freely consent to marriage.

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has observed that a woman's right to enter freely into marriage is central to her life and to her dignity and equality as a human being. Put simply, forced marriage is an abuse of human rights.

Young Australian women may be at risk of forced marriage by three different means—by being taken to another country, usually the country of origin of their parents, to be forced to marry against their will; by being forced to marry against their will in Australia; or by being brought to Australia to marry but, on arriving here, these young women realise that the marriage that they are being forced into is not what they had agreed to before coming here. Forced marriage can result in the victim sustaining psychological and physical injuries, sexual assault and domestic violence, false imprisonment and estrangement from their family.

Sadly, we know that this is happening in Australia right now. The Australian Federal Police investigated 69 cases of forced marriage in 2015-16, and there would undoubtedly be many, many more cases that are never brought to the attention of the AFP. Many victims of forced marriage are reluctant to speak out against the family that they love, and the family members themselves often do not realise that their actions are wrong. A few cases have made it before the courts to prevent the forced marriage from taking place. In 2010 a 17-year-old Australian girl was about to be forced to marry in Lebanon, but she prevented the marriage by calling the Australian Federal Police. An Australian court then issued an order restraining her family from taking her outside of Australia. The Family Court made an order in 2010 to prevent the parents of a 14-year-old girl from taking her overseas to be married to another minor. She was also placed on the airport watch list. An Australian court made an order in 2011 to prevent the parents of a 16-year-old girl from sending her to Lebanon to be married.

There is no denying that the practice of forced marriage is occurring in Australia. The Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans, or ACRATH, has been working on the issue of forced marriage since 2008. In 2012 the Labor Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, introduced a bill to make forced marriage a criminal offence and, in February the next year, the Australian parliament passed that bill. To raise awareness of this new law, ACRATH sought and was granted funding to run the Australian forced marriage pilot program in nine schools in three states—in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. From that pilot program, ACRATH reports that a number of community leaders were surprised to hear that the law existed. On many occasions girls facing forced marriage had sought help from someone such as a teacher, only to find that the expected help was not forthcoming as the person did not know that the law was available or that there was support available. Professional development and support is crucial for teachers and school welfare staff.

The need for community education is crucial. Through the pilot program, girls at risk of forced marriage were identified by the pilot schools. The great work that ACRATH has been doing needs to continue. The aim is to prevent forced marriage from taking place, and that can only happen with greater community awareness from programs such as this. I call on the Turnbull-Joyce government to immediately renew funding for this crucial awareness program in Australian schools and in the broader community. I note that the member for Mitchell has previously spoken about this topic in this chamber, and I look forward to the bipartisan support for this motion from the following speakers.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. Most Australians would view forced marriages, especially those involving girls as young as nine, as historical events that happened in foreign countries and foreign cultures, but the reality is that forced marriages are happening right here in Australia, and they appear to be happening more frequently. In the last financial year the Australian Federal Police investigated 69 cases of forced marriage—more than double the number of investigations in the previous year. It is hard to be sure if the incidence of forced marriage is dramatically increasing, or if they have been happening all the time and only the incidence of reporting has dramatically increased.

Last week, Iraqi-born Sydney woman Bee al-Darraj reported that she left home because she was being forced into marriage at the age of 15. Ms al-Darraj said some of her friends and relatives at Al-Faisal high school in the Western Sydney suburb of Auburn were being married off in their teens. She cited the specific case of a girl being married at the age of 13 and giving birth in the public hospital at the age of 14.

I do congratulate the member for Moreton for bringing this issue to the parliament. I also note, though, that the member for Moreton has in the past been quite critical of me in raising issues relating to radical Islam, and I have to say that I do find this one of them. We should not gloss over the fundamental issue here: there are some Australian residents who have migrated to this country believing that they could supplant Australian law with a foreign religious or cultural law, and that includes forcing children into marriage. It includes so many other things—the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation, flogging people or killing them for apostasy, honour killings and so on. And it includes prioritising Sharia law above Australian law.

I have to give credit to the former Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, who was a man who got it. He understood how dehumanising forced marriages could be, and he went on to introduce specific offences to the Criminal Code regarding forced marriages. He also recognised that we needed to draw a line in the sand on what was driving these cases, and that was Sharia law. He said:

As our citizenship pledge makes clear, coming to Australia means obeying Australian laws and upholding Australian values. Australia's brand of multiculturalism promotes integration. If there is any inconsistency between cultural values and the rule of law then Australian law wins out.

Robert McClelland was not afraid of saying what many in this place are now too afraid to mention because we are paralysed by political correctness. It is political correctness that prevents discussion about the fundamental cause of forced child brides, female genital mutilation and all of these other things that we are witnessing that are abhorrent here in this country and that are completely against our culture and our way of life. If we are fair dinkum about equality, we have to strip away that political correctness and be bold enough to come out and say that the Australian way of life is 100 per cent at odds with the way of life of radical Islam. We must be bold enough to say that we do not accept Sharia law in any way in this country. There is one set of laws in Australia, and Australian law applies to all Australians.

When immigrants come to Australia they are choosing to be subject to Australian law, and any other foreign religious or cultural baggage should be left at the door. We need to talk about how to ensure that that baggage is left at the door, and I believe the first step we need to take is to no longer accept immigration from countries where there is a high prevalence of radicalisation or violent terrorism. Opening the door to a free flow of people from these countries is an open invitation to those who are diametrically opposed to our culture and who despise us and our very way of life. We do not need to send out open invitations to those who seek to do us harm. I believe that those who do come to this country should be required to answer under oath a series of questions about their support or otherwise for concepts such as forced child marriages, female genital mutilation and other aspects of Sharia law and, if they support these practices, then they are free to seek refuge in other countries or the citizenship of other countries where such practices are permitted.

Signing up to become a citizen of this country should include a rejection of all foreign laws—religious, cultural or otherwise—that are in conflict with Australian law. Sharia law does not trump Australian law. Political correctness does not trump Australian law. Political correctness should not stop us from upholding and enforcing Australian law, including for those who have come voluntarily to this country. Special consideration should be given to anyone who, having signed up to Australian citizenship or permanent residency and our law, breaks our law out of compliance with a foreign religious or cultural law—including such as forcing a child into marriage. They should forfeit their citizenship or their residency and return to a place where Sharia is the law of the land. There is no room for Sharia in Australia. (Time expired)

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak in favour of this motion on forced marriage that is before the chamber, and wanted to highlight specifically the last point:

(4) calls on the Government to immediately renew funding to further provide awareness of child marriage and forced marriage in Australian schools and the broader community.

This is the critical point of this motion. Yes, in 2013 we amended the laws, and those then made set out very clearly that coercion is illegal. It set out very clearly that it is a crime for a family member to coerce a young child, a young woman, into marriage. However, since the laws have been updated and since they have reflected the broader views of Australians, what we need to do is to continue education and awareness so that young women and girls in schools are aware of their rights.

I too have spoken to the Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans organisation, and they spoke about the merits of their program, the materials that they produced and the pilot program that they ran in Australian schools. The program, the Australian forced marriage pilot program for Australian schools, has been successful in raising awareness so that young women and girls know what their rights are. This particular program is one of many. But these programs can only be successful if this government gets behind them and funds them properly.

Welfare organisation Good Shepherd have also done work in this area. They have seen victims of forced marriages in their offices in Melbourne, and they say that most of the women they see are also victims of domestic and family violence.

Under Commonwealth legislation that was introduced in 2013, those involved in organising forced marriages, including family members and wedding planners, can face up to seven years if convicted. These are laws that were updated or introduced in line with Australian expectations.

As a woman—and this issue is raised regularly in the electorate by other women—it is just abhorrent to think that women can be coerced or tricked into marriage. We know that there are cultural barriers in some parts of our community, and, like all Australians, we do expect people to respect one another in the context of the law, which is why these rules were introduced and updated. But, whilst they were updated, the education in our community needs to continue.

Australia is not alone in this, as others have highlighted. Human Rights Watch estimates that 14 million girls are married worldwide—14 million girls are married! Whilst the countries that are most at risk are countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Australia is not immune to the practice.

Other speakers have highlighted individual cases from 2010 onwards of young women who have been brave in speaking out about their experiences. In 2010 there was a case involving a 13-year-old Victorian girl. The school was actually involved in this case. It alerted the state protection authorities about the girl not attending school. The school suggested that her absence may be due to her parents preparing her to marry her fiance—a 17 year old living overseas—who had been chosen for her. In this particular case, DHS and the Family Court did get involved, and the girl did not leave the country and was not married.

This is a situation where the law needed to be updated and it was updated. This is also a situation where the school acted in the best interests of the child, which is why we need to see funding restored to organisations so that they can continue this pilot program. We need to continue the education not only in our schools but also at our airports, by making sure that immigration officials, security officers and other people working in international airports can support young women and girls if they find themselves in this situation.

To conclude, I support the motion. Again I call on the government to immediately renew funding to this pilot program so that any school that needs to access it can.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to rise to support the spirit of this motion—namely: that we must stop child and forced marriage, as forms of slavery. This is a deeply important issue, and one of the greatest human rights achievements of those in the classical liberal tradition has been to end slavery. William Wilberforce led the campaign to end slavery until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The great Republican President Abraham Lincoln did the same in the United States, at the risk of the very union of the republic.

And every time that slavery has been stopped it is because good people have worked together, with sound mind, to stand up for the type of country that they wanted theirs to be. What they did not do was to use it as a platform for boasting of partisan achievements. Ending slavery is not an issue of partisan politics. It is a basic issue of humanity.

As a liberal, I come to this issue with a clear and resolute commitment that all people are born free and equal. Liberals believe in a society based on consent and that no-one should be forced to act against their will. Every person should feel safe and secure to live a life without intimidation and coercion. That is a denial of their life and liberty. All people should be free to marry, but I cannot tolerate forced marriages. All people, particularly women and minors, must be free to live their own lives. They should not be deceived or be unable to consent to have their future decided for them. The crime of forced marriage rightly covers all forms of marriage, including those that are legal or borne from cultural or religious traditions and ceremonies.

The rise in investigations of forced marriages in this country is deeply disturbing. The aim should be to have no forced marriages in Australia. However, with the AFP and Red Cross concluding that the rise in investigations from three to 69 in only a few short years is far more likely as a result of rising community awareness and people seeking legal avenues—and, from that, we should take a degree of comfort. A first step in addressing a problem is acknowledging that there is a problem, and that is what we are doing today and will continue to do. Forced marriage exists and we must stomp it out.

With more people seeking investigations, my hope is that, through visibility of the issue, we are addressing it and not ignoring it. As was mentioned by one of the previous speakers, according to Human Rights Watch, there are 14 million girls globally who are forcefully married each year—tragically, with some under the ages of eight and 10. My hope also is that some people who may face a forced marriage are using the investigations process to aid them in dealing and tackling an environment where they face pressure or intimidation, including when they may go overseas to be forcefully married. There cannot be a cultural or religious justification for such a barbaric act as forced marriage. I was disturbed to read reports last year that some foreign clerics have come to Australia to deliberately illegally marry off under-age girls.

Such practices are completely inconsistent with who we are as a nation. Tackling this issue speaks to our national character. Are we going to be culturally relativist and say we tolerate this sort of practice because all cultures are equal? Or are we going to stand up for our way of life? That is why I am proud to be a cultural conservative, because I believe in this country and its values. I have no hesitation in saying that all people must be treated equally by the law but, equally, they must enjoy the protection of the law. That is why I am proud to support the spirit of this motion—though absent the partisan politics that has been injected by some. The victims of forced marriages deserve better than that conduct. I hope today that, by raising this issue, giving it visibility and focusing on it, we may encourage people to come forward if they are aware of circumstances where there are forced marriages, to prompt them to be investigated, and to make sure that people seek the assistance they need if they find themselves in positions of vulnerability.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to start with a quote from UNICEF. They say: 'Child marriage threatens girls' lives and health and it limits their future prospects.' They go on:

Ending child marriage will help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by allowing girls and women to participate more fully in society. Empowered and educated girls are better able to nourish and care for their children, leading to healthier, smaller families. When girls are allowed to be girls, everybody wins.

Despite that, there have been some shocking cases of child marriage reported in our country. One case included a 12-year-old Muslim girl who was marriage in a backyard sharia law wedding. The court was told that the husband had sex with the child daily after the wedding. She was examined at the Children's Hospital at Westmead shortly after the so-called husband was arrested and was found to be suffering an ectopic pregnancy and miscarried.

In another case, it was reported that a 14-year-old girl was forced into an Islamic marriage with a Western Sydney drug gang member who raped and beat her and later physically abused their daughter. The report goes on:

So appalling was the woman's life of abuse, which included claims that her father told her she could only leave her marriage "in a coffin", that—

Federal Circuit Court—

Judge Joseph Harman made an unprecedented public appeal … for authorities to act.

There are also recent cases including nine-year-old girls being part of a tsunami of Sydney kids being taken overseas and forced to become child brides. The report stated there are two cases where nine-year-old girls, primary schoolgirls, were being sent to Afghanistan to marry. In another unrelated case, a girl was described as being forced by her mother to return to Pakistan to get married. Yet another case involved a 10-year-old girl who feared underage marriage as well as female genital mutilation, while a 12-year-old girl was told she would have to marry her father's cousins when she turned 13. These are events happening in our suburbs today.

Eman Sharobeem from the Immigrant Women’s Health Service said that this epidemic will not end any time soon. She said the community must work with governments to make a difference but she also said that many consider it to be a practice of culture.

We need to make it very clear to all new migrants that come to this country that a practice of our culture is: if you marry a child bride, that is rape and that is paedophilia and, in our country, our culture is to lock you up and put you behind bars. If you aid and abet that marriage, whether as an imam or someone else, that is a crime and we will lock you up. We need to make that crystal clear. It is our obligation to ensure that every young girl in Australia has all the great opportunities that this country provides. They should have every opportunity.

We have the obligation to make sure we discuss this, that we do not bow down to political correctness, that we raise these issues and that we make sure our police forces and the Australian Federal Police are fully armed and equipped to take this head on. I thank the member for Moreton for bringing this motion to the House.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just want to make some comments. I am not able to contribute to the debate, because I am in the chair, but I do want to congratulate Roxburgh College that was one of the nine schools—Roxburgh College is in my electorate—that was part of that project. I want to thank the principal, Fernando Ianni, for being extremely sensitive and willing for our school to participate in this project. Thoiba Saeedh was an intern with me who devised a program that we workshopped at Roxburgh College, and I have worked with ACRATH over the years. They are wonderful projects, and I believe, as a result of that, I would have said that this project should continue. Thank you.

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Debate interrupted.

Sitting suspended from 13:43 to 16:00