Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Survivors of child sexual abuse lost one of their greatest advocates last Friday with the death of Anthony Foster. Anthony passed away just a few months before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is due to hand down its final report—a royal commission that his tireless advocacy did so much to bring about. Mr Foster and his wife, Chrissie, told the royal commission their horrific story of their family's treatment at the hands of Catholic priests. They attended hundreds of hearings at the royal commission, providing support and strength to survivors telling their own stories. Anthony's daughters, Emma and Katie, were sexually assaulted by a paedophile priest when they were in primary school. Emma died at the age of 26 from a drug overdose after years of battling eating disorders and drug addiction. Katie, too, suffered, and tragically was left profoundly disabled after being hit by a drunk driver. Yet Anthony was able to turn the pain and suffering that he and his family had experienced into a fight for justice for survivors of child sexual abuse. As his family stated on the weekend, 'Anthony's heart was so big—he fought for others to make sure that what happened to our family could not happen to anyone else.' Our thoughts are with the Foster family, and I hope that Anthony's courage in his life gives others the strength to speak out and advocate for justice for survivors of child sexual abuse.