Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great privilege to rise in this chamber to speak on this motion on the third anniversary of the apology to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, as I have on each and every anniversary in this House. Each year we take the time to gather here in this place, the Australian parliament. As we should—it's the very place in which the national apology took place. It's a time for us to critically reflect on the progress being made in terms of the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Just before we go to some of those details, I think it's really worthwhile to take a moment to reflect on the historical context of the apology. I really want to pay tribute, again, to the work of the royal commission, which really did an extraordinary job. I have talked to literally hundreds of survivors who gave testimony to that royal commission who tell me repeatedly that it was the gold standard for royal commissions in Australia. It was an essential exploration of one of the darkest and ugliest chapters in our national history.

In paying tribute to the royal commission, I want to acknowledge the former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard—who took the brave move, as one of the final acts of her role as Prime Minister, to sign off on the royal commission—and, of course, the extraordinary work of the former member for Jagajaga, Jenny Macklin, in seeing this through.

As I said, the royal commission uncovered some of the most horrific abuse of innocent children, perpetrated by the very people that they were entrusted to. It was that gross violation of trust that sat so badly with every Australian. I have no doubt about that. It was felt very deeply in my community of Newcastle. Not unlike Ballarat, we were indeed an epicentre of institutional abuse that took place over many decades, and there are a lot of very traumatised people in my community as a result.

There was a National Apology Reference Group formed in order to help craft and shape this apology. I was very privileged to serve on that committee. I was appointed under the then Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and was joined by a number of parliamentary colleagues, including former senator Derryn Hinch; former Greens senator Rachael Siewert; Steve Irons, a member of the government; and a whole lot of community people. The group was chaired by Cheryl Edwardes. Caroline Carroll was on there, as well as Christine Foster, Craig Hughes-Cashmore, Hetty Johnston and Richard Weston. I always like to take a moment to acknowledge their work—their steadfast advocacy—in helping to ensure this apology took place in the first place.

Of course, an apology is really just the start of the process. It's not where you put a full stop and say, 'Job done.' That is really what we want to focus on here today. That leads us to the implementation of the National Redress Scheme.

Indeed, a number of inquiries have come before this parliament. I have put on record many times my concerns about the lack of progress of this parliament and of the government in terms of leadership and ensuring that the National Redress Scheme lives up to the expectations of the royal commission in its recommendations. Victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in institutions have consistently told us about their concerns with the redress scheme and its many inadequacies. Most of these issues were, again, revisited by the independent reviewer, Robyn Kruk, who canvassed and tabled her report, the second anniversary review. But, again, we really need to put on record that this review was a reiteration of the many, many issues that have been well known and have been put before this parliament again and again since 2019.

So, this is not an opportunity to pat ourselves on the back about small, tentative steps made in this regard. I have highlighted, as has my colleague who has joined us, the member for Barton, a number of the pitfalls in the national scheme. Indeed, back in 2019 I tabled the first report from the joint committee on the implementation of the scheme about getting the redress scheme right and moving towards justice. I note that the government has made some tentative steps towards putting in place some of the recommendations from Robyn Kruk's report, and I do welcome that. Labor stood and supported those recommendations in the legislation that came before the House recently. We supported the advance payment of $10,000 to older people with terminal illness or vulnerabilities. That is something Labor has for a very long time been calling for. It's something the Scottish parliament had put in place. They should take it as a form of flattery that we shamelessly borrowed it! I think it was a great initiative. We welcomed the reduction of the time frame, the indexation of prior payments, some changes around not requiring people to make a statutory declaration in order to lodge their applications and changes to allow redress payments to be made in instalments. All of these are good things—hence Labor welcoming and supporting the legislation that came before the House.

But so many things remain unresolved. Again, I can only repeat—we have been drawing the government's attention to these since 2019—things like the fact that we still do not have lifelong access to counselling for all survivors or their families. We have an assessment matrix that continues to prioritise penetrative abuse, despite the fact that we know full well that trauma is not caused only by penetrative abuse. We know this to be a fact. We know that the assessment guidelines still will not be made public, and that puts survivors at a gross disadvantage in completing their applications, as it does all the legal counsel involved in doing so. There is still not a minimum payment level for the redress scheme. There are so many issues that Labor has put before government, as indeed has the joint committee, which is a multipartied committee, making very constructive recommendations in our report in the last term of parliament and in our interim report again this time. We are about to lodge another report to the government, because we still have extremely low rates of participation in the National Redress Scheme.

Don't sit back on your laurels now, thinking, 'Job done!' The appallingly low rates of First Nations people participating in the National Redress Scheme are cause for alarm. The Commonwealth still has very live questions to answer around its role as a funder of last resort. We are not talking about history here; we are dealing with new cases of abuses that are contemporary, that are occurring today. So let's not think we have dealt with or have somehow managed to resolve issues of prevention, because we haven't.

That takes me to some of the comments that the Prime Minister made in his speech. He made an announcement that they have finally awarded a tender for the National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse. Well, terrific, but that promise was made three years ago. I have had survivors contacting me and asking: what is going on? Now I can at least say that a tender has been awarded. There hasn't been a hole dug or anything else, but we do have a tender in place. That is good work, but do not seek to get patted on the back for doing a job that is long overdue.

For the sake of survivors and their families we cannot continue a pathway of just ticking boxes to make ourselves feel like we're satisfying some kind of checklist. We've got to remind ourselves consistently of the importance of the apology and the tasks that lie ahead to deliver genuine justice for people who were betrayed and had criminal acts perpetrated against them. We have a responsibility to deliver justice to each and every one of them.

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to follow the member for Newcastle, who has dedicated herself to this particular issue. The reason we have an anniversary of the apology is that we can never forget the task that we have before us, to ensure that stories of survivors are not forgotten, that we deliver the justice of the National Redress Scheme and begin the healing, and that we take action to prevent child sexual abuse now and into the future, as the member for Newcastle said.

It was in October 2018 that the parliament as one said sorry; we apologise for all the wrongs exposed by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Nine thousand people told the royal commission their story. On that day in October 2018, the nation said sorry for these and all the untold stories. These stories brought light into an otherwise dark corner of our history. It was an important moment for the country and for all survivors across Australia, as the nation listened and responded to the truth about our abject failure to protect our children.

In Aboriginal culture truth-telling has an important healing quality. We know that the telling of this truth has been an awakening for the country. This is why it is so important that we as a nation respond appropriately by delivering the needed redress and allowing the healing process to continue. This is why Labor very much wants a National Redress Scheme that works for survivors and works well. Unfortunately, in the past action at the government level has been slow and often lacking.

We acknowledge the government's response to the recommendations of the two-year review into the scheme and its adoption of 25 of the review's 38 recommendations, but the government needs to do more and act more swiftly to implement the rest. Early next year for the final response isn't good enough. It is so concerning to see how far we still need to go before applications are processed and redress is received.

Speaking on the anniversary of the apology, the Prime Minister, with a great sense of achievement, reported that, as of August 2021, the Redress Scheme had finalised 6,200 payments. The original royal commission estimated that 65,000 survivors were eligible applicants for this scheme. This outcome falls far short of what is needed. Of greater concern is that this result is only 934 more than were completed when this was last reported in March 2021.

The discrepancy between applicant numbers and the number of survivors continues to raise questions for us about the scheme's ease of accessibility. Why is the government finding this so hard?

Labor has repeatedly called for it to fix the identified payment issue by, firstly, increasing the maximum payment to $200,000, as recommended by the royal commission; secondly, ensuring prior payments are not indexed for the purpose of calculating a redress payment; thirdly, ensuring governments act as funders of last resort; and, finally, guaranteeing that any review of an offer of redress will not result in the original offer being reduced. But we acknowledge that the government has responded to Labor's call, as the member for Newcastle said, to push recalcitrant institutions to join the National Redress Scheme.

At this point I would like to acknowledge the bravery of survivors. The told and untold experiences they have endured underpinned their call for justice and urgent action on redress. I want to again acknowledge the many years of hard work that has been done by advocacy groups on this front, in bringing it to the attention of the public to help educate and to change mindsets. The grassroots work of these advocacy groups has been the catalyst for the change that we are seeing in our nation today, the awakening to the scourge of child sexual abuse. That is why it is important that the government act swiftly and finally ensure that the National Redress Scheme process is trauma informed, more responsive and, most certainly, survivor focused. It is the very least the government should do. Labor does acknowledge, as the member for Newcastle also said, the Prime Minister 's announcement of a national memorial to honour victims and survivors. It will be a poignant reminder, as late as it is, to all Australians of what must not happen again—a fitting tribute.

But our work on this front is not finished. While remembering the past, we must also look to the present and, of course, the future. The story of institutional child sexual abuse has thrown a light onto the horrifying fact that child sexual abuse continues in this country, often in the child's home. Labor believes that prevention is key, and efforts on prevention must be stepped up to stop the horror of this happening. We also welcome the Prime Minister's recent announcement of the adoption of the royal commission's recommendation for a national centre for the prevention of child sexual abuse, although, as the member for Newcastle said, it's three years late. We await the launch of the government's National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse, scheduled for next week. This is a 10-year, whole-of-nation framework and we look forward to it being another step forward in the nation's child sexual abuse prevention planning, but we note with concern reports that the government has not been as inclusive as it should have been in consulting with survivor groups and advocates on the national strategy. It is very disappointing to hear that high-profile and nationally regarded advocates have been excluded from contributing to this important work. These voices must be heard. How else will we as a nation succeed?

Finally, can I say that at the heart of Labor's position regarding the National Redress Scheme is the recognition that some survivors of child sexual abuse, out of fear and shame, will avoid seeking justice and healing. This is due in part to the experiences of those who have come forward and spoken publicly. Such treatment occurs on every level—interpersonal and institutional, including at the very institution that failed to protect them from their abusers. I want those individuals to know: we understand your pain, we hear you and, of course, we believe you. Labor has long called on the government to provide lifelong access to counselling support for survivors. Readily available support should be available to any survivor of child sexual abuse. We acknowledge that healing from trauma is not a linear process. Manifestations of trauma are different for every victim and can emerge through various stages of a victim's life. Access to lifelong counselling can help assist survivors to deal with that trauma and achieve healing.

Labor continues to stand ready to work with the government and survivors to deliver a scheme that can provide some form of healing. At the third anniversary of the apology, we are again reminded of the suffering of the survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. We again renew our commitment to the Redress Scheme. Let this parliament's anniversary recommitment be the catalyst for renewed energy and effort in assisting those survivors who are still waiting for the redress they deserve. Their time is right now.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to acknowledge and pay tribute to the survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, and to pledge to do my part, as a member of this place, to ensure that their voices continue to be heard. They are the experts who must drive the still unfinished work that we need to do to build on the national apology.

The 2018 apology to the survivors of institutional child sexual abuse was a very important part of our nation's history, and it is important that we mark its anniversary. It was the moment when we ended some of the silence. It was the moment when we apologised for things that should not have to be spoken, because they should not happened. They should not have happened to the children whose trust was irretrievably broken and whose lives were scarred. They should not have been silenced.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 16:51 to 17:02

The 2018 apology to the survivors of institutional child sexual abuse was a very important part of our nation's history, and it's important we mark its anniversary. It was the moment we ended some of the silence. It was the moment we apologised for things that should not have had to be spoken, because they just should not have happened. They should not have happened to the children whose trust was irretrievably broken and whose lives were scarred. Those children should not have been silenced, or they should not have not been believed. They are the ones who we should have been protecting. They are the ones who we should have wrapped our collective arms around—not the perpetrators, the people who were moved around, who were protected and who were allowed to keep acting with impunity.

Our Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, powerfully said earlier this year, 'Well, hear me now.' Ms Tame, I echo the words of the Labor leader and member for Grayndler when I say, 'We hear you and we thank you for your advocacy and for your courage,' just as I thank all those survivors and their supporters who fought for so long for this overdue apology, CLAN and all the other groups who supported and continue to support those who told their story—9,000 told their story to the royal commission—and those who could not bring themselves to tell their story and those who have never had the opportunity to tell their story.

I acknowledge the work of my predecessor as the member for Jagajaga, Jenny Macklin, who together with the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, heard the calls from survivors and their supporters and made the decision to hold the royal commission that led to this apology. It was a critical point on the road to this apology. I also acknowledge the member for Barton and the member for Newcastle, who spoke before me and who have been champions for survivors in this place and for the work that still needs to be done. That's why it's important that we mark this anniversary, but it's also vital that we don't pretend that the work is done.

I am concerned by a lack of urgency in much of the Morrison government's response. The National Redress Scheme is still not operating as it should. Too many survivors are dying before they receive the payments they should. The maximum payment should be lifted from $150,000 to $200,000. The National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse is still nothing but an announcement and a contract, with no work starting on building the centre. Adequate counselling is still not in place—access to lifelong counselling—for those who need it and for whom it would make a massive difference in their life. This work is too important for a go-slow or for us not to be genuine in our efforts to get it done.

So I make the obvious point: the apology was not an ending. It was an important moment, but there is so much more to be done, and it will not be done through complacency in this place or outside of it. We failed so many children for far too long. We failed the survivors, we failed their families and we failed their communities. We must not fail anymore. Child sexual abuse is not just a historical problem. It occurs right now in our community. There is so much work still to do, and we must complete that work. It must be led by the evidence and, most importantly, it must be led by the survivors, whom we must continue to hear.

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the members for Newcastle, Barton and Jagajaga for their contributions to this debate thus far—and I'm sure the member for Oxley will make just as important a contribution. The reason I wanted to speak on this motion on the national apology to survivors and victims of institutional child sexual abuse is that when I first arrived in this place the whips put me on the Joint Parliamentary Committee for Corporations and Financial Services. Obviously the whips foresaw that I would be trouble! For anyone who is suffering from insomnia, I encourage you to tune into that committee from time to time! At the time, the chair of that committee was Steve Irons, who was and still is a member from Western Australia. Steve Irons is, without doubt, one of the great people of this parliament. His sincerity, humility and willingness to act in the interests of others, the interests of the institution and his community, above himself remind me a lot of what the priests, when I was at school, used to tell me we should do if we are to be good people. Mr Irons's story—Steve's story—is well known to many in this place. His brother committed suicide because he couldn't deal with the trauma he had been through. Steve's story of having to bury his own brother is an extraordinarily powerful one, so I've always been inspired by Steve.

I also want to recognise Julia Gillard and Nicola Roxon in this respect. As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker Freelander, I am not a great fan of royal commissions. I think the legal fraternity in this country has a lot to be ashamed of, quite frankly. They are not the best people at examining and providing care and compassion. However, the royal commission into institutional abuse—the response to child sexual abuse that was initiated by Prime Minister Gillard—is I think one of the most important royal commissions we've had in this nation, not because it behaved like a royal commission but because it didn't behave like a royal commission. It became very much a commission that wanted to hear the stories of those people who had suffered at the hands of those who had been entrusted to protect them. That in itself provided a bridge from the past to the future. So I think it is incredibly important that this parliament recognises the brave decisions made by others that have led us to this moment.

It was three years ago that then Prime Minister Turnbull stood in front of the parliament and apologised, with former Prime Minister Gillard, as I remember, on the floor of the parliament—appropriately—for the suffering that those children had endured when those who should have known better looked the other way. I personally think it was a very powerful moment. Why do apologies matter? It is because you cannot be fully reconciled with the present until you have recognised the problems of the past and the hurt of the past. That is why apologies matter. Our journey towards becoming a perfect nation will be stalled until we recognise the things we did previously that created unnecessary harm and hurt.

Our national apologies have always been important days of reckoning. When we apologised to the stolen generations, it was an apology for the racism, the cruelties and the injustices inflicted on our First Nations people. When we apologised for forced adoptions, it was an apology for the shame, the stigma and the brutality that forcibly splitting a parent from their child caused. When we apologised to the forgotten Australians and the former child migrants, it was an apology for the unconscionable cruelties experienced by children removed from their families and placed in institutional homes. The apologies reflect our acknowledgement of our failures as a people. Most importantly, they acknowledge that we know that those things can never happen again.

We are a people who live in a liberal democratic society. For societies like ours to flourish we must ensure that we take upon ourselves the importance of recognising that we are not only capable of extraordinary cruelties and mistakes; we are also capable of making those things right.

Truth was always at the heart of the apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. That is what the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, initiated by Prime Minister Gillard, was all about. When thousands of people came forward to describe their experiences, their pain and their anguish, it was more than about them; it was about all of us and what we needed to do as an entire community to ensure that those who come after us will never suffer in the way that those people did and to ensure that this parliament, whenever it is deliberating and considering policies and proposals, remembers how we did so much wrong in that time and in that place by not listening, by not understanding and, in the end, by not knowing.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse was delivered in this parliament in 2018, it meant many different things to so many different people. To those of us who heard the horrific and tragic stories out of the royal commission, it was an expression of grief for the pain and suffering of children and it was a promise that we would do what was in our power to ensure that never again would childhoods be violated by the people and institutions kids are supposed to trust. For the survivors who were ignored for so long, it was a moment to be heard, to be acknowledged and to have their experiences listened to. For the people of Australia, it was a moment of reflection upon the failures of our institutions and our leaders to protect children from the vilest of acts.

For too long victims were not heard, and they were not heeded. Their voices were silenced when those with more power and more 'credibility' spoke over them. However, many refused to be silent.

Since this apology, our nation has been fortunate enough to hear from the magnificent Grace Tame, who has used her platform as Australian of the Year to once again bring the realities of child sexual abuse to the forefront of the national conversation There's so much power in silence being broken. We saw it in so much testimony, and we saw it before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Over five years, the commission was contacted by 16,953 people who were within the terms of reference. It heard from 7,981 survivors of child sexual abuse in 8,013 private sessions. It received 1,344 written accounts and referred over 2½ thousand matters to police.

The royal commission led to the national apology, when both the government and the opposition stood together to say, on behalf of Australia, 'We believe you; we are sorry.' Of course, an apology cannot undo the suffering. It cannot change the past and it cannot erase the memories. It cannot bring back the many people we have lost as a result of their abuse, but it can go a little way to lifting the burden and to start moving on the path of reconciliation. But along that path must lie action. We've said sorry. Now we must do what is in our power to ensure that the scourge of child sexual abuse is stamped out and the wrongs of the past are addressed. The announcement of a national centre for the prevention of child sexual abuse goes some way towards this goal, as does the implementation of the National Redress Scheme. However, we would not be doing our job as an opposition if we did not highlight where we believe this government could be doing better.

I'm proud to stand as a member of the Joint Select Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme. Joining this joint select committee has been probably the most rewarding thing I have done as a member of parliament. Understanding and listening to survivors, their supporters and also the amazing groups that support these survivors has been truly inspirational. Earlier this year, I expressed my concern that the government had not committed to implementing all the recommendations of the second anniversary review of the National Redress Scheme. The review was conducted independently by Ms Robyn Kruk AO, who delivered her report to the minister at the end of March this year. In conducting her review, Ms Kruk met with 81 survivors. She heard from support services, government agencies and ministers. In total, this review received 226 submissions, on top of their commissioned feedback study in which 503 survivors, support groups and institutions participated.

Using this significant insight into the scheme and the impact that its processes and operations have upon survivors, this review was able to collate a list of recommendations. Unfortunately, many of them have not been implemented, and what the review identified is that, as it stands, the implementation of the scheme is flawed. It's functioning is so complicated and slow that we face the very real risk that survivors may die before they see a single cent. Those who have been able to navigate the process also risk retraumatisation. So, whilst it's good that this parliament comes together to acknowledge the magnificent work of the former Labor government, as we just heard from the member for Mackellar, and whilst it's good that the Prime Minister and the minister and a number of speakers have spoken about the royal commission and spoken about the trauma, they also need to own up to the fact that the government are not delivering what they promised. This is political, but it must be said: this government has let down survivors. They haven't delivered what survivors wanted. They have delivered a scheme that is too complex to navigate and hasn't seen uptake in the numbers that we expected. Reforms need to be made with a sense of urgency. The maximum payout for survivors should be lifted with from $150,000 to $200,000. That some organisations have resisted entering the Redress Scheme is absolutely disgraceful, and I wholeheartedly support the government in taking action against them.

This scheme is just too important to get wrong. We know how important it is to the survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. It was a long time coming when it was first introduced, and we must continue to ensure it is working in the interests of victims and their healing. Survivors of child sexual abuse have been waiting their whole lives for redress for the horrific crimes that were perpetrated against them as children. Growing up in a privileged middle-class family in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, in Holland Park, with loving parents and an older brother and sister, with a joyous childhood, going to school and being fully active in our community, I have no understanding or no comprehension of what it would be like to be in an institution. I have no understanding of what it would be like to be an abused child who put their trust and faith in people who were supposed to be looking after them. I cannot imagine what that would be like. I think all of us who have had the most beautiful childhoods are horrified and simply can't believe that this happened. But it did happen. It happened under government's watch and it happened under the so-called guardians of these children.

The recommendations of the second anniversary review would serve to improve the experience of survivors in the scheme. Think of it like this. A survivor has dealt with this trauma their whole life. They see a light at the end of the tunnel. They see an opportunity for their voice to be heard. They're scared, they're frail, they're vulnerable, and they're worried again that no-one will believe them. They relive that experience once again. They then turn to government—who they don't trust in the first place, having deep-seated concerns about who is managing their lives—to enter a scheme that is so hard and so complex that it gets too much. They walk away, and the trauma is simply relived.

Our focus cannot only be on the crimes of the past. We must also face another harsh reality—that there are children facing this abuse today. It gives me no joy to say that. The eSafety Commissioner has found that children's online safety has worsened during the time of pandemic lockdowns. Child sexual abuse material is on the rise, as is online grooming, activity in online abuse communities and live streaming of abuse material. We must protect children from abuse, wherever it may come from. The national apology must be more than an anniversary, where politicians—from the Prime Minister to the Leader of the Opposition—hop on their soapboxes and talk about what has happened. We must commit to doing more. It must be a reminder that children deserve our protection, and we must do everything in our power to give it to them. Let's get this right now—for the survivors, for their loved ones and for the children, who deserve to grow up in an Australia free from child sexual abuse and violence. Today I commit once again to doing that.

Debate adjourned.