Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I too stand to join the debate on preventing and eliminating violence against women, which continues to be an obstacle to achieving equality, development, peace and the fulfilment of women's and girls' human rights. On this day, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I want to address the issue of sexual assault of older women in aged care and in their homes. Today, we held a round table on preventing the sexual assault of older women, and we heard from Dr Catherine Barrett and Professor Joseph Ibrahim on this issue—both people with deep expertise in the area.

Sexual assault occurs in older women's own homes. It is perpetrated by intimate partners and other family members and also by service providers. Unfortunately, the prevalence of these incidents is not known. Last year, there were 547 reports of unlawful sexual contact in residential aged care. It is likely that the number of incidents of sexual assault is much higher in residential facilities. There is evidence that perpetrators are not being held to account—for example, staff may be moved, or strategies for managing sexual assault by other residents are not well established. The government is not using the data collected on sexual contact in aged care to identify patterns or to shape education. Unfortunately, to date, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has not really addressed this issue. We think it does need to address the issue around sexual assault of older women. There have been six submissions on this issue, and I suspect there may be more.

At the moment, there is a lack of education for both home care workers and residential aged-care facilities around preventing sexual assault of older women. Aged-care workers don't know what to do when they are faced with someone reporting sexual assault, and providers don't understand their responsibility. There is also a clear gap for families and advocates, who don't know who they can turn to for help. Many older women are simply not believed when they report sexual assault in residential aged care. We need to listen to women when they report sexual assault. We need to be making sure that action is taken, that perpetrators are dealt with and that there is a proper process for dealing with that. And if an assault is perpetrated by someone who has a cognitive impairment, it doesn't have to be reported, so we know this is happening on a much larger scale than is actually being reported. We need to address this issue urgently.