Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Crimes Against Children and Community Protection Measures) Bill 2019. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare annual report on child protection last published in 2018-19 noted the following: 171,300 investigations were conducted for 115,700 children in 2018-19. Sixty-two thousand seven hundred claims of child maltreatment were substantiated for 47,500 children. In 2018-19, emotional abuse was the primary type of abuse substantiated for children, at 54 per cent, followed by neglect at 21 per cent, physical abuse at 15 per cent and sexual abuse at 10 per cent.

Too often our children, the victims of these crimes, are seen as just a statistic. The bill before us today ensures that these children will not be just a number on a page. The Morrison government sees these victims and their families, who are devastated by these monstrous crimes, as more than just a statistic. Each number represents a child, a family unit or a community group that is forever scarred by this offending. What is gut-wrenching is that the full prevalence of child sexual abuse, both domestically and internationally, is largely unknown. But this bill is a commitment from the Morrison government to protect children from sexual abuse.

Too often do we hear it alleged that the perpetrator has reformed or that they have learnt their lesson from their actions and therefore deserve a lesser sentence. But these children and their families get a life sentence, and they are left with the scars and left to pick themselves back up. From the moment of those unforgivable and inexcusable acts, the lives of these individuals are changed forever. No matter how hard they try to pick up the pieces, it will never be the same.

South Australians will remember the harrowing story of the 'two masked brothers' matter, a matter that was watched closely by the local community in South Australia. They will recall the masked brothers, who were victims of an abuser, and they will remember their advocacy regarding child abuse and the field of innocence on Montefiore Hill in Adelaide. The offender was found guilty of nine counts of indecent assault and one count of unlawful sexual intercourse against three boys aged between 14 and 16 and was sentenced to six years imprisonment, with a two-year non-parole period, back in 1996. The offender was released in 1997 after the sentence was backdated to commence from the date of arrest. In 2018, the offender was again charged with and pleaded guilty to six counts of offences of a sexual nature against children, and in this instance the offender was sentenced to six years, seven months and six days imprisonment for those offences committed against the two brothers. The offender filed an appeal to serve out his sentence in home detention, claiming that there was no longer an appreciable risk to the safety of the community, due to advanced age and self-reports of diminished libido and sexual interest. The appeal was ultimately dismissed, and the offender now serves a custodial sentence. As you can imagine, Mr President, this case caused great angst throughout the community in South Australia, and it is a stark reminder of why it is that we need strong legislation in place, because the masked brothers were real people whose lives had been turned upside down by this offending. A victim gets a life sentence, and this is why we need strong legislation for these types of offences.

I use this as an example, as the community expects strong action in relation to such heinous offending, and I share this story to remind us that every single number in those statistics amounts to a life that has been forever changed. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' most recent personal safety survey, in 2016, an estimated 7.7 per cent of Australians had experienced childhood sexual abuse before the age of 15, with the average age at which the abuse started being approximately eight years old. Of the 1.4 million survivors of abuse in Australia, the majority knew the perpetrator and experienced multiple incidents. Last year, the Australian Federal Police received almost 18,000 reports of exploitation involving children or Australian child sex offenders, and this number has almost doubled since the previous year. This parliament must show that this behaviour—

Debate interrupted.