Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

More than 200 years ago, horrified at what he saw, William Wilberforce stood in the House of Commons denouncing the slave trade. He declared:

So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear, that my own mind was completely made up for the abolition.

Yet even today, 200 years later, the trade in human lives continues. Unfortunately, today much of it is covert, more dreadful and entirely wicked. Society’s most vulnerable and innocent are victims. Rather than playing, discovering and developing their minds, children worldwide are being sexually exploited for money. UNICEF conservatively estimates that 550,000 children—and I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg—are at the moment the victims of commercial sexual exploitation. It truly is a horrible business. It is inexcusable that this trade continues, and I have seen firsthand the plight of victims. I was the leader of an Australian delegation, of which the member for Riverina was also a member, to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. I commend the member for Riverina for her speech on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences Against Children) Bill 2010. She has outlined very well some of the worst of what happens to children in this terrible trade.

While I was leader of the delegation we travelled to Cambodia and we met a child sex victim. This story is repeated many, many thousands of times throughout the world, but one girl’s story has haunted me ever since that visit. At the age of four, not even old enough for preschool, she was sold into a brothel. There she was forced to work, coming in contact with tourists and others. In her teens she contracted HIV. At 19, she had full-blown AIDS. No longer profitable for the brothel, she was tossed into the streets and left to fend for herself—and presumably to die. Thankfully Caritas, the Catholic aid organisation, of which I cannot speak highly enough, working in that country, took this young woman in, along with many others who had suffered a similar fate. With good nutrition and medication, this young lady was thriving, producing craft work for sale and saving and looking forward to a future.

Constituents within my electorate also know the horrendous reality of how vulnerable children can be to trafficking. Norman and Adelia Bernard established the One Heart Association, funding the essential needs of up to 90 orphans in the Sang Khan Buri orphanage on the Myanmar border. They have relayed to me a shocking event, and this happened just recently—in fact, I rang the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs last sitting week and asked for a briefing. Due to the violence against the ethnic Karen, the children cross into Thailand, not knowing the fate of their parents. The orphanage is headed by a Buddhist nun, the Venerable Maechee Pimjai Maneerat, who was recognised as an Outstanding Woman in Buddhism in 2008 for her efforts assisting children, including teaching the children the Thai language.

Six months ago a young man offered to help teach the children at the orphanage as a volunteer and, as you can imagine, his efforts were appreciated by all. Then, early in December, another man visited the orphanage, bringing a gift of one sack of rice. He offered to help the Venerable Maechee and asked to photograph 10 of the young girls naked. The man was turned away. But on the night of 28 December 2009, nearby villagers saw and reported that a large truck entered the orphanage. It left before the morning light, and in the morning 50 children were missing. The boys and girls were aged between 10 and 16. Three of the missing girls had chosen to become Buddhist nuns. The volunteer teacher was missing as well. Local police were informed of the kidnapping. Village elders agreed to assist in the search. Here in Australia, Norman and Adelia contacted the Foreign Affairs office and the Thai ambassador, and talked to the Catholic Church. The children have vanished without trace. The reality is both appalling and upsetting. Child sex offences are universal but children’s protection, I am sorry to say, is not universal. I do not think that any society has the right to call itself a civil society when it fails to protect the most vulnerable in our community.

I commend this bill as another step towards protecting children, and I only wish that the government could move faster and be tougher. I know that our AFP officers have done an outstanding job, that we have seen some prosecutions and that penalties have been increased. I think one person a couple of years ago was jailed for 25 years. Why do people in this country, who would not want to see their own children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews abused in this country, think they have the right to go overseas to countries where people are poor in order to abuse the children of others? I have no idea what kind of mindset people have. These are husbands, fathers, brothers and sons of people in this country, and it is shocking to think that this still goes on—that they do not necessarily do it here but go overseas to some poor country and exploit the children there. It is truly disgraceful.

In 2007 the former coalition government introduced the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Child Sex Tourism and Related Measures) Bill, with nearly the same measures as those proposed in this bill. Unfortunately the bill lapsed with the proroguing of parliament. Now, over two years later, we have the opportunity to put these measures in place. Commonwealth, state and territory laws currently criminalise child abuse and child pornography material within Australia. In 2005, the former coalition government responded to perpetrators using new technology, strengthening the provisions of the Commonwealth Crimes Act and targeting the use of carriage services such as mobile phones and the internet. This bill builds on those reforms to ensure that the laws continue to remain effective and meet the needs of law enforcement agencies, combating contemporary offending. Without us as legislators in this place insisting on tough legislation to both track these people down and then prosecute them with the full force of the law, we will not stamp out this practice. We need a great deal of political will to do that and to give our AFP officers, who do an outstanding job, the ability to stamp out this pernicious practice.

This bill enhances the offences for using a carriage service for sexual activity with a child, child pornography and child abuse material, and new offences are established for using a postal service. Significantly, the bill introduces new offences for Australians, both citizens and residents, dealing in child pornography and abuse material overseas. Such abhorrent behaviour is intolerable and illegal for Australians in Australia and should, and now will, be illegal for Australians overseas—just as it ought to be. Australians who commit child sexual offences overseas will now be able to be punished even where foreign countries have deficient laws or are unwilling to prosecute.

Policing and prosecuting crimes against children is a tough business. In 2003, under the coalition government, the AFP’s Transnational Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Team was established to investigate offences relating to both slavery and sexual servitude, as well as child sex tourism. Further funding for AFP investigations was announced in the 2007-08 budget. The AFP’s child protection operation team investigates as well as coordinates multijurisdictional and international online sexual exploitation operations. They liaise with internet service providers and content hosts, the Virtual Global Taskforce, Interpol and the public. AFP officers sift through mounds of material chasing those attempting to groom children over the internet. They are also exposed to the graphic reality of child abuse. An officer must sit and look at each image seized, whether in hard copy, on computer drives or in any other form. They see the years of abuse suffered by children, and we should pay tribute to them for the work that they do. I know from talking to some of them that it is tough and difficult work and they need the support of us in this House to make sure the laws are strong and they can act.

I have been fortunate to meet AFP officers on the front line of combating trafficking overseas. Their dedication to identifying and prosecuting offenders and rescuing the children is commendable. The AFP has certainly led the way, showing great leadership throughout the Asian region and in developing partnerships with some of our neighbouring countries to make sure these people can be tracked across borders and brought back if they are Australian to face prosecution in this country.

UNICEF is another organisation that I must highlight for its proactive protection of children. Through partnerships with governments, the private sector and civil society, those in UNICEF advocate and advise on protective social practices and empowering children, as well as providing oversight and monitoring. Their information is invaluable to governments and their assistance to children who have suffered abuse is often unacknowledged. They work in very difficult conditions because of the lack of strong legislative instruments in many countries.

Those fighting to end child sex exploitation cannot do it alone. They require the assistance of governments worldwide. They need proactive legislators. They need the support of law enforcement agencies. Children can all too easily be spirited across borders. Offenders jump between jurisdictions, utilising loopholes in the laws of other countries. Each state must take a stand and pass necessary legislation and, if necessary, complementary laws ensuring that no jurisdiction is safe for child sex abusers and traffickers.

I did have an opportunity with the member for Riverina to attend a conference in Bali in 2006. There I met a number of women from South America and Africa. Indeed, there is a report by UNICEF on the particular problems on the African continent. The women of South America told me that the rate of disappearance of children on that continent is alarming and there is no mechanism, or there was not at that time, to chase these people across borders and bring down on them the full force of the law. They told me the problem was so acute that the Save the Children Fund had set up a website to try to track missing children on the South American continent. It is a terrible problem.

In 2007, with the member for Riverina and other members of the delegation across party lines, I attempted to establish the World against Abuse of Children, a list of like-minded parliamentarians who would work across borders to establish legislation to stamp out this pernicious practice of child trafficking. There are many agencies working to support victims and to try to ensure that people are prosecuted for these crimes, but what we do not seem to have is an organisation that asks parliamentarians around the world to become active within their jurisdictions and to make sure the laws are tough. There must be greater political resolve to ensure complementary legislation and general legislation which prevents the movement of children to jurisdictions which do not have robust protection laws.

We wrote a letter signed by all members of our delegation. There were 140 parliaments represented at that Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Bali and 13 countries responded to the letter. They included Cambodia, Chile, China, Croatia, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Monaco, New Zealand, Namibia, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Thirteen countries out of 140 showed concern about the trafficking in children. Frankly, I think that is a terrible indictment. It is a very disappointing response. But those who did respond were passionate about it. I heard from the young woman who runs the Hong Kong office for Microsoft trying to track down internet pornography, much of it involving babies and most of it too horrendous for me to relate to members in this House. It was really and truly shocking. I think the member for Riverina has made reference to some of those practices. I just do not know that the Australian public are aware fully of what is going on in some of these developing countries that are our neighbours.

As I said, I hoped to start an international effort and urge the members of different countries to seek to push their governments to legislate to stamp out child abuse and trafficking. I urge members of this House to reach out to their international counterparts and say that together we can—we must—stop this activity. The protection of children has to be a priority in a civilised society.

As William Wilberforce stood in his parliament, describing the enormous, dreadful wickedness of the slave trade, he started its downfall. It starts with one step. He changed perceptions, resolutely advocating for the parliament to protect those most vulnerable. Anyone who has read the story knows what a difficult time he had and how many years it took him to stamp out these practices—and the personal toll it took on him. In 200 years, those people most vulnerable may have changed, but the role of this parliament has not. We are continuing to protect those most vulnerable—our children—and I am resolute in pledging my full support for this bill and even tougher measures and tougher penalties and more work with the international community across borders. I pay tribute to the men and women who dedicate their professional lives to stamping out this pernicious practice.

There have been many reports, many conferences and many books on this, and the UN has been extremely active, but none of this has resulted in diminishing this trade. One has to wonder where the resolve is. At a Pan American Health Organisation conference in Washington in 2007, governments from around the world came together to try and do something about violence against children. In speaking to this, Dr Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said:

For me, it is very shocking to see the high level of acceptability of violence against children, not just socially, but legally.

He is an independent expert and leader of the UN study. He said:

This is a key challenge: how to overcome the acceptability of violence against children.

I think it is a shocking state of affairs. He also said:

… it is Governments that have the responsibility to build a solid legal framework and to provide the support needed by families, schools and communities to adequately fulfill their role.

This is a very serious piece of legislation. It is a very serious issue. I hope that all members of this parliament will join me in a resolve to see the pernicious practice of child trafficking stopped.

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