Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

What I'm going to talk about this evening is going to upset some people, and I just want to give an acknowledgement that, if what I talk about tonight causes you distress, you're able to call Kids Helpline on 1800551800 or Lifeline on 131114. When I was the shadow Attorney-General last year, I worked with a number of people, including Jon Rouse, who was previously with Task Force Argos. The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, which Peter Dutton established a number of years ago, identified that there were 82,764 reports of online child sexual exploitation in 2024-25. That's an average of 226 reports each and every single day. Just let those figures sink in: 226 reports of online child sexual exploitation. That's why this bill is so important. The Treasury Laws Amendment (The Survivors Law) Bill 2026 is about justice. It's about whether the laws of this country stand with survivors of child sexual abuse or whether they continue to allow perpetrators to exploit loopholes to avoid accountability. The coalition absolutely supports this bill. We support it clearly, strongly and without hesitation.

Many people will remember a name. That name is Ashley Paul Griffith. Ashley Paul Griffith is a former childcare worker from the Gold Coast. He was sentenced on 2 September 2024 in the Brisbane District Court, where it was alleged that he had perpetrated some 1,623 child sexual offences. He pleaded guilty to 307 of those charges and was imprisoned for life with a 27-year non-parole period. The charges that he pled guilty to included 15 counts of repeated sexual conduct with a child, 28 counts of rape and 190 counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16. Offences were committed against 65 children in South-East Queensland and four children in Italy in 10 different childcare centres.

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the good work that was done by Senator Maria Kovacic when she led a Senate inquiry in relation to this very issue of systemic abuse by paedophiles in childcare centres. It is incumbent upon us to listen to people like Jon Rouse, who has spent his professional life trying to identify these heinous individuals. We have an opportunity in this place—and it's for another bill, so I won't go on to it too much—to look at using technology like Clearview AI to be able to identify these people who exist on the dark web. They perpetrate their offences in real life, but then they record it and put it on the dark web. We have the opportunity in this country to be able to utilise these tools, yet we don't. We go to the FBI and get their assistance because apparently it offends our privacy laws here in Australia. That madness has got to stop. We have got to acknowledge that we have a huge problem here in this country, and we've got to be utilising every single tool that we can to save children from these child sexual exploitation offences—save the children but also identify these heinous individuals.

Victims-survivors and their families have waited far too long for this sort of reform that we're talking about tonight. For too long, Australia's superannuation and bankruptcy laws have been weaponised by some of the worst criminals imaginable. Under the current law, perpetrators have been able to shield assets inside superannuation, declare bankruptcy and avoid paying court-ordered compensation. That is fundamentally wrong. A compensation order should not become a meaningless piece of paper simply because an offender has found a way to hide their money from the people that they harmed. This bill begins to fix that injustice.

While this legislation is before the parliament today under the current government, it's important to acknowledge the long policy history behind it. The coalition began the work on these reforms in 2018, under Kelly O'Dwyer. Consultation papers were released. Stakeholders were engaged. Draft reforms were developed. This legislation builds on that work. I want to acknowledge the work of Daniel Mulino, the Assistant Treasurer, for bringing this bill before the House tonight, and I want to thank him for his leadership in so doing. Most importantly, I want to acknowledge the survivors, their families and the advocates who fought for this reform for almost a decade. This reform did not happen by accident; it happened because survivors refused to give up.

Before speaking to the mechanics of the legislation, I want to speak briefly about the human impact behind it, because these are not abstract statistics; these are lives. The Australian Child Maltreatment Study found that 28½ per cent of Australians—more than a quarter—have experienced child sexual abuse. Let that figure sink in. More than a quarter of our kids have suffered some form of child sexual abuse. An even scarier statistic is that 37.3 per cent of women have experienced child sexual abuse, and 18 per cent of men. These numbers are staggering. They represent millions of Australians carrying trauma that often lasts a lifetime. And it doesn't just impact on them; it impacts upon their siblings and their mums and dads. It even has a generational impact, as the generations go down.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard repeatedly that survivors often experience decades of mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, PTSD and substance abuse. It impacts on relationships, employment, education, financial security and, of course, physical health. For some survivors, after reliving that trauma in court and obtaining a compensation order, they still receive nothing. Imagine going through that process. As a former barrister, I can tell you it is harrowing for even the strongest of individuals. Imagine finding the courage to come forward and make a complaint to police. Imagine enduring what is a very difficult legal process. Imagine having the court believe you and a conviction ensuing, only to discover that the perpetrator has hidden away their assets in superannuation and you are left with nothing. That is the injustice that this bill seeks to redress, because superannuation is for retirement; it should never be used as a shield against accountability.

This should not be political. This should not be a partisan issue. This should unite the parliament. The protection of children should never be political. Supporting survivors should never be political. Holding perpetrators accountable should never be political. The Australian parliament should speak with one voice when it comes to rebuking predators and standing with victims-survivors. Under the current law, we've seen situations where perpetrators have been able to boast that their victims would never see a cent of their superannuation. That is appalling, and this bill begins the journey forward to seeing that that does not happen into the future. Enough is enough. This parliament has an obligation to close this loophole. That is why the coalition supports the swift passage of this bill.

At its core, the bill creates a court supervised process, allowing survivors of child sexual abuse to access certain superannuation amounts held by a perpetrator where there is an unpaid compensation debt. Importantly, this only applies where a court has already ordered compensation. It is not speculative. It is not arbitrary. This is about enforcing lawful court orders that have already been made. The bill allows survivors to seek limited information from the Australian Taxation Office about whether a perpetrator holds eligible superannuation assets. That matters because survivors should not be forced into expensive litigation without knowing whether there are assets capable of satisfying the debt.

The bill then allows a court to make a perpetrator contributions release order. That order enables eligible superannuation amounts to be released in order to satisfy the unpaid compensation debt. The bill also ensures that compensation debts relating to child sexual abuse survive bankruptcy. Again, this is critical because perpetrators should not be able to abuse a child, declare bankruptcy and still preserve their retirement savings while their victims receive nothing. The coalition supports these changes. We believe they are measured, we believe they are proportionate, and, above all, we believe they are just.

This reform exists because survivors and advocates refused to let this issue disappear. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary advocacy of survivors, families, lawyers and child protection organisations over many years. That includes organisations such as Super for Survivors, Bravehearts, Fighters Against Child Abuse Australia and the Carly Ryan Foundation. We also acknowledge advocates, including Andrew Carpenter, Madeleine West, Edan van Haren and many others who continued pushing this issue into the national spotlight. Their advocacy exposed a serious injustice in this country. Their persistence brought this bill before the parliament, and parliament should honour that work by passing this bill swiftly. I want to acknowledge the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, which is headquartered in my electorate of Fisher. Bruce and Denise Morcombe have spent two decades turning unimaginable grief into action. Through child safety education, victim support and the Day for Daniel initiative, they have helped protect countless Australian children. Their work reminds us that prevention and justice must go hand in hand, because protecting children is not a one-off legislative task. It requires constant vigilance, constant education and constant resolve.

Finally, I want to say those numbers again. If I have said anything tonight that distresses people, Kids Helpline is available on 1800551800 or Lifeline on 131114. This bill is one of the most important bills that we will deal with in this parliament, and I do want to thank the Assistant Treasurer for bringing it forward. It's times like this it's good to see the parliament come together for the benefit of this nation.

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