Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In rising to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (The Survivors Law) Bill 2026, I want to commend the thoughtful and reflective remarks made by my colleague the member for Melbourne and associate myself with her contribution.

The coalition supports this bill. We support it because this parliament should stand with survivors, not with loopholes that protect perpetrators. For too long, Australia's superannuation and bankruptcy laws have been manipulated by offenders to avoid paying court ordered compensation to the very people whose lives they have destroyed. Under the current law, perpetrators of child sexual abuse have been able to move assets into superannuation accounts, shield those assets from compensation claims, declare bankruptcy and leave survivors with nothing. That is not justice. It is frankly unacceptable that this loophole has been able to exist for so long. This should never be a partisan issue. This national parliament should speak with one united voice when it comes to protecting children, supporting survivors and ensuring perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.

I acknowledge the work of the Assistant Treasurer, Daniel Mulino, in progressing this legislation. He is a good man. I had the privilege of working with him when he was the member for Eastern Victoria Region and I was CEO of the Committee for Gippsland. I commend his progression of this legislation. I also acknowledge the fine contribution a short time ago of Andrew Wallace, the member for Fisher, my colleague on this side, who I know cares deeply about standing up for victims of child sexual abuse. Above all else, this debate belongs to survivors. It belongs to the victims-survivors, the families, the advocates and the organisations who have spent years exposing this injustice and demanding change.

Many have fought for close to a decade to ensure this parliament has finally acted. I know many are relieved, but it goes without saying that they have had to endure deeply traumatic experiences in the hope that future survivors would not face the same barriers to justice. As someone who previously served on the board of Lifeline Gippsland, I know that Lifeline and many other organisations are there to support victims-survivors in the battles and the hurdles that they face ahead. This is important work. This legislation exists because those survivors refuse to remain silent.

The purpose of this bill is straightforward, but it is profoundly important. It amends the Commonwealth law to allow victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to apply for a court order to access certain superannuation amounts held by perpetrators. The bill also amends the Bankruptcy Act to ensure perpetrators cannot simply declare bankruptcy in order to escape compensation debts. At present, superannuation trustees are generally prohibited from releasing preserved benefits, except in very limited circumstances. Compensation owed to victims of crime is not one of them.

This has created a serious loophole—a loophole where offenders facing criminal or civil proceedings can deliberately move assets into superannuation accounts to shield wealth from victims seeking compensation, and, in some cases, those perpetrators have boasted about such moves. As a result, survivors can endure years of abuse, pursue justice through the courts and be forced to relive their trauma through legal proceedings before obtaining compensation orders—and still receive absolutely nothing. A compensation order should mean something. It should be enforceable to the full extent. Justice should not exist only on paper.

This issue is about far more than money. The impacts of child sexual abuse are lifelong. They affect mental health, physical health, relationships, education, employment, housing stability and financial security. They rob Australia of the prospects, the input and the talents of so many brilliant Australians who have had to endure such horrendous circumstances. For many survivors, the abuse does not end when the offending stops. The trauma continues for years and often decades. Many survivors face ongoing medical expenses, counselling costs and lost opportunities because of the abuse they endured as children. For some, maintaining stable employment becomes difficult. For others, trust, safety and stability are things they spend years trying to rebuild. No amount of compensation can ever undo what has happened. No amount of money can erase that trauma, but compensation can help survivors access treatment, counselling and support services. It can help provide stability, and, importantly, it can represent acknowledgement—acknowledgement that harm was done and that accountability matters. As a national parliament, we're coming together in a bipartisan manner to do just that.

Many survivors have described the current loophole as a second injustice. Not only were they abused; they also, after enduring lengthy legal proceedings, discovered the perpetrator had deliberately protected their wealth while the survivor was left carrying the emotional and financial burden. That compounds the trauma, it compounds the sense that the system failed them and it undermines public confidence in the justice system itself—because Australians rightly expect that, when a court orders compensation, perpetrators cannot simply manipulate the system to avoid responsibility.

The need for this legislation becomes painfully clear when we look at the real cases that exposed this loophole. One of the most notorious examples is the former magistrate Peter Liddy. Back in 2001, Liddy was jailed for horrific offences involving the abuse of multiple children. But, before sentencing, he transferred substantial assets into superannuation accounts, effectively shielding his wealth from victims pursuing compensation claims. Lawyer Andrew Carpenter described it as becoming a 'blueprint for paedophiles everywhere'. That statement should disturb every single one of us in this place, because it demonstrates that this was not an isolated technical oversight. It became a known strategy, a loophole that offenders could exploit while survivors were left without justice.

Andrew Carpenter has spent years advocating for reform and supporting survivors through these processes. I recently listened to a podcast he was on and was most significantly impressed by his dedication, over many years, to this cause and by his broader support of abuse victims. Andrew Carpenter put it plainly when he said:

There is not one legal justification for sexually abusing a child. Paedophiles should be made to pay and closing this loophole is a no-brainer.

And he was right.

Another shocking example involved the former boss of Bega Cheese, Maurice Van Ryn. Before being sentenced to prison, he, too, moved assets into superannuation. They were substantial. When victims later sought compensation, they discovered he was broke on paper. Survivor advocate Howard Brown said Van Ryn even boasted:

Everything I have is in my super—and you can't touch that.

Imagine hearing that as a survivor. Imagine enduring the abuse, going through the court proceedings and then hearing the perpetrator openly taunt victims because the law protected his assets. That should outrage all of us, and indeed it does, because we are coming together, as a parliament, in a bipartisan manner in the Australian national interest to say to those abuse victims that we all—every single member in this place—stand with you.

The case of Edan van Haren further demonstrates why reform is urgently needed. In 2023, Mr van Haren was awarded $1.4 million in damages by the New South Wales Supreme Court after being abused by Maurice Van Ryn. Yet legal loopholes enabled the perpetrator to avoid paying damages. It cannot continue. We must not stand for this. Perpetrators should not be able to abuse children, lose in court, declare bankruptcy and preserve retirement savings while survivors are left with nothing. Superannuation was never intended to become a shield for predators. It exists to provide dignity and security in retirement, not protection from accountability.

This bill establishes a court supervised process that seeks to restore fairness, it allows survivors to seek limited superannuation information from the Commissioner of Taxation, it allows courts to issue release orders where compensation debts exist, and it requires the Commissioner of Taxation to facilitate payment through release authorities issued to superannuation funds. Importantly, this is not an arbitrary process. Perpetrators retain the ability to challenge orders on specified legal grounds. There is judicial oversight. There are safeguards. But, critically, there is finally a pathway for survivors to pursue meaningful compensation where perpetrators have attempted to shield assets within superannuation.

The coalition also believe it's important to recognise the organisations and advocates who have fought tirelessly for this reform. I want to acknowledge Andrew Carpenter, who I mentioned earlier, but also Hetty Johnston and the extraordinary work of Bravehearts. I would like to acknowledge Super for Survivors, Fighters Against Child Abuse Australia, the Carly Ryan Foundation and many others who have spent years exposing this injustice and pushing for change.

Hetty Johnston said these reforms would 'give the power back to the victims' and take away from offenders, who 'love' exploiting these loopholes. She's right. That is an incredibly important point, because, at its heart, this legislation is about power and accountability. For too long, offenders retained power over survivors even after criminal convictions and court proceedings. This legislation begins to rebalance that in the way that it needs to. It sends a message that our parliament—this national parliament—will not allow legal loopholes to be weaponised against survivors.

I want to also recognise that this bill may not be the final word on reform in this area. Indeed, there is always more to be done. There are advocates who believe broader categories of serious violent crime should eventually be captured by similar provisions. I know there are ongoing discussions around retrospective application and the treatment of civil findings. These conversations are important, and they should continue. Indeed, earlier consultation proposals contemplated access for victims of serious violent crimes beyond child sexual abuse alone. But we should not allow the pursuit of a perfect model to delay meaningful reform that survivors need right now—today—not when survivors have already waited years and not when every further delay risks prolonging injustice. That is why the coalition does not support unnecessary delays or referral processes that would simply postpone the operation of these reforms.

Today, this parliament has an opportunity to send a clear and united message from both sides—a message that survivors matter; a message that justice should be meaningful, not symbolic; a message that perpetrators should never be able to manipulate the law to escape accountability; and a message that superannuation should never again become a safe haven for those who commit horrific crimes against children. The coalition supports this bill. I commend it to the House.

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