Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government understands— it's a truism, I guess—that you do get the best policy outcomes when you meaningfully engage with the people that the policy is actually for. That's why have listened to and continue to listen to survivors of child sexual abuse and advocates, who have long called for stronger accountability for perpetrators and improved justice outcomes. Many people might not know, but convicted perpetrators of child sexual abuse in Australia can be ordered to pay financial compensation to their victims. There are multiple ways that that is done through court orders and so on, at the state level as well, and I'll run through those. But what people might not know is that a loophole actually exists in existing legislation that has meant that the perpetrators have been able to shield their assets in their superannuation, which effectively leaves victims and survivors without the compensation that they are owed and that has been determined that they should be paid.

This bill, the survivors law, closes that loophole for good. It allows victims and survivors to seek access to a perpetrator's superannuation to satisfy unpaid compensation orders where a criminal conviction has been made. The bill really goes to a very simple but fundamental principle: that perpetrators of child sexual abuse should not be able to hide behind financial structures to avoid accountability for their crimes. Justice is not only about conviction. It is also about meaningful redress, and the survivors law will provide meaningful redress for victims.

There are three avenues, as I mentioned earlier, in the manner in which victims are paid compensation. It includes state and territory compensation schemes, where the state or territory, rather than the offender, pays the compensation to the victim. There's compensation or reparation orders handed down as part of the sentencing process in a criminal proceeding, or there is a civil action pursued by the victim against the offender for damages. None of these options, however, allow the victim to access any financial compensation through the perpetrator's superannuation. According to the Department of the Treasury, there have been many such cases where offenders who are either subject to or anticipating criminal proceedings have made large voluntary personal contributions to their superannuation to avoid having to pay the compensation, and this has allowed the offender to shield their assets from those compensation claims. Obviously, this cannot continue, and the Albanese Labor government has introduced this bill to shut this loophole for good, ensuring that those who have suffered so horribly from abuse are no longer blocked from the compensation they deserve.

This bill seeks to amend the Taxation Administration Act 1953 and other relevant Commonwealth acts to allow victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to apply for a court order for the release of certain amounts from a perpetrator's superannuation interests. Under these reforms, where a court ordered compensation debt remains unpaid after 12 months, victims and survivors will be able to seek access through a court order to certain superannuation contributions made by the offender. This includes additional personal and salary sacrifice contributions, which have previously been used as a vehicle to shield assets from enforcement. This is a very practical and targeted step. It also introduces a mechanism to ensure that perpetrators cannot simply wait out their obligations while their financial position remains protected.

Importantly, this schedule ensures that compensation debts do not simply disappear through bankruptcy. By allowing these debts to survive bankruptcy proceedings, we are reinforcing a clear and necessary message: financial manoeuvring must not override the legal and the moral responsibility. Bankruptcy should not be a refuge from accountability for such serious harm. These changes will apply not only to future bankruptcies but also to those currently in progress. That's significant because it recognises that there are survivors right now, today, who are being denied justice under the existing framework.

When offenders retain substantial retirement savings while victims struggle financially, often as a direct consequence of the abuse they've suffered, it really undermines confidence in the justice system. It risks perpetuating a cycle where the burden continues to fall on those who were harmed, rather than those who caused the harm. Child sexual abuse crimes often leave deep and lifelong impacts that extend far beyond the period of abuse itself, and that trauma does not end when the abuse ends. For many victims and survivors, it is something they must navigate every single day, too often in silence and without the adequate support that they need. Some survivors face barriers to stable employment and financial security, meaning the harm they experience is not only deeply emotional and psychological but very material as well. For those who seek the pursuit of justice, they must then relive the painful experiences they went through from their abuser as part of that process.

This bill is our government's way of recognising the deep and lasting pain that victims do endure and trying, in an important way, to redress some of that pain. Under our government, no victim of child sexual abuse should have to endure the risk of financial insecurity due to the lasting effects of the abuse that they suffered. Our government is committed to protecting our most innocent and vulnerable citizens and holding those who seek to do them harm accountable. As a parliament, we must recognise that the impacts of child sexual abuse are enduring. They're complex. They're profound. Our response must be equally serious, sustained and centred on those who have been harmed. Importantly, we will continue to listen and improve and build upon these laws.

That is why this bill should be understood as a significant and necessary foundation for more work that needs to be done. It lays the groundwork for potential future reforms, because enclosed within these reforms is a framework that can be built upon in the future. This ensures the critical measure of being able to review these reforms after their implementation. We should and will remain engaged in our policies to ensure that they are making a tangible impact on those that they affect. That's why the review mechanisms enclosed in this bill allow our government the opportunity to assess whether victims and survivors are genuinely benefiting and whether additional changes are required. The legislation will continue to be informed by voices of survivors, advocates, legal experts and practitioners. Engaging with these stakeholders is critical to ensure it is delivering on its intent and whether barriers remain that need to be removed.

The reforms enclosed within this bill will make a real difference in the lives of victims and survivors. They cannot wipe away the pain and the trauma, but they will make a difference. The ability to provide new avenues for enforcement and financial compensation will allow for a greater chance of achieving some measure of justice for the survivors. Our government can't—no government can—reverse the harm that has been experienced by these victims-survivors. No-one can do that. Survivors of child sexual abuse have gone through a horrific experience. We can't reverse that. We can, however, legislate reforms here in this place to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes feel the full enforcement of the law, because those who seek to harm children should know that this government and this parliament will not stop until survivors get the justice they deserve.

This bill is about aligning our financial and legal systems with—in effect—our values in many respects. These are values that say perpetrators must be held accountable and that the victims and the survivors deserve not only recognition and acknowledgement of their pain and understanding but also meaningful support and redress.

So we stand in this parliament today—I think both sides of the House do—to demonstrate that recognition of the courage shown by so many survivors who've spoken out about the abuse that they have endured as children. It's no easy task to go through that experience and then speak about it many years later. Their lives have been shaped by pain, by injustice and by all that occurred to them at such a young age. It's so difficult to cope with at any age, but for them to go through this experience as children is horrific. Many of us here are parents, but even any of us who are not parents would all probably agree, very clearly, that no children should ever have to experience a suffering that so many victims and survivors have had to face.

This parliament, I think, is doing a good thing in reaffirming our responsibility to ensure that those voices are heard, that the injustices that they experienced at some level are addressed with some measure of justice and that the failures that have occurred in the past are never repeated. I commend this bill to the House.

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