Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tomorrow is White Balloon Day, the day that highlights the problem of child sexual abuse and assault. I personally have had no experience with this problem, but as an adult it is my responsibility, as it is the responsibility of all adults, to take all possible action to ensure that children are always protected from assault and abuse of any kind but particularly sexual assault and abuse. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of Bravehearts and its founder and executive director, Hetty Johnston, for her work to raise the profile of this problem.

As I said, I have had no personal experience of the problem of child abuse or sexual assault. As far as I know, no members of my family or any close friends have had such experiences. I hope that is true and I am very thankful for it. Bravehearts has provided information, however, that each year there are 55,000 substantiated allegations of child abuse and neglect. I have also been informed that one in five children will be sexually assaulted by the time they are 18 years old. These are terrible statistics, indicating that these crimes are happening in our suburbs, in our communities, right now. It is scary, the magnitude of the risk that faces our children. The question that remains is: what must be done?

Governments have an important part to play, and I applaud government involvement. However, the policy level must be backed up by action throughout the process. Clearly, there are laws which say that the abuse, sexual abuse and assault of children are all against the law, and perpetrators can be dealt with. At the judiciary and government level, the police must be resourced to detect and fight these crimes, the judiciary must be very hard on offenders, and government agencies must be completely intolerant of offenders.

With regard to those agencies, it is my view that child protection bodies should be more prepared to take children away from dangerous and abusive homes, and they should do it permanently. That should occur in cases where children have been abused or assaulted. They should rigorously screen adoptive parents. There should not be second chances, and there should be charges against not only the perpetrator but also anyone who knew or suspected and did nothing. I also say that parole should not occur, as child molesters cannot be rehabilitated.

As strong as reaction to these crimes must be, prevention is always the primary objective. Research is clear about the need for public awareness of the prevalence of the problem as a means of reducing the incidence of abuse and assault. Australian families must be aware that these crimes are being committed every day and we must all be on our guard for the signs. As parents we must accept the responsibility to ensure that our children are always safe. We must act if we suspect.

As I said, those who suspect and do nothing, and those who know and do nothing are guilty of betraying our children and should also be dealt with firmly. I would like to be very clear on that. An adult may say nothing about suspected or known sexual abuse or assault of a child and give the excuse that they were afraid for their own safety. I reject that excuse. There is no more important role for any adult than the protection of the weak and the defenceless. There is no excuse for not acting in the face of such crimes.

I conclude by saying that, from individual citizens to governments, we all have a role in protecting our children. There is nothing more important. Those that commit these crimes are evil. They are less than human and I have no respect for them. They should be treated harshly and never released.