Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to present a petition on behalf of Samantha Goerling and the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar school community.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of members of the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School community

Draws to the attention of the House child marriage. Child marriage is a human rights violation that robs girls of their right to health, to live in security, and to choose if, when and whom to marry. It is one of the barriers which prevent girls from getting an education and as a consequence stunts communities and even entire nations.

We therefore ask the House to:

. Work with the international community to take all possible steps to end the practice of child marriage within a generation, by 2030

. Use its position on the international stage to encourage global policy responses that recognise

a. The relationship between marriage and other rights

b. The need to address harmful practices in communities, and the increased threat of early marriage in humanitarian and fragile contexts.

from 153 citizens

Petition received.

This petition draws to the attention of the House the issue around child marriage. All sides of politics in this place oppose child marriage. At a recent Girl Summit of 2014 held in London, Australia signed the Charter on Ending Female Genital Mutilation and Child, Early and Forced Marriage. Of course, we all believe that these practices violate human rights. Child, early and forced marriages impede the victims from achieving their economic and social potential and deny them proper access to legal and health services. They also rob children of their childhood. This is a crime against the most vulnerable of young people.

Earlier this month the Australian government announced $480,000 in grants for organisations working to increase the Australian community's awareness of forced marriage, and to provide free individualised legal services by email and text message to people who are at risk. Our domestic legislation recognises forced marriage as a serious form of exploitation akin to slavery-like practices. It is a crime against children. It is an insidious crime.

Gender equality and the empowerment of women are priorities of Australia's aid program. Australia provided $15 million of voluntary core funding to the United Nations Population Fund and $34.1 million to UNICEF. Both agencies play a critical role in drawing international attention to reproductive health and gender equality issues. Australia will continue to advocate at the international level on these issues at UN forums including the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council and the Commission on the Status of Women.

The government launched the forced marriage community pack, which will be translated into a number of languages, to help educate people within Australia that forced marriages will not be tolerated in this country. It is a significant crime, and everybody in our community needs to understand this.

Australian girls have been sent overseas by their families to be married and girls from other countries have been brought into this country to be married. A survey in 2013 identified 250 self-reported underage marriages in Australia between 2011 and 2013—and they are just the reported figures. Minister Keenan and Minister Cash understand that this could well be just the tip of the iceberg. I congratulate Samantha Goerling and those young people at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School who, like all of us in this place, see this as a crime.