Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to take part in a debate on an issue of extremely great national importance, one which it behoves all of us, including governments across Australia, to take extremely seriously. The abuse of children is a phenomenon which is totally unacceptable in this or in any other society. The vulnerability of children imposes a special obligation on parents, carers and governments, which is to protect and nurture children. The failure to meet that obligation exacts a terrible price in this, as in any other, community—not only in terms of the immediate impact on children from that abuse but on the whole of society, which will bear the cost of that abuse over many years following the ending of the abuse. The cascading social and personal consequences and the problems which multiply from such abuse throughout the life of the abused child are serious and come with a cost which is borne by the entirety of Australian society. As such, it is extremely important that we take this issue seriously and that we design programs and responses which address the issue as fully as possible.

I understand that my colleague Senator Murray is not taking part in this debate. In a number of key inquiries which the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs has conducted into the status of children in Australian society he was fond of saying that a hurt child equates to a hurt adult. There are a great many hurt adults in our society today whose hurt is traceable to their experience as children.

Of course, it is not possible for governments to be present at all times in the homes of Australians, in schools and in other places where there are children in order to prevent child abuse. To some extent a level of child abuse will be inevitable and unavoidable. What we as governments need to do is to create the circumstances where such abuse is less likely to occur because pressures on Australian families and individuals are mitigated and reduced—pressures which may in turn lead to child abuse—and create services which are comprehensive and accessible so as to prevent the harm of child abuse multiplying and continuing for long periods.

In this respect it is worth observing that state and territory governments in Australia constitutionally have a very important role to play in dealing with instances of child abuse and providing the sorts of services I have just spoken of. I know that is an issue which state and territory governments have taken more seriously in recent years. I do not think it assists us greatly in this debate to talk in terms that might be mistaken for buck passing. No child and no family of a child in this country that is subject to child abuse wants to hear that one government wipes its hands of responsibility and blames another level of government. What is important is that we properly assess the number of such cases that occur in our community, take steps to prevent those cases from recurring and provide full and appropriate services where they do occur.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported in 2005 that the number of notifications of suspected child abuse in Australia had more than doubled in the previous six or so years—from 107,000-odd in 1999-2000 to 252,831 in 2004-05. Of those reported cases, the rate of substantiation of cases of child abuse had also risen substantially—in fact more than doubled—from 24,732 to 46,154. That is partly a reflection of the creation of better reporting avenues and the creation of opportunities for people to come forward and report child abuse than were the case previously. Perhaps we are seeing more child abuse reported. But we cannot dismiss the possibility that more child abuse is occurring in Australia today. We need to make sure that if that is the case, we take serious steps to wind back that alarming statistic.

The Commonwealth’s responsibility as to this issue is fairly clear. We need to create a strong and secure environment in which families can operate in this country; that is, we need to give families every opportunity to deal with these problems in a constructive and effective way. We need to take pressure off families so that through factors such as poverty, unemployment, mental illness and a host of other indicators we do not inadvertently create the circumstances whereby Australian families turn to abuse of their children. It is worth reflecting in this debate on the fact that a significant number of cases of child abuse occur within the framework of the family. Indeed, the statistics available through the beyondblue website suggest that 3.3 per cent of perpetrators are natural parents, 2.7 per cent are step-parents, 4.5 per cent are siblings and 18.3 per cent are other relatives of the child. So a significant number of abusers of a child are members of that child’s own family. However, it is also worth reflecting on the fact that 47 per cent of abusers are acquaintances of the child and 23.4 per cent are strangers to the child.

This obviously suggests that some measures need to be taken to deal with the causes of the perpetration of such cases of abuse. It also suggests that a significant number of cases of abuse are happening within families, so mechanisms to strengthen the framework of families do need to be considered. The government can point to a number of measures which have been taken in recent years to strengthen the capacity of families to deal with such problems and, in particular, to strengthen the environment in which families find themselves generally. I believe that the lessening of unemployment in Australia, the strengthening of the social services available to Australian families and the proliferation of programs specifically designed to provide assistance to families are measures which ought to have in the long term a positive effect on the incidence of child abuse. It is very hard to demonstrate a link between those things, but I believe those sorts of measures are entirely appropriate. I will leave it to others in this debate, particularly colleagues on this side of the chamber, to talk about some of those programs, such as the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy and Local Answers, which are very important measures that the government has taken to strengthen families in a community context.

The inquiries which the Senate Community Affairs References Committee has conducted in recent years into child migrants, children in institutional care and the stolen generation are important steps to understanding the abuse of children in our community. Those are particular slices of community experience which deserve special attention because of the incredibly serious impacts on children in those three contexts. But we do have a broader responsibility, one which revolves around the need to strengthen services and to identify cases, and those are the areas where government programs need to be continually reviewed and strengthened. I believe that we can point to the successful rolling out of programs which have had that very effect.

I for one believe that the community needs to discuss these issues more fully, to bring them out into the open, and to be prepared to consider measures that will provide support to those people in the community working in these areas who may need assistance in getting protection into the places where child abuse is occurring. I commend the programs that I have referred to, but I particularly hope that cooperation between different levels of government is both possible and the order of the day, in order to make sure that we minimise the number of such cases in the future.