George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Our approach and our attitude is that what matters most is that there be the greatest possible sharing of information between jurisdictions. We are not of the view that child protection is primarily a Commonwealth responsibility because, appropriately, it is and always has been a state responsibility. As you know, all of the state and territory governments have, in one form or another, child protection ministries. But in a federal system where the Commonwealth can make a difference is in ensuring and taking the lead, as we have done, to ensure that state and territory laws are consistent. Where there is information on child sexual abuse collected by police forces or by welfare authorities or other government instrumentalities, that information is shared on a national database, as it is. That is our particular contribution in leading consistency and sharing information. (Time expired)