Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Child safety is, and should be, Australia's No. 1 priority. I know that it is the focus of the government as well as the opposition and should be for all parliamentarians in this place. As a parent and as someone who can identify with victims-survivors, I think that what we've seen happening in recent times in childcare centres makes everyone sick to the core, when considering the harm that's been done unto young people in our community.

That's why I want to speak about someone I met recently who has highlighted for me the importance of prevention when it comes to protecting young people in our community—children in childcare centres, in schools and in other settings. Prevention is of course so much better than any reactive approach to these matters, and the best form of prevention is empowering and supporting parents to know what to look out for, how to work with kids on how to protect themselves and how to highlight the danger signs.

I recently met with Kristi McVee, the founder of CAPE-AU. Ms McVee is a former detective in the police force. She investigated and dealt with these horrendous incidents that we're talking about here—child exploitation and abuse. She said that her job was, sadly, all about locking up the bad guy, dealing with these people who commit these crimes after they'd been perpetrated and that more needs to be done to prevent and protect in that way. CAPE-AU, which has a great website, cape-au.com, has a range of resources for parents, many of which are available freely: body safety cards, online safety guides, device safety 101—facts and resources to help parents to teach kids what they need to look out for, things to avoid and signs that parents should be looking out for. I encourage all parents, all Australians who are interested in protecting kids and preventing this from happening, to access this site.