Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Attorney-General. What is the Attorney-General doing to address the overwhelming evidence that abused children are being returned to their abusers while protective parents are being forced to say nothing for fear of losing their kids to the Family Court system?

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

Thank you very much indeed, Senator Hinch. I want to acknowledge the interest you have taken in this issue both as a senator and, for many years before that, a broadcaster. I can tell you some of the measures the Australian government is taking to deal with the evil of child abuse. The Commonwealth supports an approach which ensures greater national consistency at state and territory schemes through Working With Children Checks. The 36 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse report on Working With Children Checks raised a range of significant technical and legal resourcing issues, most of which fall to the states and territories, who, as you know, have primary responsibility for child protection matters. On 17 February this year my department led a working group of all Australian governments in order to further develop the Working With Children Checks scheme and to ensure greater consistency in information sharing between jurisdictions. So that is one measure that we have undertaken.

I might take the opportunity to mention another measure that the government has undertaken. In November last year we announced that we had developed additional measures to stop child sex offenders from travelling overseas by amending the Passports Act. Under current passport legislation the passports of all Commonwealth offenders, including child sex offenders, are already refused or cancelled for the period they are on parole. Law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities are also already able to request the Minister for Foreign Affairs to cancel sex offenders passports or refuse to issue passports. A number have been cancelled or refused— (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hinch, a supplementary question.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Attorney-General, you mentioned greater national consistency. What is the government's position on establishing a national child protection agency to address the problem of the diabolical faults, failings and failures of state and territory agencies?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to 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)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hinch, your final supplementary question.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The failures in South Australia, in Victoria, in Queensland—we have been hearing these stories for years and years now. What is your government's objection to a national agency which would be an umbrella group and would stop kids being bashed up in Sydney and then moved to Adelaide where maybe one of them may die?

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

My approach to this issue is an entirely pragmatic one, as I am sure yours is. We want to have whatever works best. I think that a national bureaucracy based in Canberra is less likely to be effective than state agencies and child protection agencies who have investigative officers, social workers and other support staff on the ground in the capital cities and the provincial cities and towns of Australia and who have a greater investigative capability than some agency based in Canberra could ever have. That is why, Senator Hinch, as I said in answer to your earlier questions, my preference is for the national government to assume a coordinating role to ensure that information between the jurisdictions is as freely shared and as readily available as possible and that state and territory laws are as consistent as they can be. (Time expired)