Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a senator, sometimes an issue comes to your attention that is so egregious that you have no choice but to act. For me, this was in 2016 when I learnt that, unknowingly, tens of thousands of Australians have for years been paying overseas child traffickers to traffic at-risk children from their families to be exploited in so-called orphanages. That's right, colleagues. Good-hearted Australians and their children were paying to have an orphanage tourism experience that they are led to believe will assist these so-called orphans.

The reality, however, is far different. Over 90 per cent of children in these institutions are not orphans; they are often terribly abused and they are trained to smile and to put on a show for the constant parade of paying visitors from all over the world. Good hearted Australians, with the best of intentions, find the prospect of assisting orphans so compelling that they don't do any due diligence on the facility or on the children themselves. It is, quite simply, the perfect 21st century scam. No-one wants to believe that, instead of doing good, they have effectively paid for the trafficking and the exploitation of children. It is a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise globally.

Colleagues, consider this: in Australia, we know the damage that long-term institutionalised care does to our own children, which is why we closed orphanages. We would never, ever, have people paying to visit our children in care. So why on earth do we think it is okay to do this to other people's children, simply because they were born in developing countries? We have created this trade, and now we have a responsibility to end it. I look forward to continuing to work with my parliamentary colleagues to stamp out this hideous practice.