Page 2186 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2018
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We can take heart from the encouraging words of Canberra’s religious leaders as they signal their organisational aspirations to move to a position of social change that affords children and young people a much higher status.
Child abuse is unacceptable. It is shocking. All children have a fundamental right to be safe and to be protected in their community, and to have a say in the decisions that affect them. The ACT is a human rights jurisdiction, committed to protecting the rights of children and young people, including their right to special protection because of their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.
I would like to acknowledge today the incredibly important work that the royal commission has done in raising to unprecedented levels community awareness of the vulnerability of children and the community’s responsibility to children. After five years of emotionally exhausting and confronting public hearings, over 400 hearing days and 1,200 witness testimonies, the royal commission handed down 409 recommendations in its final report.
As we have heard, the ACT reportable conduct scheme is on track with the recommendations of the royal commission regarding nationally consistent legislative reportable conduct schemes. National consistency is important, as the safety and wellbeing of children is the responsibility of all levels of government. But governments cannot do this alone: keeping the children in our community safe is a shared responsibility, and one that cannot be done without the wider community.
There are a number of reforms which are common to all systems. They include: that the safety and wellbeing of children is a shared community responsibility; charters of rights for children and young people in care; children and families being empowered to participate in decision-making; and children’s commissioner and/or children’s guardian positions being created to advocate for children. That is just to name a few.
The ACT continues to participate in work to progress national standards for sectors other than out of home care, and work towards a potential national harmonisation of working with children check schemes, both of which are recommended by this royal commission.
We have already responded directly to the royal commission’s recommendations on civil litigation. We passed amendments to remove limitation periods for civil actions on child sexual abuse in all contexts in May 2017. We also introduced legislation that responds to some of the royal commission’s criminal justice recommendations by strengthening our criminal laws against ongoing sexual abuse rather than just individual sexual acts; by broadening grooming offences to criminalise any contact with a child that is intended to make a sexual offence more likely and extending grooming offences to the grooming of persons other than the child; and excluding good character from reducing a sentence for a child sex offender when it has been that good character that enabled them to gain access to the victim.
The royal commission makes it clear that there is more work to be done. In March this year I commenced public consultation that addresses the royal commission’s
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