Page 561 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Title read by Clerk.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (10.32): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Today I present the Royal Commission Criminal Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 to the Assembly. This bill makes a number of substantive and positive changes to the ACT legislation, following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The bill is the third bill to implement criminal justice recommendations from the royal commission, establishing the legal framework for the protection of people, primarily children, from sexual abuse. It implements eight recommendations in total.
In summary, the bill will create a new criminal offence for failing to report child sexual abuse. It will make ministers of religion mandated reporters under the Children and Young People Act. It will clarify the scope of the reportable conduct scheme’s application to information disclosed in religious confession. It will improve our court and evidence procedures to better support victims to make a victim impact statement in court. And it will make some technical improvements to laws regarding child sexual abuse.
I have spoken before in this place about the importance of this royal commission. As I have said and I will continue to say, the abuse of a child is a terrible crime, perpetrated against the most vulnerable in our community, which cannot be tolerated. It is a fundamental breach of the trust which children are entitled to place in adults. We must acknowledge our collective failures to protect children in the past and take responsibility for protecting them in the future. Today’s bill is an acknowledgment of our responsibility and it represents our ongoing commitment to taking action.
The government has already implemented a number of recommendations from the royal commission, some non-legislative and some legislative. The Assembly passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill in February last year and the Royal Commission Criminal Justice Legislation Amendment Bill in December last year. And this bill represents the third legislative implementation of the royal commission’s criminal justice recommendations and will be followed by further reforms both through future bills and non-legislative reforms.
I turn to each of the amendments that give effect to the royal commission’s recommendations in this bill. I note that the recommendations represent an important step as we keep on working towards a safer society for children and a stronger legal framework for survivors.
The bill includes a new offence for failing to report child sexual abuse. The construction of the new offence has been informed by the valuable work which was undertaken by Her Honour Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton in late 2018 and her report to me last month. This was focused on the most effective way to implement the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video