Page 1675 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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and believes they have been pardoned, only to go on and continue to abuse that child and groom more children as intended victims.
This makes it very clear to members of the clergy that they are obliged under law to report such information, and I commend the attorney for his unwavering determination to get this one done.
I also take this opportunity to say that, whilst I realise that COVID has changed the way we do business in the Assembly and sped up the debate on some legislation, it is also important that proper scrutiny of legislation continues to occur. Sufficient time must be given for ministers to respond to comments by the scrutiny committee and for members to be able to consider both the scrutiny committee’s comments and additional advice provided by ministers. In this case, the scrutiny report was only provided two days before the debate and the minister’s response is still pending. I will admit to also being an offender with some of the amendments that I have moved as far as getting things to scrutiny on time is concerned. That is an issue that needs resolving.
Madam Speaker, as I have said before in this place, I am pleased to be part of the Ninth Assembly in making sufficient headway in implementing a significant number of the recommendations from the royal commission and I am happy to support this bill.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (5.08), in reply: The Royal Commission Criminal Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 is the fifth bill to implement the criminal justice recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It is an important piece of legislation and I thank members for their contributions to the debate today, for the support across the chamber. It is important for us to be able to be working in a tripartisan way on such important legislation. I also thank the scrutiny committee for their comments and I can assure Ms Le Couteur that I have responded to the comments that have been raised by the scrutiny committee.
As I said when I introduced this bill, the abuse of a child is a terrible crime. It is a crime that is perpetrated against the most vulnerable in our community. It is a crime that cannot be tolerated. It is a fundamental breach of the trust which children are entitled to place in adults. This bill reflects the government’s ongoing, steadfast commitment to ensuring improving access to justice for victims of child sexual abuse, addressing persistent child sexual abuse offences, amending laws governing tendency and coincidence evidence provisions, and clarifying that the relevant disclosures in the setting of the religious confessional are not exempt from being used as evidence in court.
It is now beyond doubt that victims of child sexual abuse face unique difficulties in providing adequate details of sexual offending against them. In the context of ongoing sexual abuse of a child or persistent sexual abuse of a child, the amendments to section 56 of the Crimes Act are intended to make the relationship itself the actus reus of the offence, as opposed to any individual occasion of the abuse. The royal
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