Page 2015 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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This bill criminalises abusive conduct towards a vulnerable adult by someone who is responsible for their care. We know that abuse against vulnerable people is complex and it can take many forms. It can be insidious. It can develop over time, not dissimilar from the dynamics of grooming or domestic violence. And that is why this bill recognises that a wide range of behaviours, including acts that are violent, can be abusive. It includes conduct that is designed to create dependency on the abuser or to isolate a vulnerable person or to limit access to services or to deprive or restrict a vulnerable person’s freedom of action or frighten, humiliate, degrade or punish a vulnerable person. This bill progresses the criminal law so that it can more appropriately recognise and respond to such behaviours.
We recognise that there are many people who are providing care to vulnerable adults who are doing so to the best of their ability and who are acting in good faith. The new offences in this bill are focused on protecting vulnerable people against gross neglect, deliberately abusive behaviour, not minor lapses in care. The definition of the offence and the targeted offence attest to this vital difference. To be captured by the new offence, the abusive conduct must result in harm to the vulnerable person or a financial benefit for the individual who is responsible for their care or someone that that person is associated with.
We have seen many situations where people who have the position and the responsibility to care have not done so. Turning a blind eye to abuse or neglect is not acceptable here. Institutions have a responsibility to protect residents in their care from harm. This was fundamental in the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Reponses to Child Sexual Abuse and it should be no different for vulnerable adults.
While most institutions that provide care for vulnerable people have policies and procedures in place to provide appropriate care, we have already seen in the testimony to both the aged-care and the disability royal commissions that there are still too many cases where the level of protection for vulnerable adults falls short. This bill will hold people responsible when they are in positions of authority in institutions and they fail to intervene when a vulnerable person is at risk.
The final criminal offence that is introduced in this bill is a neglect defence, bringing the ACT into line with other Australian jurisdictions. Under this new offence a person or institution responsible for providing care to a vulnerable person must ensure that the necessities of life they are responsible for providing to the person are being provided to that person. These necessities include such items as food, medicine, clothing, water and access to essential services. These are things to which we are all entitled.
Finally, the bill introduces a new sentencing consideration for the court to take into account when the victim is a vulnerable person. This new sentencing consideration is about ensuring that sentences reflect the seriousness of offending against vulnerable people. These changes mean that, when sentencing an offender, the court can consider whether the offender knew or ought to have known that the victim was a vulnerable person, the extent of that vulnerability and the loss or harm that is caused to the vulnerable person, and sentence accordingly.
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