CHILDREN AND COMMUNITY
SERVICES AMENDMENT BILL 2021
615. Ms J.L. HANNS to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the McGowan government's
commitment to keeping children safe.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how the Children and Community Services Amendment
Bill 2021, which passed this Parliament last week—thank you, minister,
for your work on that bill—will help to protect children and young
people from abuse?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how the bill will help to deliver better outcomes for
Western Australian children?
Ms S.F.
McGURK replied:
Before I answer, on behalf of my
parliamentary and cabinet colleague, I acknowledge the principals from schools
in the electorate of Warnbro.
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Collie–Preston for the question and acknowledge
her commitment to ensuring that children in Western Australia are kept safe in
the work that she has undertaken over her career.
Members have heard me say before that
the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse clearly
demonstrated that institutions in the past failed to protect children from
abuse. The recommendations of the royal commission outlined a number of changes
to ensure that history does not repeat itself, including that additional
occupations should be included as mandatory reporters. There was a recommendation
to require, if necessary, the breaking of the seal of confession so that
priests could report a belief of child sex abuse. This is a significant
recommendation and one that we have now adopted in Western Australia. The
McGowan government is delivering on our commitment to implement these
recommendations through the Children and Community Services Amendment Bill,
which was passed in state Parliament last week. I would like to thank all the
members from this chamber and the other chamber who spoke in support of that bill.
In
those amendments, the government will prioritise ministers of religion as the
first cohort of new reporters, due to the extensive findings of the
royal commission, which heard that consistently, inadequate responses to child sexual abuse had occurred in churches. In
addition to ministers of religion, the changes will extend mandatory reporting laws to early childhood
workers, out-of-home-care workers, registered psychologists, school
counsellors, Department of Communities staff, and youth justice workers. These
new cohorts are expected to increase the number of mandatory reporters to over
55 000 people.
All clergy will be required to report
child sex abuse should they form a reasonable belief that that is occurring, and will be subject to the same laws
that we require of other professionals with regard to disclosure of
abuse. The royal commission heard numerous examples of child sex abuse being
disclosed during confession by both perpetrators and victims, where no action was
taken to protect children from further abuse.
Make no mistake: priests who have knowledge of child sex abuse should report
that abuse to police, and failure to do so will be treated as a crime.
The community has a right to expect that our children are safe, especially
within the institutions we trust to protect them.
I
would like to acknowledge the courage of survivors who shared their experiences
to the royal commission. Their courage must be met by an acknowledgement
from all organisations of past failures. The McGowan government remains
committed to ensuring the best interests of children, and working in
partnership to deliver better outcomes for
vulnerable children. We will not shy away from the work needed to be done to
protect children from harm, particularly sexual abuse, which this bill clearly
demonstrates.
I was pleased to get a shout-out from
the Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, on social media. She said of the bill,
and I quote —
''This is what
understanding and progress looks like.''
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms S.F. McGURK: But perhaps
it was more significant to me to have this response to my posts on social media
about the passing of the bill and the extension of mandatory reporting to
ministers of religion. I quote —
''Thank you! For my sibling who
experienced this when they were 7, by a teacher which only came to light 20 years
later, this is so important for victims and families. To know the system is one
step closer to being victim centred.''
Another response was, and I quote —
''Long overdue � I was a victim
at the age of around 8 & now I'm nearing 70, and I know how it
affected my life, so my heart goes out to every victim.''