Child Protection

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:30): I am proud of this Marshall Liberal government, which is dedicating a budget and introducing legislative and policy changes that will head to building better, safer communities in South Australia. Yesterday, when speaking about eliminating violence against women and children, I asked for support to 'stop it at the start'.

On behalf of the government, I recently attended a child protection forum organised by my constituent Lorelle Molde and MC'd by Lauren Novak. At this forum and panel discussion, there was overwhelming community support for primary prevention and early intervention initiatives in South Australia. This makes me extremely heartened and hopeful, because we must find a way to break the cycle of violence in our homes. We must work together to stop the sexual abuse of one in five children in Australia.

Through research on child sexual abuse in Australia, I have found that child sexual abuse does not discriminate. It knows no socio-economic or cultural barriers. I also learned that 95 per cent of children who are sexually abused are abused by someone they know and trust. Only 3 per cent of victims will disclose and only 2 per cent of perpetrators will be convicted. Parents do not like to think about, contemplate or talk about child sexual abuse, but we really need them to do so.

Child sexual abuse is not like a child falling over and scraping their knee. When this happens, there is no-one saying to the child, 'Don't tell anyone. This is our secret,' 'No-one will believe you,' 'Don't tell anyone or I will kill you or hurt your mum/sister/brother/pet,' or, 'If you tell, this will destroy our family.' The Liberal Party believes South Australians deserve to be safe, happy, healthy and protected. I am advocating for the South Australian Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum to be effectively delivered across the state and have good support from our minister. The Keeping Safe curriculum, if taught effectively, teaches children in an age-appropriate way:

that all children have a right to be treated with respect;

that all children have the right to be protected from harm;

about safe relationships;

how to deal with situations in a fair and respectful way;

to recognise abuse and tell a trusted adult about it;

to understand what is appropriate and inappropriate touching; and

to understand how to keep themselves safe.

The Keeping Safe curriculum is mandated in all public preschools and schools in South Australia and is a world-class, evidence-based child safety program. In addition, parents can also teach protective behaviours, but the sad fact is that not all children are safe in their homes.

For interested parents and carers, there are many great, fun protective behaviour books written by Australian authors which I highly recommend. I have my own library of these books in my office, and I invite community members to visit me and have a look at these resources. Some of my favourite books are Koala and Bunny by Al Smith, Some Parts Are Not For Sharing by Julie Federico, Everyone's Got a Bottom by Tess Rowley, The Parent's Helping Hand Book by Holly-ann Martin from Safe 4 Kids, and Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept by Jayneen Sanders.

To stop it at the start, we can and must work collectively to advocate for early intervention. It makes social and financial sense for governments to act. The Blue Knot Foundation tells us the annual budgetary cost of unresolved childhood trauma in Australia could be as high as $24 billion. It is time to act and stop it at the start.