Child Protection

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is improving outcomes for South Australia's children and young people at risk through a whole-of-nation framework to better prevent and respond to child sexual abuse?

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (15:04): I thank the member for Newland for his question. On behalf of the Marshall Liberal government, I welcome the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Abuse (2021-2030). The program was launched today by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The 10-year strategy, which is supported by a $307.5 million investment from the commonwealth government, is a whole-of-nation framework to establish a coordinated and consistent approach to better prevent and respond to child sexual abuse. Key measures include establishing a national child sex abuse prevention centre, developing initiatives to better prevent and respond to online child sexual abuse and improve community education and awareness campaigns.

The Morrison government recently announced that the Blue Knot Foundation, along with its key partners, the Australian Childhood Foundation and the Healing Foundation, would establish and deliver the National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse. The Marshall Liberal government and my Department for Child Protection have worked very closely with the federal government to design this strategy, and I thank the staff from my department for their expertise and knowledge that assisted in this area. I would also like to thank Senator Anne Ruston for leading the discussions through our Community Services Ministers' committee.

The national strategy released today is the first of its kind in Australia and provides a nationally coordinated strategic framework for preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. I am proud that our government is part of this strategy that seeks to reduce the risk, extent and impact of child sex abuse and related harms in Australia. The national strategy was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and responds to the royal commission recommendations to address child sexual abuse in all settings.

The national strategy to prevent and respond to child sex abuse is for everyone: children and young people, victims and survivors of child sexual abuse of all ages, families, kin and carers, communities, organisations and governments. The national strategy focuses on awareness raising, education and building child-safe cultures, supporting and empowering victims and survivors, enhancing national approaches to children and harmful sexual behaviours, offender prevention and intervention, and improving the evidence base. The first national action plan will include:

$22.3 million for a national awareness raising campaign;

$18.6 million to implement a national victim identification framework for online child abuse;

$22.4 million over six years for a second wave of the world-leading Australian Child Maltreatment Study;

$59.9 million to establish a dedicated strike surge team to target organised crime aspects of online child abuse, boosting technology capability, and technology detection dogs that are trained to find hidden devices containing illicit content during searches; and

$13.1 million on an independent national service to provide free legal advice to victims.

As I have stated previously in this place, child sex abuse is a worldwide issue that requires a whole-of-community response. In Australia, approximately one in three females and one in seven males report having experienced some form of child sex abuse. We must all work together to find a solution.

My department is currently delivering an education program, Power to Kids, respecting sexual safety to all residential care staff in order to improve knowledge and safety from online predators. As Minister for Child Protection, my department and the state government will continue to improve outcomes for our most vulnerable children and young people and their families to prevent and stop child abuse.