Bills

Criminal Law Consolidation (Child Sexual Abuse) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (11:24): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am so pleased and deeply honoured to lead debate in this house on the Criminal Law Consolidation (Child Sexual Abuse) Amendment Bill 2023. Although in terms of the number of pages this is a short and relatively straightforward bill, it is a profoundly significant one in its effect. It rightly seeks to change the heading of section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 from 'Unlawful sexual relationship with a child' to 'Sexual abuse of a child' and consequently, in doing so, to remove the utterly unacceptable connotations of consent and suggestion that there could ever, ever be a sexual relationship with a child, which is inherent in the current heading of the offence.

The government's decision to make this heading change is absolutely predominantly a result and recognition of the tireless, courageous, fierce advocacy of Ms Grace Tame and her Harmony Campaign, particularly around the fact that using the term 'relationship' to utterly inappropriately describe the offence implies, wrongly, mutual responsibility and consent and has the deeply troubling ability to give perpetrators licence to characterise their abusive behaviour as consensual.

I am so grateful to Ms Tame for being here with us today, and I wholeheartedly commend her for her extraordinary advocacy for change to the wording of this offence and for her clear and courageous communication about why this change is so necessary and so significant for courageous survivors of child sexual abuse, for preventing such abuse from occurring in the future and for progress on the broader campaign to shift our community's understanding, legislation and expectations on consent to sexual activity.

As members will be aware, Grace Tame was awarded Australian of the Year in 2021 in recognition of her remarkable work particularly focused on the prevention and awareness of child sexual abuse in Tasmania and beyond. Using her powerful voice, Grace, alongside a group of remarkable women, also inspired so many of us to take to the streets with our rallying cry that enough is indeed enough. Grace spoke at the rally in Hobart, welcoming the shift of community conversations and understanding about sexual abuse. Quoting her, 'Evil thrives in silence. Behaviour unspoken, behaviour ignored is behaviour endorsed.' Indeed.

In inspiring us, Grace and others united those who have campaigned for change for a long time and those who have joined this fight in our shared refusal to any longer accept sexual abuse, sexual harassment and assault and the ingrained power imbalances that underpin it. The unwavering voice of Grace Tame continues to inspire others who have been sexually abused to raise their voices, and her work continues to shine a light in every dark corner where such abuse exists. Ms Tame powerfully called for governments to take the issue of abuse in all its forms seriously. We will, and, through this bill, we are.

It is incumbent on every member of this parliament and indeed of all parliaments to listen and to ensure voices such as Grace Tame's and those whose voices we have not heard but who have also suffered are amplified and acted upon. It is incumbent upon every one of us in government and in community to also shine a light where horrific sexual abuse of children exists. As the Minister for Child Protection, I hear horrific accounts of child sexual abuse. My heart is broken every single day; however, every day my resolve, my determination, is utterly strengthened.

As are survivors, I am angry and determined to see meaningful change and I am utterly enraged that horrific predators are opportunistic and often target vulnerable young people. Across this state and the nation, survivors have spoken and will not be silenced until every child, every person, is safe wherever we work, whomever we are alongside, whatever our position is when we are at home, when we are out at night, during the day, at school, in a park, at a shopping centre, wherever.

I am inspired by the courage that survivors such as the remarkable Grace have shown in coming forward. Their voices will drive us all to continue to speak for as long as it takes to ensure every single child can live their life free from abuse and violence. In Tasmania, Grace became the first woman in that state to legally be granted the right to speak under her own name with regard to her personal experience of sexual abuse as a child. She rightly harnessed her platform as Australian of the Year in the most powerful of ways to continue her fearless campaigning, including through her involvement in the national #LetHerSpeak campaign, which was led by Nina Funnell, a sexual assault campaigner and Walkley Award-winning journalist.

Ms Tame was bravely the lead case in this campaign, which received significant media attention having partnered with News Corp, Marque lawyers and End Rape on Campus Australia, raising further much-needed awareness around child sexual abuse. She has also used her national recognition as an opportunity to establish the Grace Tame Foundation, with the foundation's aim being to ensure that the Australian government and governments of states and territories take appropriate action by enacting laws, delivering educational programs and encouraging social behaviours. I am proud that with Ms Tame's advocacy around the fact that language is critically important this bill is here in this house today.

It is critically important not just because of how it is interpreted by the legal profession and judiciary, which of course is crucial, but also so importantly about how the general public are delivered information and how awareness of child sexual abuse is generated through the media and beyond. Ms Tame explained to the Attorney-General a very poignant anecdote to emphasise this point. As the Attorney spoke to in the other place, and as Ms Tame has spoken about publicly, during a public discussion on a Facebook post, Ms Tame's childhood sexual abuse perpetrator, a federally funded University of Tasmania PhD student, was called a paedophile, referring to his 2011 convictions, which included possession of child sexual abuse material.

In a blatant act of cowardice, the perpetrator publicly defended himself by hiding behind the words of the offence saying, 'No, I was convicted of maintaining a relationship,' before abhorrently bragging that his crimes were awesome, while describing the crimes in graphic terms. The language of the charge, in effect, in Ms Tame's words was 'soft enough to give him the shield to enable his disgusting fantasy'. Clearly, it would have been a much more uncomfortable and pointed accusation had the perpetrator been forced to respond by saying that, yes, they had been charged with the offence of sexual abuse of a child.

In 2016, the perpetrator was then convicted of producing child exploitation material in descriptive form for those descriptions and served another prison term. This changing of the language of this offence here in South Australia is such a crucial step in ensuring that the offence name is accurate in reflecting the insidious nature of the conduct, and it also achieves a change in how reports on such offences are made, including in the media, without impacting on the operation of the offence and existing precedents.

Currently in South Australia, section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act provides that an adult who maintains an unlawful sexual relationship with a child is guilty of an offence. The maximum penalty for this offence is imprisonment for life. This bill rightly does not change the elements of the offence and, necessarily, maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship will still be an element of the offence, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. This change is consistent with similar offences in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Tasmania.

The Northern Territory, I understand, has also very recently introduced a bill that would change the heading of their relevant offence. The new heading, 'Sexual abuse of a child', appropriately reflects the gravity of the offence, which is entirely exploitative and predatory in nature, and also seeks to change how such offences might be reported on in the media, adding to the much-needed awareness of child sexual abuse and bringing accountability and transparency to this vile act.

Importantly, the bill also inserts a new subsection into section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act to make it explicitly clear that the heading does not form part of the section, despite section 19 of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021, and that there is no intention for the wording of the offence heading to affect the operation of the offence.

This bill makes a simple change in terms of language that sends a powerful—powerful—message about our opposition to child sexual abuse, our understanding of the experiences of survivors and our deep desire to see change in the way this offence is handled and spoken about. Language matters and we can never give perpetrators of child sexual abuse a licence to characterise abuse as in any way consensual.

I take this opportunity to thank Grace Tame and everybody from the Grace Tame Foundation for their tireless and fearless advocacy that today, quite literally, changes the law and the way that child sexual abuse is portrayed and discussed in the courts, in the media and in our communities right across Australia.

I thank also all the many other advocates who have been relentless champions for change and awareness of child sexual abuse over decades and thank you particularly to every brave survivor of child sexual abuse—those who are able to tell their painful story to raise awareness and ensure other children are not subject to this abhorrent abuse of power and those for whom talking is just too hard. Today and every day our parliament stands with every single one of you.

In closing, I quote Grace Tame on the power and critical importance that these changes have. Grace has said:

Our legislation must reflect the unequivocal seriousness of this crime, which is never a child's desire, but instead a perverted fantasy projected onto and into them through a process of grooming which involves a stratagem of calculated—often invisible—offences designed to gradually increase a pre-existing stark power imbalance.

Indeed. I commend Grace for these words, for her strength and for her voice. I commend this bill to the house and I seek leave to insert the explanation of clauses into Hansard without my reading it.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935

3—Amendment of section 50—Unlawful sexual relationship with child

The heading of section 50 is amended by this clause. Section 50 is also amended to provide that, despite section 19 of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021, the heading of the section is not part of the section and is not intended to affect the interpretation or operation of the section.

Schedule 1—Related amendments

Part 1—Amendment of Child Sex Offenders Registration Act 2006

1—Amendment of Schedule 1—Class 1 and 2 offences

The reference to an offence against section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 is amended by this clause such that the reference reflects the heading to that offence as amended by the measure.

Part 2—Amendment of Sentencing Act 2017

2—Amendment of section 81—Intensive correction orders

The reference in the definition of serious sexual offence to an offence against section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 is amended by this clause such that the reference reflects the heading to that offence as amended by the measure.