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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-26 Daily Xml
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Child Protection

Ms LUETHEN (King) (12:51): I move:

That this house–

(a) recognises that National Child Protection Month 2021 is held during September to raise awareness of child abuse prevention;

(b) congratulates the Marshall Liberal government on its whole-of-government strategy for keeping families and children safe and well;

(c) acknowledges that protecting children from abuse is a whole-of-community responsibility and it is 'everybody's business'; and

(d) urges this house to raise awareness of cybersafety programs and the challenges faced by our children online (such as grooming, cyberbullying, online reputation management and sharing of images) to protect children from harm.

We have National Child Protection Week in September and a National Child Abuse Prevention Month; however, child protection is a focus for our government every day. We all have a part to play in protecting all children. By building capability in our community, which is the Liberal way, we will build stronger communities which will create safer environments for our children to grow up in. Our focus is for the community to be safe and strong.

Protecting the most vulnerable within our community, especially children, can only be achieved if we work together. Our children are our future and their protection must be our priority. In 2021, the theme of Child Protection Week is 'Every child in every community needs a fair go'. I agree. Every child deserves a fair go.

When I started to share the statistics of child abuse in Australia on my social media seven years ago, a friend told me, 'You are making people feel uncomfortable.' What I wish people would understand is a child suffering abuse is much more uncomfortable than you will ever be. As one of my friends Cristina says, 'I tell the truth about child abuse. If you prefer things sugar coated, you should go a bakery.'

Adult survivors of child abuse and rape wish they did not have to remember their past and relive their painful childhood memories. However, these memories do not go away. By speaking up and sharing the reality of child abuse, we are trying to create an awareness of the prevalence, experience and impacts of child abuse because children do not only suffer immediate hurt, they suffer in many different ways for the rest of their lives, struggling through fearful flashbacks, fighting their own disbelief, being alienated from family members for speaking up, and even not being in touch with their own emotions. While people may choose to ignore or deny the reality of child abuse and child rape, too many child victims are suffering in silence.

National Child Protection Week is an important opportunity for everyone in the community to open their eyes and their hearts to risk feeling uncomfortable and to think about how each of us can work together in our community to keep children safe. It means thinking about whether you could open your home to one of the many children living in state care in South Australia.

I acknowledge today part of my speech may make people feel uncomfortable but I know we cannot stay silent if children are to be protected and given every chance of having a fair go to reach their full potential. With this in mind today, I wish to touch on child sexual abuse in Australia. It is estimated that one in five children in Australia will be sexually abused as children; over 90 per cent by someone they know and trust. When I started researching child abuse seven years ago, I found out that:

child sexual abuse does not discriminate: it knows no socio-economic or cultural barriers;

only 3 per cent of victims will disclose;

children try to tell, on average, 13 times but they are not understood or believed;

only 2 per cent of perpetrators will be convicted; and

parents do not like to think about, contemplate or talk about child sexual abuse, but we need them to.

I have been advocating for the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum to be taught more effectively across our South Australian schools so that every South Australian child is given the language, skills and knowledge to speak up about being unsafe.

When I was 12 and overheard a family member telling a friend how they were sexually abused by one of our family members, the penny dropped and I said, 'That happened to me too.' Until that point, I did not know that the abuse was not normal. The Keeping Safe curriculum teaches children in an age-appropriate way how to keep safe. It empowers children to speak up. It teaches them about private parts, boundaries, consent. It teaches them 'My body is my body and what I say goes.'

I am pleased to say that, with the education minister's support, we have made progress over the past year with the SA education department to work with schools to offer additional assistance to teachers to more effectively deliver and embed the Keeping Safe curriculum, and, additionally, school staff have been given further training to identify children at risk of abuse. I am proud to be working with a government that takes seriously our responsibilities and duties to children, and I am proud to be part of a government that is taking action.

I became involved in politics because of Labor's lack of action to protect children. Throughout Labor's 16-year calamity, the Rann and Weatherill governments' failings were laid bare by the Layton report, the Mullighan inquiry, a parliamentary select committee, the Debelle inquiry, the coronial inquest into death of Chloe Valentine and the Nyland royal commission. We even had the Hyde review, which Labor, true to its culture of cover-ups and secrecy, refused to release.

In contrast, the Liberal Premier appointed a dedicated child protection minister in March 2018 in recognition of the importance of child protection. We are focused on reforming our child protection system by better supporting our children under guardianship, by individualising their care and focusing on family-based care options and supports. Child protection staff are being supported by filling long-term vacancies, improving their work conditions and being listened to and respected when they express ideas on how to make positive changes. I thank the minister, her advisers, all departmental stakeholders, staff and so many caring volunteers who work tirelessly and strive to provide the best outcomes for South Australian children.

In the past seven years I have spoken to so many families impacted by abuse, and survivors who have told me their stories. I have listened and I am taking on board that information and working with my colleagues to improve our child protection system. Since forming government in March, the Marshall Liberal government has delivered on many of its child protection promises. First up, an audit was conducted of nearly 500 children and young people living in residential commercial care. This identified that 47 per cent were suitable for home-based placements, and as a result the department has been working with the non-government sector, their awareness-raising and recruitment campaigns to identify new people who are willing to become foster carers.

The Marshall Liberal government has delivered on our election commitment to extend payments to carers, looking after children and young people to age 21, and we are now working towards better supports for young people transitioning from residential care. The Marshall Liberal government is also investing more in early intervention and reunification programs, and since the last election the Marshall Liberal government's whole-of-government approach to child protection has delivered a very positive U-turn in child protection.

As the member for King, I am proud to say that almost 90 children in Adelaide's north have avoided entering the child protection system altogether, thanks to a $3 million intensive family support pilot program delivered by our government. Since the program's August 2019 commencement, the Safe Kids, Families Together program has completed work with 38 families, including 11 children who were at risk of removal. In relation to the mobile and online safety of children, the child protection department have reviewed all relevant policies for residential care. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.

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