Criminal Law Consolidation (Child Sexual Abuse) Amendment Bill
Thursday 1 June 2023
Ms CLANCY (Elder) (12:05): I rise today in support of the Criminal Law Consolidation (Child Sexual Abuse) Amendment Bill 2023 to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935. This amendment, although short and relatively straightforward, is significant and it is truly powerful.
Section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act currently reads, 'Unlawful sexual relationship with child'. Successful passage of this bill before us today would amend this section to read, 'Sexual abuse of a child', removing the connotations of consent in the current heading of the offence. A child cannot be in a sexual relationship. It must be called what it is: sexual abuse.
I acknowledge all survivors and the trauma you deal with every day. I will do whatever I can in my position in parliament and as a member of the broader community to support you. Like the member for King, it is hard not to think about my daughter when speaking on this bill. We all want our children to be safe—to feel safe and be safe—and the thought that one day they might not be is horrifying.
I am very grateful that the topic of child sexual abuse is not hidden away as much as it was when I was younger. I do not know that any of us had the words to talk about it growing up, but now there are so many advocates working in this space to ensure we talk about it, to give us the language, to help us know how we can keep our children safe, acknowledging that we cannot be with them 24/7. At the very least, we should have an open communication with the young people in our life so they know how to speak with us, know we are safe for them to speak with and know we will never question them and never blame them. I thank those advocates from the bottom of my heart, including the formidable Grace Tame.
As I am sure we are all very aware—I know there are many fans of her in this building, as you have likely heard for yourself in these speeches, especially from the member for Gibson—Grace Tame was Australian of the Year in 2021 in recognition of her extraordinary work raising awareness and supporting the prevention of child sexual abuse. In Tasmania, Ms Tame 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 then went on to use her platform as Australian of the Year to fearlessly campaign, particularly through the #LetHerSpeak and #LetUsSpeak campaigns, led by the also formidable sexual assault campaigner and Walkley Award-winning journalist Nina Funnell.
I am really glad my friend and colleague the Attorney-General met with Ms Tame earlier this year to discuss her foundation's Harmony Campaign. The Harmony Campaign is aimed at achieving consistent laws in jurisdictions across the country that pertain to sexual assault. One of the areas in which harmonisation is sought by the campaign is in the language used to describe child sexual offences.
The decision to make the heading change included in this amendment bill is in no small part as a direct result of the tireless work of Ms Tame and the Harmony Campaign. Using the term 'relationship' to describe the offence of child sexual abuse implies some sort of mutual responsibility and consent. This is grossly inappropriate and it gives perpetrators the licence to characterise their abuse behaviours as consensual.
In Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, the relevant child sexual offences now have headings that use the term 'persistent sexual abuse of a child'. Queensland and the ACT have recently changed the headings of their offences, and the Northern Territory is consulting on an exposure draft bill that would change the heading of their relevant offence. The language we use in this place and in our legislation is crucially important, not just because it will be interpreted by the judiciary and the broader legal profession but because it sets how South Australians are delivered information and how awareness is generated in the media.
I have no doubt South Australians would be shocked to learn that existing laws could allow a paedophile to describe their abuse as a relationship. That is why, thanks to the work of Ms Tame and other advocates, the Attorney-General and his team, we have a bill before us today to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act. This amendment bill will change the heading of section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act from 'Unlawful sexual relationship with a child' to 'Sexual abuse of a child'.
Importantly, this bill also inserts a new subsection into section 50 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act to disapply the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021 to provide that the heading does not form part of the section and that there is no intention for the new heading to affect the interpretation or operation of the offence. The maximum penalty for this offence is still, as it should be, imprisonment for life. I am proud to be part of the Malinauskas Labor government that is currently undertaking, alongside the Albanese Labor government, a broader review of the sexual consent and abuse laws that includes other issues raised by Ms Tame and her foundation's Harmony Campaign.
While technically a simple change, this bill sends a powerful message about our opposition to child sexual abuse, our understanding of the experience of survivor victims and our desire to change the way this offence is described and handled. Language is vital, it matters, and we simply cannot allow perpetrators of child sexual abuse the licence to characterise their abuse as consensual in any way, shape or form. It is not.
