This Bill implements eight recommendations made by the Royal Commission in its Final Criminal Justice Report.

Introduced today (October 25) in the Legislative Assembly Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay says the new legislation will make clear of the obligation of those in a position of authority in an institution with responsibility for the care and wellbeing of children. And, it’ll require them to take action to protect children from the risk of being sexually abused by someone such as an employee of the institution.

“Sexual abuse of a child is a terrible crime that is perpetrated against the most vulnerable in our community. It is a fundamental breach of the trust which children are entitled to place in adults,” Mr Ramsay says. 

“While sexual violence cannot be eliminated through law reform alone, legal measures are an essential component of any response.”

The new legislation will:

• Create a new offence that applies to people in authority in an institution who fail to protect against child sexual abuse.
• Create a procedural mechanism for charging offences as a ‘course of conduct’ for child sexual abuse.
• Ensure that sentences for child sexual abuse are aligned with current sentencing practice rather than the sentencing practice at the time of the offending.
• Extend special measures for vulnerable witnesses who give evidence in court to reduce, as far as possible, the trauma associated with giving evidence in sexual abuse and other matters.