Victoria Considers Making Failure to Report Sex Offences Against Children Illegal
Thursday 24 April 2014 @ 10.24 a.m. | Crime
The Victorian Government has introduced a bill into Parliament that would make failing to report sexual offences against children a crime. The Crimes Amendment (Protection of Children) Bill 2014 would introduce two new offences – ‘failure by person in authority to protect child from sexual offence’ and ‘failure to disclose sexual offence committed against child under the age of 16 years’. The Bill is currently being considered by the Legislative Assembly.
The introduction of the new offences was recommended by the Victorian Government’s inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations, which was released last year. Premier Denis Napthine told ABC News:
“This sends a clear, unambiguous message to the Victorian community… If you’re aware of child sexual abuse, you must speak up. You must report it to the police. The era of cover-up and silence is over. We need to protect our children.”
A child protection adviser for the Melbourne Victims Collective, Ms Krstic, also told ABC News that ‘the new offences would encourage people to speak up’. Other church and community groups also welcomed the new laws.
However, some victim support groups are concerned that the new laws may unfairly target, and perhaps jail, women with abusive partners - who may be too afraid for their own safety to report such abuse. One such critic is Dr Atmore from the Federation of Community Legal Centres, who told The Age that child abuse often coincided with an atmosphere of family violence. The new laws do contain an exception for people who reasonably fear for their safety, but Dr Atmore worries that this may not be enough, suggesting that family violence victims ‘historically had not been believed when accused of other crimes, such as homicide’. She said:
“We are not confident juries understand enough about the dynamics of family violence… If women’s experience with arguing self-defence is anything to go by, having fear for your safety tends to be understood only as an immediate strong threat, and that’s often not the case… often more a long situation of coercive control and fear.”
The laws will also not apply to people who hear information through ‘confidential communications’, which includes priests hearing confessions. Dr Atmore says this is “patently insulting” to family violence victims who do not have such a specific exemption.
Other critics have raised concerns about the fact that the law will not apply restrospectively. Shireen Gunn from the Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault supports the laws, but says more could be done , saying “People are very… disappointed in the fact it can’t be retrospective.”
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