The wording of a South Australian child sex abuse offence heading is set to be amended to better reflect the nature of the offending, following a campaign led by abuse survivor and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame.
As part of Ms Tame’s campaign for harmonisation of child abuse laws across Australia, she has been calling for changes to the way the sexual abuse of a child is worded in legislation – especially in jurisdictions where it is referred to as ‘an unlawful relationship’.
At the crux of Ms Tame’s concerns is that the word ‘relationship’ in the heading of the offence implies mutual responsibility, consent, and diminishes the gravity of the offence.
“This change takes significant steps towards eliminating salacious debate and confusion. Words hold immense weight. The previous terminology also gave scope for the sexualisation and adultification of boys and girls in a particularly dark, twisted context,” Grace Tame says.
“This change may appear small, but it is not. Action like this and the show of support at the highest level that comes with it, is not to be taken lightly. It ensures our legislation and our community correctly identifies and understands what deliberate repeated child sexual abuse is. The tide is turning. Children are being heard.”
The Government will seek to change the name of the section 50 Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 offence from “Unlawful sexual relationship with child” to “Sexual abuse of a child” with the introduction of a new Bill in Parliament’s Legislative Council today.
This Bill does not change the elements of the offence, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse.
This change is consistent with similar offences in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, and Tasmania.
“This measure is a small, but important, part of broader reforms we are pursuing in relation to sexual abuse that have included the criminalisation of stealthing, and measures to reclassify the possession of child pornography as a serious indictable offence,” Attorney-General Kyam Maher says.
A broader review of sexual consent and abuse laws, that includes other issues raised by Ms Tame and her Foundation’s Harmony Campaign, is also being undertaken by the South Australian and Federal Governments.
