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New Child Sexual Abuse Laws (Qld)


On July 5, 2021, new laws to better protect children from the risk of sexual abuse came into effect in Queensland. The amendments to the Criminal Code Act 1899 created two offences – a failure to protect and a failure to report – which are both designed to target behaviour that ignores or hides the sexual abuse of children. The laws were introduced to implement recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

The laws mean all adults must report sexual offences against children to police unless there is a reasonable excuse; and adults in an institutional setting, such as a school, church or sporting club, must protect children from the risk of a sexual offence being committed against them. The laws are not intended to over-ride privilege, such as legal professional privilege or sexual assault counselling privilege, but information gained during or in connection with a religious confession is not protected.

Definitions

A child is defined as a person aged under 16 or a person aged under 18 with an impairment of the mind. An “impairment of the mind” means an intellectual, cognitive or neurological disability, or a combination of these, which causes a substantial reduction in the person’s capacity to communicate, interact or learn, and leaves them needing support.

A “child sexual offence” includes:

Failure to protect

This new law imposes a legal duty on adults in certain positions to protect children from sexual offending. The duty focuses on preventing abuse by reducing or removing known risks.

The offence is found at section 229BB, which states an accountable person commits a crime if they:

  • know there is a significant risk that another adult will commit a child sexual offence; and
  • the alleged offender is associated with an institution or is a regulated volunteer; and
  • the child is under the care, supervision or control of an institution; and
  • the child is aged under 16 or is a person with an impairment of the mind; and
  • the person wilfully or negligently fails to reduce or remove the risk.

The maximum penalty is 5 years imprisonment.

An adult is associated with an institution if they:

  • own, manage or control it;
  • are employed or engaged by it;
  • work as a volunteer for it; or
  • deliver a service to a child who is under the care, supervision or control of it.

An accountable person means an adult who is associated with an institution but is not a regulated volunteer. Regulated volunteers include child carers and home stay providers. An institution means an entity the provides services to children or operates a facility or engages in activities with children under the entity’s care, supervision or control. Institutions include schools, hospitals, childcare centres and sporting clubs.

Failure to report

This new law imposes a legal duty on all adults in the community to report sexual offending to police, unless they have a reasonable excuse for not doing so.

The offence is found at section 229BC, and applies if an adult gains information that causes them to reasonably believe, or ought reasonably cause them to believe, that a sexual offence is being or has been committed against a child by another adult, and the child is or was at the time aged 16, or was a person with an impairment of the mind.

If the adult, without reasonable excuse, fails to disclose the information to police as soon as reasonably practicable after the belief is formed, or ought reasonably have been formed, they commit a crime.

The maximum penalty is 3 years imprisonment.

Reasonable excuse

An adult has a reasonable excuse if they:

  • reasonably believe the information has already been given to police;
  • they have already reported the information under the Child Protection Act 1999, the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006, or the Youth Justice Act 1992;
  • reasonably believe the alleged victim does not want the information to be disclosed to police;
  • reasonably believes disclosure of the information to police would endanger the safety of the adult or another person, and failure to disclose is a reasonable response in the circumstances.

If an adult, in good faith, reports information about a suspected child sexual offence to police, they are not liable to be sued, criminally charged or penalised in an administrative way.

For advice or representation in any legal matter, please contact Armstrong Legal.

Sally Crosswell

This article was written by Sally Crosswell

Sally Crosswell has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons), a Bachelor of Communication and a Master of International and Community Development. She also completed a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the College of Law. A former journalist, Sally has a keen interest in human rights law.

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