Member

The Government may be of the view that including recognised indicators, and making my proposed changes to include positions of trust, would lead to a flood of additional reports that will overwhelm the system with false leads that prevent real cases of abuse being tackled. Those are very reasonable concerns, and I hear them, but, again, we must look to the international examples where this just has not taken place. In Australia there was an increase in cases after it brought in robust mandatory reporting laws, but the system adapted and coped, with existing screening processes to remove false reports working more effectively. Notably, the number of substantiated reports doubled, meaning that twice as many sexually abused children were being identified. This is making a huge difference.