'My Superhero Voice' storybook launch – Speech

*Check Against Delivery*

I begin today by acknowledging the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land we are meeting on and pay my respects to elders past and present. I’d like to thank Mark for his Welcome to Country.

I also acknowledge any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people attending today.

Today is an opportunity to continue the vitally important conversation about preventing child sexual abuse. I want to acknowledge any victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their supporters who are here with us today.

I am pleased to join you here today in Keysborough to launch ‘My superhero voice’, a children’s storybook to better support adults to have conversations with the children and young people in their lives to keep them safe from sexual abuse.

The Australian Government is committed to preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in all settings. Not only is this an important issue for Government, but also for me personally. As Attorney-General in 2013, I was responsible for the legislation that set up the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Royal Commission provided an opportunity for thousands of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to be heard and to share their stories. These stories informed the Royal Commission’s Final Report in 2017, which made 409 landmark recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions.

I am proud to see the work that has been undertaken since the Royal Commission’s Final Report was released, including the implementation of the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse.

The National Strategy responds to approximately 100 Royal Commission recommendations and aims to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in all settings, including in families, in organisations, and online.

Since the launch of the National Strategy, we’ve made significant progress in addressing child sexual abuse. Australia’s first national awareness raising campaign, ‘One Talk at a Time’, has been a significant step forward. The campaign aims to prevent child sexual abuse by encouraging adults to have ongoing, proactive and preventative conversations with the children and young people in their lives.

We all know that talking about child sexual abuse can be difficult. But we all have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep children safe.

That’s why the campaign focuses on the message that everyone has a role to play to keep children and young people safe from sexual abuse, and we can do this by having ‘One Talk at a Time’.

Talking with children and young people about sexual abuse in an age appropriate way is part of creating safe environments that help them grow and thrive. These conversations help children and young people understand what sexual abuse is and gives them language to talk about this issue too.

The ‘My superhero voice’ storybook builds on the ‘One Talk at a Time’ campaign. Developed by Cultural Perspectives in collaboration with the National Office for Child Safety, this resource has been designed to be a culturally inclusive and safe way to help children learn about personal safety.

The storybook has been translated into 10 languages - Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Farsi, Hazaragi, Khmer, Korean, Punjabi, Thai and Vietnamese.

Yvonne Sewankambo has written a beautiful story that follows Nour, a young girl who learns about the different cultural practices that help the people in her life to speak up and get help when something makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

This storybook offers practical examples of how communities with unique cultural experiences can have important and preventative conversations. Recognising that children are more likely to grasp complex messages when they can relate to the characters, it features characters from different cultures, ethnicities and with different abilities.

It’s also a story that reminds us of the importance of community in tackling child sexual abuse. There is a line in the book that reads: “Nour takes a deep breath, remembering everything her community has taught her” before she shares how she feels. A powerful reminder of the role we all have to play in having meaningful conversations with the children and young people in our lives.

Culturally and linguistically diverse communities are a priority group under the National Strategy, and the Australian Government is committed to providing these communities with tailored, culturally safe and in-language approaches to child sexual abuse prevention.

I’m proud to be launching this book in my electorate, where cultural, linguistic and religious diversity enriches our local community. I hope the book will be a valuable resource for diverse families and community groups not just in Isaacs, but across Australia.

There is a lot more work to be done to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in Australia. Through creating resources that are accessible, engaging and informative, like ‘My superhero voice’, we hope that all adults can understand the issue and work together to prevent further harm.

All children and young people have a right to be safe from child sexual abuse and it is our collective responsibility to protect them. The Australian Government is committed to reducing the risk, extent and impact of child sexual abuse and related harms in Australia, and doing so in a way that meets the needs of our diverse Australian community. I thank you for taking the time to be here today.