Last week, the Criminal Code and Related Legislation Amendment (Child Abuse) Bill passed the Tasmanian Legislative Council.
This Bill introduces a number of important reforms to Tasmania’s laws, and mandates for people in religious ministry to report on child sexual abuse, even when they have obtained that knowledge in the confessional.
The Bill also makes it a crime for any person to fail to report child abuse.
A person will be guilty of this new crime if they reasonably believe that child abuse has occurred and fails, without reasonable excuse, to inform a police officer as soon as practicable.
This legislation makes it clear that all members of the community must do everything in their power to protect children and prevent child abuse from occurring.
The Tasmanian Government has allocated $70 million towards the National Redress Scheme.