HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [5.33 pm]: I rise tonight to raise the issue of historical record keeping practices as they relate to children who were placed in out-of-home care. The records hold central importance for many past and present care leavers. It is important not only for people’s identity and history, but also as a precious rare link to their families. We have seen through redress schemes that records can also provide an invaluable source of information when people are trying to seek justice for past wrongs. Access to records can often be very difficult and the experience can be distressing. It is well recognised within the sector and it is also acknowledged that many care leavers have very limited access to records and have to go through a freedom of information process to access information about themselves. Even then, we know that when they do get their records, they find that much of the information has been redacted with no explanation. Far too often records have been lost or destroyed. I acknowledge the Setting the Record Straight: For the Rights of the Child initiative, which is a national campaign that is hoping to address ongoing systemic problems with institutional records. We are talking about both government and non-government records.
The specific issue I want to mention tonight was recently brought to my attention by a colleague of mine, the Victorian Greens MP Nina Springle. In Victoria, it has been discovered that due to a historic failure to differentiate between child welfare and youth justice issues, care and protection applications were recorded as offences on children’s criminal histories. Until the 1980s, children were charged in court not because they had done anything wrong but because of the circumstances in which they found themselves. These were known as status offences. People seeking a copy of their criminal records found that they had received a criminal record as a child, obviously, through absolutely no fault of their own. Unfortunately, it has been discovered that some really offensive terminology is used in some of these records and it represents a very serious injustice for these people.
We know for certain that this has emerged as an issue in both New South Wales and Victoria. I do not have any specific evidence about the situation in WA. Unfortunately, there is no reason to think that we do not have this problem. When creating their various child protection laws, states traditionally borrowed heavily from each other. It was found to be highly likely that children were criminalised in this way across Australia. On 9 March, the Victorian Attorney-General tabled a letter to the Victorian Parliament outlining the actions that the government intends to take to address this issue, including, importantly, a possible apology, which goes to how serious this matter is, as well as legislative and administrative change. Yesterday, I asked the Leader of the House representing the Attorney General a question about whether this is an issue in WA. I acknowledge that it is a complex matter and that it may not have been possible for the Attorney General to quickly ascertain which agencies hold those records in WA, which was a component of the question without notice of which some notice had been given that I asked. However, I would appreciate some advice on whether this practice has even occurred in WA; and, if so, whether the government intends to do anything about it.
I do not operate as an island in this place. I engage very heavily with stakeholders and I assure the government that this information is not only for my personal interest, but also something that quite a number of people really want. Instead of receiving a response to even part of my question, I was told that given the detail of the question and the answer required, I needed to place the entire question on notice. Components of that question certainly could have been answered. To have to wait 10 sitting days, which we know will take us into May, to get an answer to this issue is really not okay. It is not good enough. We need to know now whether this is a problem in WA. If it is not, that is absolutely fantastic. But if it is, which, unfortunately, I suspect may be the more likely scenario, it needs to be addressed and remedied as a priority. It is a really sensitive issue and will potentially compound the other serious injustices that have already been experienced by so many care leavers. I am talking about the stolen generations, forgotten Australians and former child migrants. I will quote Magistrate Peter Power, who put it very succinctly. He said —
One of the most significant issues addressed in the Carney Report was the failure of the previous system to distinguish between children in need of protection and young people who were offending against the criminal law. Not only did the Court buildings and the Court processes and outcomes not make any clear distinction between these two classes of children, the institutions in which they were placed were often the same. Babies, children and young persons before the Court were charged with being in need of protection and if this charge was found proved it would appear on a police criminal history sheet.
As I said, I hope that this proves not to be an issue in Western Australia, but, unfortunately, to date it is starting to look like the majority of, if not all, states will need to address this problem. At the first instance we need to know whether it is a problem within Western Australia. I hope that the Attorney General will follow the lead of Victoria and look into this issue.