The Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers says new laws requiring mandatory reporting of child abuse for people in religious ministries will make Victoria a safer place.
Minister Luke Donnellan said the expansion of mandatory reporter groups was an important step in protecting children from abuse and would put into practice a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Mr Donnellan said priests and spiritual leaders in religious ministries now joined teachers, police, medical practitioners, nurses, school counsellors, early childhood and youth justice workers as mandated reporters.
“The new laws ensure disclosures of abuse during religious confession are not exempt under the Failure to Disclose offence contained in the Crimes Act,” Mr Donnellan said
“The confessional seal must be lifted for suspected sexual abuse of children,” he said.
“Those who don’t report abuse face up to three years in prison.”
Mr Donnellan said mandatory reporting referred to the legal requirement for nominated professional groups to report a reasonable belief of physical or sexual child abuse to authorities.
He said the Department of Health and Human Service would support people in religious ministry to understand their legal obligations to report.
Mr Donnellan said the landmark reforms would also allow survivors of sexual and non-sexual institutional abuse to apply to the courts to overturn unfair historical compensation payments.
