Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison still has concerns that stronger sentences for covering up child abuse will not be a deterrent to committing the crime.
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Her comments come after the NSW Government introduced a bill to increase the maximum jail term from two to five years for concealing child abuse, following a petition started by Maitland Pastor Bob Cotton and survivors Peter Gogarty and Paul Gray.
When The Mercury approached Ms Aitchison several months ago about the issue, she acknowledged she was not necessarily a fan of harsher penalties, citing legal experts who say longer jail terms are not a deterrent for committing crimes.
And she has stood by those comments after speaking in parliament on Wednesday in support of the child abuse reforms.
“The guy who has an axe in his hand isn’t worried about whether he’s going to get 10 or 20 years,” she said.
“It’s not how criminals work.”
However Ms Aitchison said it was important to listen to survivors and if this was something that was important to them, she was happy to support it.
“I’ll always argue in favour of survivors,” she said.
The Shadow Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault said there had been a lot of attention around who can, can’t or should talk about sexual assault recently including the Ashleigh Raper case and the Let Her Speak movement in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
She said there were still situations that would need to be looked at under the new laws, but believed it was an ongoing process.
“In light of the Royal Commission there will be a huge change in the community in how these issues are dealt with,” she said.
“But I don’t think we’ve got to a destination.
“The survivors have shown enormous bravery, now we have to be brave too.”