Attorney-General
Minister for Emergency Management
Special Minister of State
Minister for the Public Service and Integrity
The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP
Minister for Health
The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP
Joint Media Release
Report into Australia's female genital mutilation laws
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC today released a report into the effectiveness of Australia's laws on female genital mutilation.
"The report finds that female genital mutilation is comprehensively criminalised by existing laws in every Australian State and Territory" Mr Dreyfus said.
"State and Territory laws make it an offence to perform female genital mutilation in Australia and in most jurisdictions it is an offence to remove a person from Australia for that purpose.
"However, the report does identify a number of opportunities to further strengthen these laws and their enforcement, which State and Territory Attorneys-General have agreed to consider further."
Minister for Health Tanya Plibersek has welcomed the report, saying, "The Gillard Government has made it very clear that we will not accept female genital mutilation in Australia.
"We will help lead international efforts to eradicate it, and will protect and support women and girls who have been affected by FGM living in Australia," Ms Plibersek said.
The report recommends that:
- State and Territory governments consider working to improve the consistency of their existing offences
- Commonwealth, State and Territory governments work together to support law enforcement efforts
- All jurisdictions look for opportunities to improve information sharing between the health and legal systems
"Last year, the Prime Minister asked me to review Australia's legal framework to ensure we are doing all we can to protect women and girls from female genital mutilation," Mr Dreyfus said.
"We will continue to monitor Australia's female genital mutilation laws to ensure a strong legal framework is maintained, as part of the Australian Government's broader efforts to bring an end to this practice in Australia."
The report is available on the Attorney-General's Department website.
FRIDAY, 24 MAY 2013
