Minister visits Morcombe Foundation

From left, Karen Andrews MP, Andrew Wallace, Ted O’brien Bruce and Denise Morcombe and staff at the Palmwoods Headquarters.

Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews last week (21 September) received an update on how Palmwood’s Daniel Morcombe Foundation was helping to keep kids safe, including their program to identify youngsters who are harming children of their own age or younger. 

The Minister joined Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien and Member for Fisher Andrew Wallace at the Palmwoods headquarters for an update on work surrounding the ‘Keeping Australia’s Kids Safe Program’. 

Daniel Morcombe Foundation Founder Bruce Morcombe said the Program  included ‘Changing Futures’, an initiative aimed at identifying, responding and providing early intervention to pre-teens displaying harmful sexual behaviours.

“Primary prevention is what the Daniel Morcombe Foundation is all about,” Mr Morcombe said. “And at the end of the day some of our important programs are about educating kids on how to keep safe and repairing, through therapy, these unfortunate damaged souls. And changing futures is a pilot scheme that is revolutionising the identification of youngsters that are harming children of their own age or younger. 

And we can repair these young lives and ensure they do not become adult monsters. That’s what Changing Futures is about. Identifying harmful sexual behaviour and repairing it before it becomes an insidious problem for the rest of their life and reducing childhood sexual abuse within Australia.”

The ‘Keeping Australia’s Kids Safe Program’ will reach over five million community members through a community education campaign.  

Denise and Bruce Morcombe were also strong advocates for the establishment of the Australian Government’s Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE). On September 2 the ACCCE launched the ‘Stop the Stigma’ campaign, which encourages a national conversation about child sexual abuse, urging Australians to open the discussion even if they find it uncomfortable. 

“It is a credit to the Morcombes that they have continued to carry out the work that is needed to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation,” said Ms Andrews. “The work that is being done by them and the people who are working here is quite frankly second to none. It has had an impact right across Australia.”

In 2019 the Federal Government announced $1.8 million in proceeds of crime funding to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation for the ‘Keeping Australia’s Kids Safe Program’.