National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030

Child sexual abuse is a challenging issue. Reading this document may bring up strong feelings for some people. Please take care of yourself as you read the National Strategy and First Commonwealth Action Plan and ask for help if you need it. You might want to talk to your family and friends, or your counsellor, doctor, or Aboriginal Medical Service.

The following services can also give you help and support.

Crisis and suicide prevention

If you are, or someone else is, in immediate danger, call Triple Zero: 000

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or www.LifeLine.org.au

Mental health and support advice

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 or www.KidsHelpline.com.au

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or www.BeyondBlue.org.au

MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78 or www.MensLine.org.au

QLife: 1800 184 527 or www.QLife.org.au

Family and domestic violence support

1800Respect: 1800 737 732 or www.1800Respect.org.au 

Child sexual abuse support and advice

Blue Knot Foundation:
1300 657 380 or www.BlueKnot.org.au

Bravehearts: 
1800 272 831 or www.BraveHearts.org.au

Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN) Inc: 
1800 008 774 or www.Clan.org.au

National Redress Scheme: 
1800 737 377 or www.NationalRedress.gov.au

Survivors & Mates Support Network (SAMSN): 
1800 472 676 or www.Samsn.org.au

For local sexual assault services, go to HealthDirect.

Help is available if you have experienced, are experiencing, or are at risk of child sexual abuse. If you are worried that you, your child, or a child or young person you know is at risk, it is important to act on it and report it.

If you are, or someone else is, in immediate danger, call Triple Zero on 000. 

If you want to report a crime, contact your local police on 131 444. 

If you want to report a crime anonymously, you can visit the Crime Stoppers website or call their toll-free number on 1800 333 000.

You can report online child sexual abuse, including online grooming, to the Australian Federal Police’s Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. 

If you want to report illegal or harmful online content, including photos or videos, you can contact the eSafety Commissioner. 

If you suspect a child or young person is at risk, contact your relevant state or territory child protection organisation. This includes children at risk of:

• harm
• sexual abuse
• physical or emotional abuse
• family violence
• neglect.

You can find links to these organisations on the Make a report page.

We dedicate the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2030 
(the National Strategy) to the thousands of victims and survivors who shared their stories and experiences with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the Royal Commission). We also dedicate the National Strategy to all the victims and survivors of all forms of child sexual abuse who came before, during and after the Royal Commission. Many of their stories have never been heard.

We recognise your strength and courage. 

We recognise your pain and suffering. 

We recognise the people who helped you carry the burden of your experience. 

We recognise the tragedy of those who have lost their lives.

The National Strategy is our commitment to ongoing and meaningful change to protect children and young people now and into the future, and to help those affected by abuse. 

We hope that the National Strategy, and other reforms inspired by the Royal Commission, will put the words of the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse into action. We want the National Strategy to make Australia safer for all children and young people.

Australian, state and territory governments acknowledge the important contributions of 
everyone involved in developing the National Strategy.

This includes:

• victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates
• children and young people
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• people with disability
• culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities
• LGBTQIA+ communities
• child protection experts
• clinical professionals
• organisations
• academics.

We could not have created this National Strategy without their wisdom and knowledge. 

Child sexual abuse is a complex and difficult thing for us to talk, think or read about. It forces us to confront physical and mental abuse, and horrific sexual crimes. But our collective silence perpetuates suffering. Often, victims and survivors don’t talk about their experiences for many years – if ever. The devastation child sexual abuse causes for children and young people, their supporters, and those who help carry the burden of their experiences demands we keep our hearts and minds open, and take action.

It takes immense courage for victims and survivors to report child sexual abuse. Too often, they face significant challenges coming forward, including institutional and social barriers. It is our collective responsibility to make sure they are believed, protected and supported, and that perpetrators are held accountable.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse taught us more about the nature of child sexual abuse and its impacts. It highlighted the failings of governments, organisations, communities and individuals to protect and nurture children and young people for so many years. 

While the Royal Commission focused on child sexual abuse in institutional settings, we know that the majority of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known to the child or young person, including family members. We also know the online world presents increasing threats that are no less damaging. For these reasons, the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse focuses on child sexual abuse in all settings, including in organisations, online, within families, and by other people known and unknown to the child or young person.

The National Strategy – a key recommendation of the Royal Commission – is the first of its kind in Australia. It is a whole-of-nation policy approach that provides the strategic framework for increasing our understanding of, better responses to, and prevention of child sexual abuse over the next 10 years. It will also support and complement existing Australian Government and state and territory reforms.

Every child and young person has the fundamental right to be protected and safe from sexual abuse. We will continue to strive to make this their reality.

The Hon Scott Morrison MP 
Prime Minister of Australia

The Hon Dominic Perrottet MP
Premier of New South Wales 

The Hon Daniel Andrews MP
Premier of Victoria 

The Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk MP
Premier of Queensland 

The Hon Mark McGowan MLA
Premier of Western Australia

The Hon Steven Marshall MP
Premier of South Australia 

The Hon Peter Gutwein MP
Premier of Tasmania 

Andrew Barr MLA
Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory 

The Hon Michael Gunner MLA
Chief Minister of the Northern Territory

The National Strategy runs from 2021–2030. Australian, state and territory governments will put the National Strategy into practice through action plans. The first 2 plans – a First National Action Plan and a First Commonwealth Action Plan – will run for 4 years from 2021–2024. These action plans are being implemented from the end of 2021, when the National Strategy was published and will continue until the end of the 2024–2025 financial year. Therefore, funding for and activities under these action plans will cover the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 financial years:

• The First National Action Plan includes measures that the Australian, state and territory governments will deliver together. It includes large-scale national programs like: 
  • raising public awareness 
  • population studies
  • national measures to stop people from offending
  • working towards a national response to children with harmful sexual behaviours. 
• The First Commonwealth Action Plan was published at the same time as the National Strategy. It includes measures that focus on Australian Government priorities and responsibilities, such as online child sexual abuse. Australian Government departments will deliver the First Commonwealth Action Plan, including programs like:
  • improved intelligence to identify offenders at our border
  • new ways to access legal aid for children at risk of harm, and for adult victims and survivors
  • working with countries in the Indo-Pacific and South-East Asia regions to improve their ability to respond to child sexual abuse.

The action plans focus on areas of national effort (First National Action Plan) or Australian Government effort (First Commonwealth Action Plan). State and territory governments already have their own plans to implement the Royal Commission’s recommendations. They also have policies or ways to report on their actions to prevent child sexual abuse.

Two additional 3-year action plans will likely follow from 2025–2027 and 2028–2030. These plans will 
build on what we have done through the First National Action Plan and First Commonwealth Action Plan. Future action plans may change priorities to meet new issues, trends and evidence about what works.

We recognise that not everyone agrees on terminology. We have carefully considered the terms we use in the National Strategy. They are based on the opinions of many victims and survivors, and people with understanding and knowledge in these areas.

For a full glossary of the key terms we use across the National Office for Child Safety website, visit the Glossary of terms page.