Appendix A: Glossary and Appendix B: Explanatory text

Everyone understands child sexual abuse and recognises risk factors, including how these can intersect to place some children and young people at greater risk of harm. However, everyone also understands that any child or young person can experience child sexual abuse regardless of their circumstances. Direct risks include characteristics or circumstances correlated with an increased risk of abuse. These could include factors like a child’s living situation, proximity to known offenders or engagement with the online world. 

Direct risks do not cause abuse, but indicate increased vulnerability or likelihood of abuse occurring. Direct risks may be exacerbated by systemic risks such as inadequate child safeguarding by organisations and institutions that interact with children and young people. 

The entire community understands that acting on child safety risks is the right thing to do. They discuss child sexual abuse and its impacts. They have the knowledge, confidence and ability to prevent sexual abuse and respond when they recognise risks to child safety. This includes knowing how to report concerns. 

Children and young people understand their rights and how to get help, knowing they will be safe, believed and supported. Organisations and governments implement child safe policies and practices to create child safe cultures. 

All children and young people have the fundamental human right to be safe from sexual abuse (UN. Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2003). There is no acceptable amount of child sexual abuse. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse uncovered the hidden nature of child sexual abuse in institutions, and the many ways it impacts victims and survivors throughout their lives. The National Strategy seeks to understand, prevent, and address the causes and impacts of child sexual abuse to keep children and young people safe in their homes, online, and in organisations.

Individuals must be prevented from offending to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring. This responsibility falls on offenders and perpetrators, people who are at risk of offending against children and young people, and any adults, organisations and institutions that ignore, enable or facilitate child sexual abuse. This includes digital platforms and providers that have the capability to limit the spread of child sexual abuse material and exploitation material, and can redirect potential offenders to support services. 

A key element of this outcome is ensuring services are available to non-offending adults with sexual thoughts about children and young people, and identifying adults who may pose a risk to children and young people and intervening before they commit offences. 

This outcome does not refer to children or young people under 18 years who have behaviours that fall across a range of sexual behaviour problems. Children and young people who have displayed concerning or harmful sexual behaviours have unique experiences and requirements and should not be grouped with adult offenders and perpetrators. Outcome 6 focuses on supporting developmentally expected sexual behaviours and development in children and young people. 

This outcome does not refer to holding perpetrators to account. Outcome 4 focuses on effectively responding to those who have committed or enabled child sexual abuse.

Accountability requires people and organisations to accept responsibility for their role in keeping children and young people safe from sexual abuse, maintain a culture of child safety, and act effectively and appropriately when child safety concerns are identified.

Legal frameworks, criminal justice processes and law enforcement activities hold anyone committing or enabling child sexual abuse accountable. This includes individuals who perpetrate child sexual abuse or fail to protect a child they know, or should know, is experiencing abuse and organisations that enable, excuse or fail to prevent child sexual abuse. It also includes all digital platforms who must comply with all legal requirements to limit, take down, and report child sexual abuse materials to authorities. Where relevant, it also refers to offenders adhering to bail or parole conditions, genuinely addressing the catalysts for their offending, and avoiding any further activity that harms children or young people. 

Organisations allow individual children, young people, victims and survivors to guide organisational responses to issues that they have raised. Organisations undertake genuine and respectful engagement with victims and survivors to improve processes and engage in good faith when a victim or survivor commences legal, civil or other proceedings regarding child sexual abuse.

Victims and survivors of child sexual abuse have access to knowledge and practice-based, culturally safe, person-centred and trauma-informed therapeutic responses. Accessible and inclusive services that meet minimum practice standards can reduce harm for victims and survivors. 

As child sexual abuse can have intergenerational impacts, support must be tailored to an individual’s needs and circumstances, and is available throughout different stages of life, such as when a victim or survivor becomes a parent or enters aged care. 

This includes secondary victims such as family members or carers of people abused as children or young people, non-offending family members of the perpetrator, or people who witnessed abuse. High quality support includes empowering victims and survivors to have a greater voice if desired. Support also must meet the needs of diverse groups of people, including those who are First Nations, are culturally and linguistically diverse, identify as LGBTQIA+, or that live in rural and remote areas. 

Children and young people who have displayed concerning or harmful sexual behaviours may face stigma and not be able to access effective or timely support due to a lack of understanding or availability regarding appropriate supports. Their behaviour may also be interpreted as sexual experimentation and the impacts not recognised as harmful. 

Developmentally expected sexual behaviours are behaviours that are expected for an identified child or young person, according to their stage of development, are socially appropriate, and that occur within an appropriate context. Where they involve another child or young person, they are mutual, reciprocal, and include shared decision making. 

A holistic, knowledge-based response is needed to support the development of expected sexual behaviours in children and young people, and more research to make sure our responses include the best ways to support them and prevent further harm. Additionally, further community awareness is needed so that people can identify expected, concerning and harmful sexual behaviours and respond appropriately.

Everyone must be aware of the scale, forms, and impacts of child sexual abuse. People understand that although any child can experience child sexual abuse, individual, contextual and systemic risk factors can intersect to place some children or young people at greater risk of harm than others. The National Strategy notes that some of these risk factors include a child or young person’s: • age, sex and stage of development • family situation • digital literacy • past experiences of abuse (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2021). In addition to increasing awareness of child sexual abuse, everyone understands its diverse forms and impacts so that they can identify children and young people at risk of, or experiencing, harm and seek timely and appropriate support. 

Strong organisational cultures will listen to and prioritise the interests and safety of children, young people and victims and survivors rather than seek to minimise legal risk or reputational damage. Child safety policies and practices should be based on the collective knowledge and experiences of children, young people, victims and survivors. They should also contribute to a culture where everyone feels safe and empowered to speak up about improper practices and child safety risks. 

To increase awareness and understanding of child sexual abuse and its impacts, it is critical that trauma-informed, culturally safe, and respectful conversations about child sexual abuse take place at all levels of society, from individuals, families and communities to media, organisations and governments. 

Shame and stigma are both a by-product and a source of diminished awareness and understanding around child sexual abuse. Shame and stigma enable and perpetuate child sexual abuse, yet many people feel they cannot discuss it openly or do not know how to do so respectfully. 

Victims and survivors have the right to share their stories and perspectives without fear, and the broader community must ensure that they shine a light on child sexual abuse in a way that is respectful and empowering, and does not perpetuate the culture of silence and shame identified by the Royal Commission.

As the world becomes more digitally connected and children and young people have access to more online spaces at a younger age, the risks that they may be exposed to online abuse have increased (UNICEF, 2020). 

Although digital technologies can create or increase risks for young people, they also offer opportunities to promote child safety and increase opportunities for concerned people to reach help and support if they need to do so. 

This outcome reflects actions that leverage opportunities to increase child safety, promote effective responses to child sexual abuse, identify child sexual abuse and potential child sexual abuse and address existing and emerging risks to children and young people using digital technology.

The Royal Commission (Volume 4, 2017) found that:

• 57% of victims and survivors did not disclose the abuse until they were an adult
• of the 43% of victims and survivors who had disclosed their abuse as a child, 81% did so while the abuse was still happening or shortly afterward, and 38% had told someone in authority within the institution where they were abused. 

Organisations must identify and respond to potential victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in a way that is respectful, culturally safe and trauma-informed. Additionally, systems that interact with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse must believe them and respond to any disclosures in a sensitive, culturally safe and trauma-informed way, no matter what age they are or the circumstances of their disclosure. 

Family, friends, professionals, and trusted adults of victims and survivors also recognise and respond to potential victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in a way that is respectful, culturally safe and trauma-informed. Children and young people who are concerned about another child know who they can ask for help. Adults recognise warning signs, believe children and young people when they disclose information that may indicate sexual abuse is occurring, and act to keep them safe.

Victims and survivors, including secondary victims of child sexual abuse (such as non-offending spouses, parents, siblings, families and communities of victims/survivors and offenders/perpetrators) often experience significant impacts. 

Due to the dynamic and complex impacts that child sexual abuse can have, victims and survivors, including secondary victims, must be able to receive accessible and inclusive support and provided resources that assist and empower them to manage the impacts of child sexual abuse. It is crucial that these supports are non-judgemental, knowledge-based, culturally safe, trauma-informed, and accessible to everyone impacted by abuse. Knowledge-based services include all forms of practice knowledge and wisdom, cultural knowledge, and the lived experience of victims and survivors. 

The Royal Commission (Volume 2, 2017) found that too often, organisations passively or actively enabled child sexual abuse to occur, or responded to allegations of abuse in a way that was dismissive, insensitive or retraumatising for victims and survivors. 

Organisations recognise that they are responsible for restoring trust with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, and engage in good faith to the extent requested by individual victims and survivors. This includes digital platforms, such as through strict monitoring and enforcement of terms of use (inappropriate material, age verification etc.). 

Organisations acknowledge that restoring trust will take time and effort, and critically review their policies and procedures to ensure they build a child safe culture. Victims and survivors must be actively identified and supported to manage the impacts of their abuse in a trauma-informed, culturally safe manner. 

‘High-quality’ therapeutic responses and supports use knowledgeand practice-based, culturally safe, inclusive and trauma-informed services, supports and therapeutic responses that meet the diverse needs of victims and survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and are well-trained, supported and subject to ongoing evaluation. 

All victims and survivors of child sexual abuse must have access to high-quality therapeutic responses and support from a range of services as their needs change throughout their lives. Clear, accessible and inclusive information is necessary to enable victims and survivors to find timely and high-quality therapeutic responses and support. 

Support includes empowering victims and survivors, including secondary victims, to have a greater voice if desired. Appropriately timed and resourced services can reduce harm for victims and survivors and secondary victims.

Workforces are appropriately trained, supported and resourced to provide the specialist support that victims and survivors of child sexual abuse require to reduce the ongoing negative impacts of their abuse. This includes organisations being adequately resourced to have sufficient staffing levels to ensure that referrals can be actioned in a timely manner, particularly for services that provide crisis support or are located in regional or remote areas. Workforces have the knowledge and capability to support people who are experiencing additional disadvantage due to intersecting factors such as their gender, age, disability and cultural background, or due to a lack of specialist services in their geographic area.

 Organisations have ethical, trauma-informed, and culturally safe governance frameworks and practices throughout. This includes putting in place governance structures, accountability mechanisms, procedures and processes to support the delivery of trauma-informed, culturally safe, and victim and survivor centred services. 

Coordinated service system responses increase the likelihood that victims and survivors can access all of the supports they may need, and reduces the emotional and administrative burden of contacting multiple services and re-telling their story or experience. 

Some services are unaware of the support other sectors provide, or do not have coordinated responses in place. Different areas of the service system must effectively share appropriate and relevant information with each other where possible. Additionally, service systems must be able to facilitate referrals to appropriate support services to ensure victims and survivors are supported without requiring them to take responsibility for making first contact or unnecessarily re-telling their story. Service systems must be established or strengthened where needed to improve coordination, particularly in regional and remote areas or where there are limited services available to support victims and survivors.

Children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviours, especially young people, may be perceived similarly to adult offenders due to a widespread lack of knowledge and understanding. 

Education and awareness raising about concerning and harmful sexual behaviours must avoid stigmatising children and young people. 

Children and young people must receive age and stage appropriate sex and consent education to understand and develop expected sexual behaviours. Barriers affecting children and young people’s access to information, support and services must be removed. 

Families, specialists and professionals must receive information that enables them to recognise expected, concerning and harmful sexual behaviours and respond appropriately. Responses must reflect that children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviours need specialised support to develop expected behaviours.

Children and young people who have displayed concerning or harmful sexual behaviours require high-quality therapeutic responses and support. 

Concerning and harmful sexual behaviours in children and young people are usually a developmental issue, often in response to a child or young person’s experience of trauma, exposure to harmful pornography, and/or lack of appropriate sex and relationship education. High-quality specialist clinical and therapeutic responses can address the behaviour and its underlying causes and prevent future harm to the child or young person, or others. 

High-quality means services are knowledge-based, culturally safe, trauma-informed, and accessible. Child and young person-centred approaches recognise this continuum of behaviours and include a range of responses that are commensurate with the behaviour. Multi-systemic responses are coordinated and collaborative to provide a holistic response to the child or young person.

All professionals who interact with children and young people must receive training and resources to ensure they can understand, respond to and prevent concerning and harmful sexual behaviours. This includes understanding and complying with their responsibilities, having core knowledge and skills to deliver culturally safe, inclusive, child centred and trauma informed services, including assessment, therapeutic responses and support, and the ability to work across multi-disciplinary teams. 

Families, communities and the workforce must also consider the impact of the behaviours on the victims and survivors, who must also be safeguarded as part of any response and receive appropriate supports.

People and organisations accept responsibility for keeping children and young people safe from sexual abuse and act effectively and appropriately when child safety concerns are identified. Organisations adhere to the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and have effective processes that identify and respond to child sexual abuse. 

Organisations allow individual children, young people, victims and survivors to guide organisational responses to issues that they have raised. Organisations undertake genuine and respectful engagement with victims and survivors to improve processes and ensure the voices of children and young people are central. 

People and organisations, including digital platforms, appropriately support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse harmed through contact with their organisation, such as by offering referrals to high-quality therapeutic responses or supports where appropriate.

Improving the connection and consistency between the criminal justice, child protection and intelligence systems and their processes to reduce the immediate risk of offending. This includes justice responses to apprehend offenders, and service systems to support, manage and treat those at risk of perpetrating child sexual abuse. Offending prevention and response front-line services provide a consistent quality of service across the jurisdictions regardless of the geographical location of service users. 

Where these systems intersect with victims and survivors, they must be safe. This will further improve the identification of and response to child sexual abuse, by removing barriers to disclosure and allowing victims and survivors to be supported and empowered through their engagement with these systems. 

Statutory frameworks should be reviewed to ensure that they are best place to prevent child sexual abuse, including criminal justice, child protection and family law frameworks. These frameworks should centre child safety, building in processes to ensure the voices of children and young people are listened to, respected and prioritised. 

Justice responses must work towards overcoming barriers to the successful prosecution of child sexual abuse matters, including in relation to historical matters, for example via police, prosecutorial, and judiciary training and via improving the ways victims and survivors participate in the system. A more efficient and effective statutory system may prevent further offending. 

Services that assist offenders, perpetrators and people at risk of committing child sexual abuse are visible and accessible. 

There are well established and appropriate referral pathways into and out of these services to reflect offenders’ and prospective perpetrators’ complex support needs. This may include addressing their own experiences of trauma as children or young people. 

Referral pathways and services are tailored for people based on the individual’s lived experience, whether they have offended, what kind of offences they have committed, and whether they belong to one or more priority groups. For example, treating at-risk people as offenders may increase feelings of shame and stigma that dissuade non-offenders from seeking treatment.

High-quality evidence constitutes study results without significant limitations, imprecision of methodology and publication bias (Guyatt, et al., 2008). 

Rigorous evidence is available regarding estimates of the quantity of child sexual abuse (prevalence). Evidence on prevalence provides comprehensive data about all people who have experienced child sexual abuse, including priority groups. Recent, rigorous evidence is also available regarding how, when, in what setting and why child sexual abuse occurred for the first time, and who perpetrated it. 

Knowledge refers to the valuable expertise and understanding First Nations peoples can provide on prevalence and incidence. 

Research prioritises the complex and intersecting needs of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, particularly those in the National Strategy’s priority groups. 

Effective and best practice holistic and early intervention responses to child sexual abuse are crucial to: 

• provide victims and survivors with the necessary supports to reduce the complex and dynamic impacts of the abuse they experience in every domain of their lives across their lifetimes
• promote expected sexual behaviours and development in children and young people 
• prevent offending and recidivism from occurring in order to reduce the prevalence of child sexual abuse across Australia.

This indicator will track whether there has been a reduction in child sexual abuse occurring for the first time. A decrease in incidence of child sexual abuse will demonstrate that measures have been effective at preventing child sexual abuse. 

Incidence refers to the proportion of the population who experienced child sexual abuse for the first time. 

Increased awareness of incidence indicates broader awareness of the rate at which children and young people are sexually abused. 

Caution should be taken when interpreting measures using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Recorded Crime — Victims collection. There are 2 age data items used in the collection – age at report (the age of the individual when the sexual assault incident was reported to police) and age at incident (age at the start of the sexual assault incident). State and territory is not of usual residence but where the crime occurred. Indigenous status is only currently available for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Northern Territory. 

An increase in reports of online child sexual exploitation may not necessarily reflect that this crime type is increasing. It may reflect that people are more aware of the ACCCE, AFP, other law enforcement or eSafety reporting mechanisms (through communications reach, education and campaigns); and/or that technology companies are identifying and reporting incidents better through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. For example, the implementation of phased end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by the technology industry is predicted to have a significant impact on the quality of referrals that the ACCCE will receive from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The potential impact to the number of referrals, and subsequently the number of reports, is unknown at this stage. 

This indicator will track whether there has been a reduction in the number of victims and survivors as a proportion of the population. 

Prevalence refers to the proportion of people in the population who have experienced child sexual abuse. 

Increased awareness of prevalence indicates broader awareness of the approximate proportion of the population who have ever experienced child sexual abuse. 60 Indicator Explanatory text 

Child safety is everyone’s responsibility. Protective factors against child sexual abuse include attributes and conditions at the individual, family, community or wider societal level that lower the incidence of child abuse and neglect. 

This indicator will measure if there is an increase in the proportion of individuals, the general public and support organisations who are displaying protective factors. 

These factors can increase resilience, social and emotional competence of children, and knowledge of child development and parenting skills. This can serve as a buffer supporting access to resources and coping strategies.

Child sexual abuse and related harms can impact victims and survivors by increasing the risk of adverse health and wellbeing outcomes. This can include a higher risk of experiencing mental health disorders and health risk conditions and behaviours. Example conditions include binge drinking and cannabis dependence and example behaviours include self-harm and attempted suicide (Haslam, et al., 2023). 

This indicator will track the reduction of the impact of child sexual abuse and related harms in Australia by measuring the short- and long-term health and wellbeing outcomes of victims and survivors. 

This indicator evaluates societal awareness that child sexual abuse occurs, and understanding of how it manifests. 

Understanding of child sexual abuse includes recognising the various forms of child sexual abuse, including those that occur online, and how child sexual abuse affects priority groups when it takes place. 

Understanding also includes reducing stigmatising and harmful beliefs about child sexual abuse, including reducing harmful and stigmatising associations between child sexual abuse and priority groups. 

Understanding also includes a greater knowledge of what to do when you know or suspect that a child has been sexual abused and how to respond to children and young people with harmful sexual behaviours. 61 Indicator Explanatory text 

Attitudes that justify, minimise, excuse, hide or shift blame about child sexual abuse result are considered a barrier to reporting of (and subsequent prosecution of) child sexual abuse. These attitudes also negatively impact the wellbeing of victims and survivors, increase feelings of shame or stigma, and reduce or delay disclosures of child sexual abuse to family or other personal supports. This indicator measures progress toward a reduction in attitudes that places any blame for child sexual abuse on victims and survivors, and/or justifies or excuses perpetrators and offenders. 

This indicator also measures a reduction in attitudes that seek to deter victims and survivors from reporting their experiences due to how it may impact the offender or the organisation they were representing. 

Media reporting on child sexual abuse can empower victims and survivors and positively increase community awareness of the topic. However, it can also include language, terminology or images which reinforce attitudes and stereotypes that justify, minimise, excuse, hide or shift blame for child sexual abuse. This can cause further harm, stigma and trauma to victims and survivors. Qualitative analysis of media language, terminology and/or images will be necessary to measure a shift in community attitudes. 

Different organisational procedures and legislative obligations can reduce information sharing between organisations, especially across jurisdictions. Increased information sharing and coordination must occur both between different organisations and different branches of the same organisations. 

Increase in organisations implementing the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations 
This may be indicated by more organisations including the National Principles on their websites or in annual reports and explaining how they have been implemented.

This may be indicated by more organisations including the National Principles on their websites or in annual reports and explaining how they have been implemented.

This indicator measures both increased societal confidence and trust in systems and organisations that respond to child sexual abuse, and increased confidence and trust where possible between individual victims and survivors and these systems and organisations. 

Increased trust and confidence between individual victims and survivors may be demonstrated through increased reporting or engagement with legal systems, or through voluntary and proactive assistance provided by organisations to victims and survivors when this is sought. 

In the context of this indicator, speaking out refers to victims and survivors disclosing child sexual abuse. Responding refers to the broader population discussing child sexual abuse in response to these disclosures, including the different forms, the need for action, and how it can be prevented. 

Increased receptiveness reflects increased understanding of child sexual abuse, specifically the reduction in stigmatising and victim-blaming beliefs. However, this indicator also reflects increased organisational and community support being provided to people speaking out. 

This indicator includes behavioural and attitudinal considerations, such as increased self-efficacy and readiness to speak out against child sexual abuse. These considerations also cover the ability to have conversations with children and young people about child sexual abuse, including responding appropriately to a child or young person disclosing child sexual abuse and a better understanding of the legal obligations required when responding to disclosures. 

The measures under Indicator 10 are sourced from the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse’s Community Attitudes Study. This study measures general community attitudes – it is out of scope to measure the drivers behind community attitudes and/or people’s knowledge and understanding of how to identify signs of child sexual abuse and/or appropriate actions to take when child sexual abuse is disclosed. It is noted that confidence in responding to a child’s disclosures of child sexual abuse may not always mean appropriate action is taken.

In the context of this indicator, speaking out refers to victims and survivors disclosing child sexual abuse. Responding refers to the broader population discussing child sexual abuse in response to these disclosures, including the different forms, the need for action, and how it can be prevented. 

Increased receptiveness reflects increased understanding of child sexual abuse, specifically the reduction in stigmatising and victim-blaming beliefs. However, this indicator also reflects increased organisational and community support being provided to people speaking out. 

This indicator includes behavioural and attitudinal considerations, such as increased self-efficacy and readiness to speak out against child sexual abuse. These considerations also cover the ability to have conversations with adults about child sexual abuse, including a better understanding of the distinct legal obligations regarding a retrospective disclosure of child sexual abuse. 

The measures under Indicator 11 are sourced from the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse’s Community Attitudes Study. This study measures general community attitudes – it is out of scope to measure the drivers behind community attitudes and/or people’s knowledge and understanding of how to identify signs of child sexual abuse or appropriate actions to when child sexual abuse is disclosed. It is noted that: 

• there may be instances where there is no legal obligations for a person to report an adult’s disclosure of historical child sexual abuse 
• a person’s confidence in responding to an adult’s disclosures of historical child sexual abuse may not always mean appropriate action is taken. 

The Royal Commission (Volume 4, 2017) found that fear of a negative response for themselves, their families or communities, is a key component of reduced disclosure of child sexual abuse by victims and survivors. However, early disclosure has been shown to be a powerful protective factor against mental distress in adulthood (Easton, 2019). 

Disclosing child sexual abuse includes both reporting to law enforcement and reporting internally within organisations (for example, through Human Resources, child safety officers, or formal complaints). This includes reporting of online abuse (for example, to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Sexual Exploitation). Barriers both prevent people speaking out and negatively impact those who do speak out, and may be more pronounced for victims and survivors with intersecting vulnerabilities. 

Barriers exist in the criminal, legal, statutory, educational and health sector systems. Decreased barriers in all these areas, especially for victims and survivors in priority groups, must be considered.

Improved legal responses to child sexual abuse include:

• increasing the percentage of successful convictions of child sexual abuse offenders
• supporting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to access and interact with the legal system
• ensuring that non-offending parents and caregivers of children and young people who have experienced child sexual abuse are able to access appropriate and timely legal protections
•  ensuring legislation is modern and fit-for-purpose. 

High-quality therapeutic response providers and services use knowledge- and practice-based, culturally safe and trauma-informed approaches that meet the diverse needs of victims and survivors of childhood sexual abuse across their lifetimes.

Increased availability of services includes visibility, capacity, accessibility (including for those in regional and remote settings) and affordability of services. Increased availability of services is dependent on adequate resourcing to ensure the workforce can meet the needs of clients. 

Secondary victims are people affected by child sexual abuse but are not the primary (‘abused’) victim. Their exposure to abuse may be because of their connection to the primary victim or their connection to the perpetrator. 

Secondary victims can include the perpetrator’s partners and children, parents and carers of abused children and people who witnessed abuse (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2021). 

This indicator will measure the increased availability and use of high-quality services and resources using knowledge-based, culturally safe and trauma-informed approaches to meet the needs of secondary victims. 

Developmentally expected sexual behaviours are behaviours that are expected for an identified child or young person, according to their stage of development, are socially appropriate, and that occur within an appropriate context. Where they involve another child or young person, they are mutual, reciprocal, and include shared decision making. 

Improving awareness and understanding of expected sexual development requires access to respectful relationships education. Developmentally-appropriate respectful relationships education should be provided at all age and developmental levels. This education must cover consent, online and offline contexts and enable people to distinguish expected and harmful behaviours. 

In addition, this indicator must reflect increased understanding of respectful relationships outside of educational settings, such as within communities and families.

High-quality therapeutic response providers and services use knowledge-based, culturally safe and trauma-informed approaches that meet the diverse needs of children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviours. 

Increased use of services refers to the children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviours who receive support from a service that provides specialist support to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. 

The increased availability of services is dependent on adequate resourcing and funding to ensure the workforce has capacity to meet the needs of all clients. 

In the context of this indicator, improved workforce capacity includes increased staffing, requisite qualifications, and improved understanding of sexual behaviours displayed by children and young people. Ongoing training is required to ensure services maintain up to date qualifications and understanding of sexual behaviours. 

The increased capacity of the workforce is dependent on adequate resourcing to ensure the workforce can meet the needs of clients. 

In isolation, the results of this indicator may be counter-intuitive by suggesting increased incidence of child sexual abuse. This indicator must be considered alongside indicators relating to increased awareness of and organisational action against child sexual abuse. 

Success under this measure may be represented by an increase in primary and secondary prevention alongside decreases in tertiary interventions. 

Measures assessed using the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse’s Community Attitudes Survey use wording that best reflects the data collected. Survey data collected can be limited in its capture of the complexities behind drivers of community attitudes, interpreting signs of child sexual abuse, and how confidence in responding to disclosures of child sexual abuse may not always mean appropriate action is taken. 

Lack of industry action, poor moderation and a lack of safeguards contribute to the prevalence, creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material on the open web. This can occur on social media, online games, messaging platforms and pornographic websites. 

This indicator will measure an increase in evidence-based barriers that swiftly remove child sexual abuse material, including messages, videos, photos and livestreams, and prevent people from accessing and sharing child sexual abuse material on the open web. 66 Indicator Explanatory text 

This indicator measures progress toward increased use and effectiveness of offending prevention, desistance and integration services. These include online services that redirect potential offenders via service engines and content-sharing platforms. Effectiveness reflects the appropriateness and impact of the response, and will in turn be indicated by reduced first time offending and recidivism rates. 

A key success for this measure includes successful implementation of Reportable Conduct Schemes. Reportable Conduct Schemes mandate reporting of sexual misconduct against children and young people that has occurred or may have occurred. Organisational implementation of these schemes can improve the appropriateness and timing of responses to allegations of child sexual abuse. 

Taking responsibility includes both legal and public actions. Taking responsibility in a legal context includes self-reporting, adhering to restrictions that may be placed on an offender such as bail conditions and engaging in offending prevention programs. 

Building the evidence base is a priority that underlies many National Strategy activities. The Royal Commission (Recommendations, 2017) recommended that the National Strategy’s activities to address child sexual abuse should use research and evaluation to:

• build the evidence base for best practices to prevent child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviours displayed by children and young people 
• guide the development and refinement of interventions, including the piloting and testing of initiatives before they are implemented. 

To address knowledge gaps in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse, we must continue to coordinate and drive research, including conducting regular evaluations of key programs and improving the collection and reporting of data. 

A strong evidence and knowledge base can raise awareness, strengthen existing interventions, actively encourage innovation and continuous improvement, and guide the development of new program, legislative and operational reforms to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.

The voices and views, experiences and participation of priority groups are central to the development of informed policies and decision making. 

The National Strategy priority groups include: victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates; children and young people and their support networks; First Nations peoples; culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities; people with disability; LGBTQIA+ people; and people living in regional and remote communities (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2021). This indicator will track consultation with these groups and their agreement with how their views and experiences are reflected in the National Strategy activities.