Derek McDowell (Labour)

I agree that such is a hard case. For a woman in those circumstances, it is a real Sophie's Choice situation. Does one destroy the family, imprison the bread winner and make the family destitute or does one protect one's child? I would hate to be in that position and I cannot conceive of an easy answer. To fail to apply this provision to a parent who sees a child being abused by another parent would be equally grotesque.

Senator Henry is right in that I did not address her other point. "Abuser" in this context is someone that is believed to be abusing a child. If someone who had abused a child for a long time committed suicide or died, another person could not walk away from his or her own responsibility because there was no conviction or he or she was acquitted by a jury on a defective warrant or whatever we usually have.