LUNCHEON - 20TH NOVEMBER 2013

Speaker  The Hon. Georgie Crozier MP, Parliamentary Secretary

Topic  ‘Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations’.

Chairperson  Rob McGuirk

Georgie Crozier was elected to the Victorian Parliament in November 2010 as Member for Southern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council.

Georgie was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Health on 13 March 2013 and is also the Chair of the Family & Community Development Committee, a Joint Parliamentary Committee, that considers and reports to the Parliament on matters associated with the family or the welfare of the family, as well as a range of social issues.

The Committee is currently undertaking an inquiries into the processes by which religious and other non-government organisations respond to the criminal abuse of children by personnel within their organisations.

Georgie is also Chair of the Legislative Council Standing Committee for Legal & Social Issues.

Georgie grew up in far western Victoria and attended the local primary school in Wando Vale, then Casterton High School before completing her secondary education at Geelong Grammar School.  She then went on to complete her general nurse training at the Alfred Hospital and midwifery at the Royal Women’s Hospital before undertaking further studies in nursing, the specialist area of diabetes, and business management.

Following a successful and rewarding 16 year career in nursing, Georgie turned her expertise to providing advice to the corporate sector.  In this capacity Georgie worked as a consultant in the HR industry for six years. She then used her vast knowledge and expertise to provide a range of services in the areas of management, industrial relations, business development and liaison and policy implementation to both large and small healthcare organisations.

Georgie has lived in her electorate of Southern Metropolitan Region for 30 years and is a keen golfer.  She holds a Bachelor of Nursing and Graduate Certificate in Diabetes Education from Deakin University and a Certificate in Management and Leadership from Swinburne University.

Synopsis of the Presentation:

Georgie Crozier MLC the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, provided an insight in to the formation and the functioning of the "Inquiry in to the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organizations" of which she was the Chair.

It was a very timely address as the committee’s report had just been tabled in Parliament the week before. Georgie emphasized how much time had been spent in ensuring that the “victims” (as they preferred to be described), understood in advance the process, who would be present, their role, where they would be sitting and their rights to discuss their experiences further with police or other relevant persons.

She advised that the average time between offences and their reporting was 23.6 years and as such one recommendation was that the Limitation of Actions Act be amended to not apply or allow time for such claims to be made. She noted the tremendous support and expertise provided by the Victoria Police and the Victims Support Agency and the cooperation with the Police Task Force SANO that was set up to investigate historic and new allegations that emanated from the Inquiry.

She confirmed that follow up of the recommendations by the committee would be the responsibility of the Government, who would decide on this in the coming months. Georgie presented an excellent insight in to the process and the expected outcomes of her Inquiry.

Her professionalism and dedication was most evident and we are certain her father, the Hon. Digby Crozier MLC the most respected and highly regarded Minister for Local Government in the Hamer/Thompson government, would have nothing but admiration and love for his highly successful daughter in the proficient and caring way she led this most important and difficult Inquiry on behalf of the many hundreds of ‘victims’ in particular and the people of Victoria generally.