1638. Hon Alison Xamon to the minister representing the Minister for Police:
I refer to the issue of forced marriage, and I ask:
(a) how many forced marriage cases were referred to Western Australia Police in:
(i) 2015;
(ii) 2016;
(iii) 2017; and
(iv) 2018 to date?
Hon Stephen Dawson replied:
The Western Australia Police Force advise the following:
(a)
(i)–(iv) 0.
Australia’s slavery, slavery-like (which includes forced marriage) and human trafficking offences are set out in Division 270 and 271 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth). As a Commonwealth offence, forced marriage is investigated by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Since 2015, two allegations of forced marriage were brought to the attention of the Western Australian Police Force and referred to the AFP for investigation in 2016.