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by Algernon Watts
Independent Senator Jamilla Kirwan has revealed that she was sexually abused as a child, making an emotional appeal in the Senate for stronger protection of children, compassionate treatment of survivors and an end to the silence surrounding sexual abuse.
Kirwan made the disclosure during Tuesday’s Senate debate on the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill 2026, recounting an incident she said occurred around 1983 when she was sent to a neighbour’s yard to purchase cow’s milk.
She began her contribution by telling senators a story about a little girl who encountered a man playing a harmonica.
The child, fascinated by the instrument, approached the man, who Kirwan said exploited the opportunity to sexually molest her.
“Many years later, as an adult, the only justice that little girl got was to read in the newspaper that he was found dead,” she told the Senate.
Kirwan then revealed that she was the child in the story.
“That little girl’s name is Jamilla Monique,” she said.
Kirwan, who said she was 50 years old, explained that she had carried the experience into adulthood and understood the lasting emotional and psychological consequences of childhood sexual abuse.
“There are many of us in this society who wear our masks because sometimes we’re afraid to take them off,” she said.
She linked her decision to speak publicly to an earlier contribution by opposition Senator Malaka Parker, who had called for survivors to break their silence.
Kirwan said she hoped her disclosure would encourage other women and girls who had experienced abuse to find the strength to speak about what happened to them.
“I hope that any young girl or woman who is under the sound of my voice will also feel the strength to break that silence,” she told senators.
Kirwan also spoke about the importance of breaking generational patterns of trauma, explaining that her experiences had influenced how she raised her own children.
As a mother of a son and daughter, she said she was particularly conscious of teaching children about personal boundaries, consent and how to seek assistance when they felt unsafe.
Kirwan argued that legislative reform must be accompanied by public education, counselling and practical assistance for people who disclose sexual abuse.
She said children needed to understand that they had the right to establish boundaries and should know which adults or institutions they could approach for help.
Those lessons, she argued, should not be confined to classrooms but reinforced in homes, churches and communities.
Kirwan also called for greater sensitivity in the way complaints of sexual abuse are handled.
She warned that survivors could suffer further harm if the people receiving their reports were inadequately trained or responded without compassion.
“There’s counseling that I’m advocating for, counseling and guidance, because people need dignity and care when they come forward,” she said.
“And the people who are taking the reports also need to be trained so that they don’t re-victimize an already fragile person.”
“The penalties matter, and so does the response a person receives when they finally have the courage to speak,” Kirwan told the Senate.
Kirwan said that stigma needed to be overcome if survivors were to receive meaningful assistance in addressing experiences that could affect them throughout their lives.
Reflecting on her decision to share her experience, the senator said she had initially struggled with whether to speak about the incident.
“I sat here while Senator Parker was speaking, and I felt a frog in my throat, and I said, ‘Today is the day you will say it. Today is the day you will say it.’”
She said her position as a senator carried a responsibility to use her experience to advocate for others who might still be suffering in silence.
Kirwan welcomed the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill as a step towards stronger accountability for perpetrators, while emphasising that the country’s response to sexual abuse must also prioritise prevention and survivor support.
“No amount of prison time can erase the harm a sexual predator causes,” she said, adding that stronger penalties could nevertheless send a clear message that such conduct would not be tolerated.
She ended her contribution by speaking on behalf of the child she once was and other children who had endured similar experiences.
Her disclosure was subsequently acknowledged by fellow senators, who commended her willingness to share such a personal account during the debate.
The Sexual Offences Amendment Bill 2026, which increases penalties for several sexual offences and introduces additional protections for complainants, subsequently passed the Senate without amendment.