SA Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle becomes Opposition’s new shadow child protection minister

A South Australian senator has been appointed the Coalition’s new child protection spokeswoman, amid claims of widespread child sexual abuse in Alice Springs.

South Australian Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle has been thrust into the middle of a political storm over Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s repeated claims of widespread child sexual abuse in Alice Springs.

Senator Liddle, who was born in Alice Springs, was on Tuesday elevated to Mr Dutton’s frontbench as the new shadow minister for child protection and the prevention of family violence.

It means she will be tasked with pursuing repeated claims by Mr Dutton that children are being sexually abused in Alice Springs “on a regular basis”.

The Opposition leader has faced criticism for not reporting specific claims to police and using the issue as “political fodder”.

Last week, when asked whether Senator Liddle thought Mr Dutton should tone down his language on the issue in the absence of evidence to support the claims, she said: “I say prove it’s not happening, and then we can have a conversation about the kind of language that we can actually use for this”.

On Tuesday, Mr Dutton conceded he did not tell Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of any specific cases of child abuse.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has announced a shadow cabinet reshuffle. Picture: NCA/NewsWire Emma Brasier

“Our first obligation is to protect the innocence of that childhood, to protect the innocence of that child and make sure that they’re in a safe environment, not putting them back into a harmful one,” Mr Dutton told Sky News.

“Systemically, that is a huge problem. And I raised that with the Prime Minister. Did I say to him, look, you know Billy Blogs was abused at 7:03pm last Wednesday night? No, that’s not the circumstance.”

Mr Albanese said he found child abuse “abhorrent” and “if there’s any specific allegation, it should be reported to the police”.

The Advertiser requested an interview with Senator Liddle after the announcement of her new role.

She told a press conference in Adelaide she was “delighted” to take on the Opposition’s child protection portfolio “on behalf of all Australians”.

“I come from a history of working at a level in the areas that are critical to safe families – in areas of social housing, in areas of employment, in areas of education – all of those things help contribute to make families,” she said.

“I certainly look forward to getting started pretty quickly on day one.”

SA senator Kerrynne Liddle is the Opposition’s new child protection spokeswoman.

Mr Dutton said the former business owner and journalist’s “extensive professional experience has led to her success in key areas including tourism, energy, media, tertiary education, arts, social housing and Indigenous affairs sectors”.

Mr Dutton announced a frontbench reshuffle on Tuesday, elevating Nationals senator Jacinta Price into the role of shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, replacing Julian Leeser who resigned from the role to advocate for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The Opposition leader said there was a “systemic problem” within Alice Springs and senators Price and Liddle were appointed “because we want to provide a brighter future for those kids”.

In February, Senator Liddle brought national attention to an Indigenous family sleeping on a cement slab for years on the outskirts of Alice Springs.

Mr Dutton also revealed Karen Andrews had stepped down from the frontbench, making way for Victorian senator James Patterson as home affairs spokesman.

Ms Andrews also held the Opposition’s child protection and prevention of family violence portfolio.

[e-mail]