Abbott Must Fund Longer Child Abuse Royal Commission
Sydney Morning Herald
Australians have been disgusted - and many have felt guilt-ridden - that a public figure as trusted and seemingly innocuous as Rolf Harris was allowed to get away with sexual abuse of vulnerable children over decades. Harris is not the first and certainly not the last high-profile Australian to hide his crimes behind the veil of celebrity. Nor is Harris alone in exploiting institutional and public blindness to behaviour that ruins lives. For every Harris, thousands of people linked to trusted institutions get away with similar crimes. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has heard shocking details of more than 3300 such cases in its first year. Brave victims have come forward in person and in writing, knowing it will cause them great anguish, but proceeding nonetheless in the hope fellow Australians will recognise that future generations must not be forced to endure similar pain. "We do not yet know how prevalent abuse has been or continues to be within institutions," the royal commission says in its interim report out this week. That statement alone should be enough for the Abbott government and taxpayers to agree immediately to the commission's request for a two-year extension to December 2017 and a further $104 million on top of the $281 million for 2012-13 to 2015-16. This will be money well spent on doing everything possible to change the culture of cover-up and blindness. The commission needs more time to complete what it calls the "essential" additional 30 hearings on top of the 40 which would be finished by December 2015. Hundreds more people are awaiting private sessions. More time will also mean many more referrals to police on top of the 160 so far. Notably, the commission is in a "unique position to require key institutions to report publicly on what they have done" to reduce the risks of child abuse since the inquiry began. "If an extension of time is provided, key institutions will be requested to report on such matters by way of public hearings prior to the conclusion of the royal commission." Granted, most of the institutions at the commission do great work in the community. There has been some remorse, too, including pledges for changed behaviour and protocols from churches, the Salvation Army and the YMCA. But there have been many cases where witnesses have refused to admit wrongdoing until presented with evidence they refused for so long to see, having placed the reputation of the organisation above the safety of children. Indeed, many perpetrators remain in these organisations The commission has gone to great lengths to ensure it has not focused on any one, such as the Catholic Church. However, that church has links to 68 per cent of the 1,033 faith-based institutions reported to the commission and 41 per cent when all institutions are counted. Clergy and teachers are the top two categories of reported abusers among the 90 per cent of perpetrators who are male. It is not enough for institutions to say, as the Marist order of the Catholic Church did on Friday, that their approach to child sexual abuse and all its complications "is now very different" from in the past. Such claims must be demonstrated and checked. What's more, all institutions must be exposed to the same sort of scrutiny, accountability and legal obligations imposed on other organisations. Most institutions named at the royal commission receive the privilege of tax-free status and enjoy enormous wealth as a result of the trust placed in them. The Herald believes they can help fund a fair and affordable compensation scheme to help heal some of the wounds and improve health outcomes for victims. By the middle of next year the commission hopes to release options for legal reform and redress. While most welcome institutional support for a national compensation scheme, some critics fear this is a convenient attempt to evade scrutiny and even more adverse findings from the royal commission. Nonetheless, the system established in Ireland after its similar child abuse inquiry is instructive. If victims agreed not to use the courts, the Redress Board allocated capped compensation based on: severity of abuse; extent of physical and mental injury; psycho-social consequences; and loss of opportunity resulting from abuse. There was also flexibility for aggravated payouts in extreme cases. The funding of a redress system in Australia will be politically difficult. But options include reducing the tax-free status of culpable institutions for as long a reparations are required. Many of these institutions have immense real estate holdings as well. Few would be sent bankrupt as a result of having to pay for their blindness. Even without such a scheme, all institutions should have to establish legal entities that can be sued. The Herald believes the commission will lead the way towards improvements to child protection laws and nationally consistent pre-employment screening. There also needs to be much more work to educate the community. The work of the royal commission is far from over. On your bike, eyes open for Le Tour of duty As if a fortnight of late nights and early mornings weren't enough for Australian sports fanatics. We've stayed up for the Socceroos and Wimbedon star Nick Kyrgios, to be at first thrilled then saddened. Now we face another three weeks of bleary eyes with the Tour de France. Imagine if we had an Ashes Test series in the old country as well! Le Tour begins on Saturday night in England. Everyone should feel compelled to watch because most Australians who were once children have a link to the race. It goes back to the year before Le Tour began. In 1902 Melbourne cyclist Tom Finnigan built bikes he named after the suburb in which he lived, Malvern, and the stars on his forearm tattoo. The Malvern Star. Within 12 years, two Australians, Don Kirkham on a Malvern Star and Ivor "Snowy" Munro, rode Le Tour – finishing 17th and 20th respectively. Finnigan sold Malvern Star to the Small brothers and Ernie Ogilvy in 1920. A year later a young bloke named Hubert Opperman won a prize at the Malvern Star shop and Bruce Small – later founder of the Gold Coast – gave Oppy a job as a telegraph boy. From 1923, Oppy rode Malvern Star bikes to many road race victories, then rode Le Tour in an Australian team in 1927 when he finished 18th. Oppy finished 12th in 1931 – a best Australian performance which stood until countryman Phil Anderson finishedfifth in 1982. And, of course, Cadel Evans won in 2011. This year Le Tour begins in, of all places, damp Yorkshire in northern England. But Evans won't be there. So who to support on the opening night as the 11 or so Australians pedal through quaint towns such as Ripon, where punters at the racetrack have relieved themselves against a wall in full view of the crowd for centuries and where every night at 9 o'clock for 1125 years the town horn-blower has setthe night-watch on the market square? The big hope for an Aussie outsider of the Kyrgios variety is 23-year-old Michael Matthews, but he might not even start after injuring his hand in a fall during training this week. Not to worry. There are 10 more Australians to follow – if you can stay awake.
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