Editorial: Child safety comes first

The Mercury
September 9, 2015

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-child-safety-comes-first/story-fnj4f64i-1227518420989

LISTENING: Mark Morrissey. Picture: Chris Kidd.

The belief that child safety is fundamental to any decent society is so obvious it almost seems absurd to have to state it.

Yet our litany of failures on this most basic of rights is shameful.

Just last month came revelations of more problems in Tasmania’s child protection services.

It follows months of shocking revelations at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Since July 2013 the Royal Commission has been travelling the country, unearthing case after case of children betrayed and abused by adults in schools, churches and sporting clubs, of victims’ complaints ignored and the crimes of those in positions of trust hidden to protect the good name of institutions.

The lack of compassion for victims over many decades has extended to some of Australia’s, and Tasmania’s, most prestigious schools.

The Royal Commission has exposed so many examples of denial and cover-ups in the very places where children are supposed to be safe and cared for that we can no longer pretend these are isolated cases.

How appropriate, after all this, that Tasmania’s Commissioner for Children Mark Morrissey today is releasing a report titled “Strengthening Child Safe Organisations”.

The Children’s Commissioner is calling for nothing less than a cultural change, a complete reassessment of the way we do things. The message that comes through clearly is that children must be listened to, and their interests must be put first every time.

The striking feature of this report is that the Commissioner has consulted children, hundreds of them, and taken seriously what they had to say.

He stresses the importance of ensuring truly child- safe areas. Nothing could be more fundamental.

Importantly, he says that while pre-employment checks are important, solely relying on them can create a false sense of security. A child-safe culture must exist for such checks to actually work.

As Mr Morrissey says, it would be tragic if we allowed the situation to drift and if, in 20 years’ time, we needed another Royal Commission to expose more tragic life stories of abuse. That would be the ultimate betrayal of our children.

IT is good to see the State Government tackling the problem of local governments which are verging on the dysfunctional.

The Government has established a board of inquiry into the Huon Valley Council following a flood of complaints from ratepayers, staff and even the Mayor.

This is not a case of big government beating up its smaller cousin. It is an arm’s-length inquiry designed to restore basic standards of governance and accountability. Some of Tasmania’s other councils should take note.