AUSTRALIA
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The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been calling for submissions on various topics in advance of the public hearings which are due to begin reasonably shortly.
There will be many detailed submissions by the big organisations, such as the churches, which will be written by professionals in public relations and the law. There will also be a few from various activist groups, and the occasional individual victim. Some specialist groups, such as social work agencies, the Australian Medical Association and so on, will make formal submissions which will be professionally produced, too.
It is all too easy for the Commission officials to forget that it is meant to be all about existing, and potential, victims of abuse. Big, official structures like the Royal Commission can all too easily be dominated by the views of the large players, via their professionally-produced submissions.
Those with the largest megaphone will naturally be the most easily heard. The only way to counter this advantage of the big players is to resort to the rusty gate principle. Keeping on making noises about the real issues, if done consistently and frequently, can gain the attention of the final decision-makers, when it comes to the recommendations part of the enquiry process.
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