MEDIA RELEASE
The Grace Tame Foundation strongly rejects the Leader of the Opposition’s call for a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities.
Child sexual abuse is a subject that should never be used for political purposes. Sexual abuse occurs in all communities and the Opposition Leader has wrongly singled out First Nations peoples. These comments are particularly hurtful when millions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and others are grieving in the aftermath of the referendum.
The Grace Tame Foundation stands in solidarity with Aboriginal community controlled child protection and family support agencies. Australian governments and decision-makers need to be investing in and empowering Aboriginal child protection expertise and leadership. First Nations community organisations, services and leaders have the solutions. Their voices must be listened to.
Child sexual abuse survivor and Foundation CEO, Grace Tame said she was disappointed to hear the Leader of the Opposition’s comments.
“Keeping a disproportionate negative focus on this demographic in isolation will distort the material reality and public perception of the actual child sex offender base.
“It is clearly a self-serving and cynical attempt to leverage the momentum of the political football that is still in the air which is almost guaranteed to further exacerbate the intergenerational trauma of First Nations communities.
“I find it incredibly ironic that the Leader of the Opposition was so strongly against the Voice to Parliament for reasons including that he did not want to divide a country by race, yet is now calling for a Royal Commission that singles out First Nations communities.
“If the Leader of the Opposition is so invested in addressing the nationwide epidemic of child sexual abuse and all the issues facing our First Nations communities, it would have made logical sense to encourage bipartisan support for an advisory body intended specifically for such purposes,” said Ms Tame.
Chair of The Grace Tame Foundation and Associate Professor of Criminology at UNSW, Dr Michael Salter said Australia faces an epidemic of child sexual abuse.
“Singling out one group does not help to prevent child sexual abuse. It scapegoats one community and allows mainstream Australia to continue with the illusion that sexual abuse is someone else’s problem.
“Child sex offenders can be apparently upstanding members of their communities, liked and respected by others. They are often the last person you would suspect. Australia needs a serious reckoning with the challenges of rampant child sexual abuse across this country.
“We need proper investment in Aboriginal community controlled organisations, who are best placed to respond to issues that face their communities, such as the issue of child sexual abuse,” said Dr Salter.
The Grace Tame Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that campaigns for and helps fund initiatives which work to prevent, intervene and respond to child sexual abuse.