Moral outrage

A remote-area New South Wales government psychologist, who counsels Aboriginal victims of child sexual abuse, wrote and told me when my own book about my abuse was published in 2003, how the government doesn’t want to remove abused Aboriginal children from their families. The reason? They don’t want to be accused of another stolen generation.

In January last year, when I toured the east coast to give talks raising awareness about child sexual abuse, a Townsville Koori radio station interviewer told me, on air, that in his area nine in ten koori kids would experience sexual abuse.

“When they go to the toilet, they put their feet against the door to stop adults coming in and abusing them,” he told me.

So, locking up Koori abusers, would amount to imprisoning nearly a generation of men.

It is bad enough to put it in the too hard basket by refusing to remove children, or removing them to other abusive relatives, but to now suggest that instead we imprison the Indigenous perpetrators, is just as bad, if not worse.

We would have more Aboriginal deaths in custody, more communities and young boys with jailbird role models as fathers and people with lower self-esteem.

Separate research by Freda Briggs of the University of South Australia and the SAFE CSA (child sexual abuse) abuser community treatment program in New Zealand (a program that should exist in every capital city here) shows that low self-esteem is one of the key triggers for sexually offending against children for those with predispositions to the behaviour.

What about trying to understand why the problem exists in the first place, consulting with women in the communities about handling the problem, treating it as a systemic health issue instead of a problem with law and order?

Until we start dealing with child sexual abuse as we treat alcoholism, as a public health issue, with treatment programs in place, the latest research shows that any other punitive measures will only further exacerbate the problem.

There are solution models in northern Queensland, based on tribal lore, where women have created Women’s Houses, where men, traditionally, are not allowed to enter. Women and children who are abused can seek refuge in them and BE safe because they are run by Aboriginal women, not by white experts as part of a white system.

There is a treatment program in Western Australia, also called "Safe", which has low recidivism rates for child sexual abusers and treats the whole family. The abuser is taken from the home, not the child, and offered treatment in lieu of prison. After a year or two of treatment, the perpetrator is released back to the family, now trained to recognise signs of potential abuse, with the help and monitoring of the program.

Instead of throwing millions at the problem through the judicial system, why not employ Aboriginal women to form councils to debate and come up with solutions for the problem in their area.