KIDS REMAIN AT RISK FROM PREDATORS

AS today’s revelations about an alleged historic Gold Coast case show, no community has been spared the stain of child sexual abuse.

Yesterday marked the conclusion of the five-year inquiry conducted by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Its final report will be tabled in Federal Parliament today.

Eighty-five recommendations related to criminal justice have been made. These include sentencing standards on historical cases where the penalty will be by current standards and not the time of offending in historical cases.

Multiple victims will be able to give evidence in joint trials. Failure to report child sexual abuse in institutions will be a criminal offence.

Royal commissioner Justice Peter McClellan, after 57 public hearings, more than 1300 witnesses and personal accounts of 8000 survivors of child sexual abuse, said the brave survivors who came forward so that children now could be protected “deserve our nation’s thanks’’.

Reporting by the Bulletin has led to contact with many victims and a central theme emerges among the traumatic stories. The staging of the inquiry has sparked a distant disgusting memory deep inside of them.

Some are successfully retired businessmen. Others are trying to rebuild lives derailed by the initial trauma. Several admit to using drugs. Some have criminal records.

Many older victims have confronted their perpetrators. All will need counselling for the rest of their lives.

In today’s report, an alleged victim admits that he never did “fix” his past.

“I find myself here now and with my entire life, past and future, completely ruined by the age of 20.

“I wish I knew of or had someone who could help me correct this.”

Today we should not pat ourselves on the back. We must move fast to protect the next generation of young people at risk.