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EDITORIAL: Brisbane Royal commission hearings...
Courier-Mail
THE royal commission into child sex abuse began its hearings in Brisbane yesterday with one certainty – that we will hear yet more disturbing stories of dreadful abuse and institutional failing in dealing with both innocent victims and perpetrators of these horrendous crimes. Since the commission began public sittings in April last year, it has revealed a problem that was even more distressing and widespread than any modern society could have imagined possible. Before the commission started its work it had been a lazy tradition, in some circles, to regard institutionalised child abuse as a particularly Catholic problem, somehow tangled up with priestly vows of abstinence and a secretive church hierarchy more interested in protecting its own than practising the Christian charity it preached. But the testimonies presented thus far to the commission show that abuse of children in institutions is an insidious vileness that can fester and grow wherever adults of a particular inclination have control over the young, even when purportedly there are systems in place to stop exactly this sort of exploitation. And in a disturbing number of cases, the instances of systemic abuse being aired by the commission have Queensland connections – from the Catholic priest Frank Derriman who used the Charlie Brown cartoon character to groom young Brisbane area schoolgirls in the late 1960s to tales of violent sadism and allegations of prostitution rings being run out of a Salvation Army boys’ home at Indooroopilly in Brisbane’s west. Yesterday, the commission began examining how Catholic education authorities handled sexual abuse allegations against now-convicted teacher, Gerard Vincent Byrnes, who molested 13 girls at a Toowoomba primary school in 2007 and 2008. Each of these cases, and others such as the investigation into claims of horrific abuse at the Anglican Church’s now-closed children’s home at Lismore in northern NSW which, according to witnesses involved at least 12 staff members over nearly 50 years, reveal their own horrors and dreadful insights into the twisted nature and thinking of those who abuse children – from calculating sexual predators to sadistic bullies. We are also regularly and painfully reminded of the devastating impact this abuse has had on victims, affecting all parts of their lives, according to the commission’s chief executive officer Janette Dines, from the ability to form relationships and find work, to problems with mental health and substance addictions. The commission is already proving its worth by giving those who have suffered so terribly an opportunity to be heard and raising awareness of the extent of a problem that needs to be properly addressed. Ultimately it will be judged on its ability to produce recommendations that truly do make a difference. We have hade previous inquiries into child abuse and the Catholic Church and other institutions have spent much time trying to develop effective ways not only to protect children but also to provide justice for victims. But as the case of the Toowoomba pedophile Byrnes, now being investigated by the commission in its Brisbane hearings highlights, rules, regulations and protocols are not in themselves sufficient to stop the abuse. Byrnes molested his victims less than 10 years ago, not in some distant unenlightened past. The commission’s Ms Dines says policies and procedures were in place but when children raised complaints about inappropriate behaviour they weren’t investigated. The stories of personal pain and damage emerging from the commission’s hearings are heartbreaking. The commission will play a vital role in ensuring this never happens again but in the end we all have a role to play holding our own churches and their institutions to account. The best way to protect children is not just with rules but with humanity, charity and true compassion. HATCH A PLAN FOR SNAKE SEASON ONE of the bigger challenges of living in southeast Queensland is convincing all your overseas friends and relatives it’s a safe place to live. They ask, what about the sharks? We net the beaches, we reply, which doesn’t always seem to convince them. What about the deadly spiders then? Just keep an eye out, we say as casually as possible. Well then, what about the snakes? They’re harmless, we respond. At least we hope they are because here in southeast Queensland we’ve just entered snake-hatching season. The experts say the birth rate might be slightly down this year because of the dry weather but chances are, this year’s newborn snakes are going to be more visible because suburban areas are better sources of food, shelter and water than parched bushland. Experts say venomous eastern browns will be thin on the ground, with most sightings likely to be harmless but impressive-looking carpet snakes. So, no snake plague then and little chance of a deadly bite – but will the folks overseas really believe us when we tell them?
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