Gillard’s Brave Child Abuse Inquiry Has Given Victims a Voice

By Graham Richardson
The Australian
September 5, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/gillards-brave-child-abuse-inquiry-has-given-victims-a-voice/story-fnfenwor-1227048150209#mm-premium

NO one has been more critical of Julia Gillard’s prime ministership than I have. During the past two or three years this column has criticised her political ineptitude on far too many occasions to remember. That is not to say, though, that she did not have her successes. She did make one brave game-changing decision for which she should never be forgotten.

For decades, child abuse, like domestic violence, was an almost taboo subject. It was easy to overlook and so it was. Thousands of Australia’s children were sexually and physically abused, and their suffering went unpunished and unrecognised. Their abusers roamed free to repeat their atrocities while the organisations to which they belonged conspired to protect them from the law.

When Gillard announced a royal commission into child abuse there were many in the churches and the charities who had cause to feel the ruffle on the hairs of the back of their necks. Most important, it gave an opportunity to the thousands mentioned above to finally tell their stories. For many of them it had been virtually impossible to speak about what was done to them.

These dark secrets had been suppressed for 30, 40 or even 50 years. The shame and embarrassment felt by the victims was in stark contrast to the escape from scrutiny experienced by their ­oppressors.