Victorian Government criticised for failing to respond to child sex abuse report Betrayal of Trust

By Jessica Tapp
ABC News
September 15, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-15/sex-abuse-survivors-criticise-government-over-inquiry-response/5744844

Survivors of child sex abuse are criticising the Victorian Government for failing to expedite laws to deal with abuse in response to last year's parliamentary inquiry.

The Betrayal of Trust report was handed to the Government last November, which has passed some legislation in response.

But abuse survivors are angry that the state election appeared likely to prevent many of the report's 15 recommendations from being acted on this year, with only one week left before election preparations begin.

John, a child abuse survivor from regional Victoria, said he was frustrated with the delay.

"There's got to be mandatory action in my opinion," he said.

"Reporting's very well, but if government bodies aren't funded enough, then they need to be funded so that they can act on the reporting."

John told the inquiry about his experiences at Queen Street Primary School in Ballarat, and said he wanted his abuse allegations to be more thoroughly investigated.

"In my case, I reported to the state government - the Education Department - of my abuse in 2006," John said.

"The only response from the Education Department to me was an acknowledgement of my letter and a sorry to hear of your experiences."

Legislation has been introduced to the Victorian Parliament to mandate working with children checks for ministers of religion, as well as changes to make it easier to prosecute systematic sexual abuse by repeat offenders.

The Victorian Greens said they wanted to see legislation to introduce the rest of the recommendations before mid next year.

Greens spokeswoman for children Colleen Hartland said her party would put forward a private members bill to deal with the rest of the recommendations if the next government failed to do so.  

Ms Hartland said measures to let victims sue organisations was a priority.

"This is around the issue of requiring religious organisations and other institutions to become incorporated legal structures, capable of both having insurance and being sued by victims," Ms Hartland said.

"This seems to have been one of the major problems during the last 20 years of court cases."

The Victorian Labor Party is yet to release its policy position on the report's recommendations, but said it would do so before the election.