Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse figures only "scratch the surface", says Border advocate

By Ellen Ebsary
Border Mail
February 7, 2017

https://goo.gl/uHBOIW

Members of the Care Leaver's Australasia Network protesting in 2015 for the government to introduce it's redress scheme. Pictured: Rhonda Janetzki (front) L/R Peter Wilson, Stefan Andrews, Roy Janetzki and Alan Whelton.

As the incidence of child abuse in Catholic institutions is further unveiled, a Border advocate for the Care Leavers Australia Network thinks of the victims who will never be identified.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday identified 14.7 per cent of priests in the Sandhurst Diocese as alleged perpetrators between 1950 and 2010.

This statistic for the church region, which covers the North East, was the second highest rate in the country.

Rhonda Janetzki said these figures were only “scratching the surface”.

“They’re talking about the priests, brothers and nuns, but there was also a lot of abuse from employees and volunteers in those institutions too that hasn’t been mentioned,” she said.

“I think there are thousands of people living in country areas like Albury-Wodonga who have never ever spoken about the abuse inflicted on them.”

Mrs Janetzki campaigned throughout 2016 for a federal-funded redress scheme for victims, which will finally take shape more than a year late after it was announced in November.

“It’s progress, but I’m a bit apprehensive about the redress scheme,” she said.

“There was no male representation in the national redress independent advisory council.

“In this region alone, we have got so many care leavers that have got very serious illnesses and they just seem to be waiting for as many of us to die as possible, so as not to compensate us.

“I was very disappointed in the option for institutions and state governments to opt in or out, because us kids never got a chance to.”

Mrs Janetzki also questioned the cap on compensation.

“The have caped it at $150,000 – how can you put a dollar figure on destroying a person’s life?,” she said.

“Girls were up at 5am working in laundries all day and the institutions were making profits off that – where was the education for them?

“So many people could not write their names when they left orphanages, so how were they supposed to make a living?

“The people who were denied education and careers and experienced physical and emotional abuse have to be taken into consideration.”

CLAN executive officer Leonie Sheedy said the organisation would be watching the government’s response to the commission closely later this year.

“Clan has requested the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull be at the ceremony to receive his copy of the report on the behalf of the nation and it is a great opportunity for him to thank the survivors and care leavers who have been brave enough to go to the royal comission and tell their story,” she said.

Mrs Janetzki said for those who didn’t have a chance to tell their story, CLAN would advocate on their behalf.

“I will be speaking up for all the care leavers who are too old, too scared, who have died or have committed suicide from not being able to bear it,” she said.

“We will never give up and we will never go away.”

Leslie Tomlinson, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst, did not respond to The Border Mail’s calls.