Call for action on sex abuse report

06 December 2006

Aboriginal and community leaders have voiced concerns about the NSW Government's delayed response to a landmark report that exposes an epidemic of child sexual assault in NSW Aboriginal communities.

The concerns were aired on Tuesday at a forum in state parliament organised by UNSW academics from social work, law and the Nura Gili Indigenous Programs Centre.

Titled Breaking the Silence, Creating the Future, the report, published in June this year, makes 119 recommendations to address the problem. The government’s response has not yet been released.

Commissioned by the Government in 2003 the report is based on consultations with 29 communities across the state and finds that child sexual assault is endemic in Aboriginal communities and is under-reported.

The report says the problem has affected generations of families in Sydney and rural NSW, and was a major cause of drug use, crime, prostitution and mental illness in Aboriginal communities.

It points to a "culture of silence" within Aboriginal communities about speaking out about sexual abuse, and finds that social welfare and law enforcement authorities deter victims of abuse who try to come forward.

Marcia Ella-Duncan, who chaired the six-member Government-appointed taskforce that spent over two years investigating and reporting the problem, told Tuesday’s forum that she was disheartened by the Government's slow response.

"I hope this doesn't become another report that gathers dust and achieves nothing," she said. "This is an issue that has devastating and lifelong consequences and requires a response now by the state government."

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma echoed her concerns. "It's time for the state government to become accountable and make its response to this landmark report. Further inaction is sending a message that the Government doesn't take this devastating issue with the seriousness and respect it deserves.

UNSW Professor Chris Cunneen, who was a member of the taskforce, said he felt the forum was a success: "I was pleased that several state government agencies attended the forum to hear Aboriginal people's concerns and questions.

"I think it's vital that concerned individuals had an opportunity to hear that the report has been to Cabinet and is now going through the budget process."

Media contacts: Professor Chris Cunneen, Faculty of Law, UNSW, 02-9385 8242. Dan Gaffney, UNSW media office, 0411 156 015