No tolerance for child abuse-anywhere

The report in The Australian that child abuse is a national problem comes as no surprise, but it's a timely reminder of a social epidemic which needs to be addressed more concisely and seriously.

Although it focuses on indigenous communities, and in particular Northern Territory, it shouldn't be forgotten that child abuse, including sexual abuse, isn't just an indigenous problem. It affects every level of our community, and is probably endemic to every culture and nation on the planet.

Still, our main focus has to be on our own back yard, and there needs to be more done to keep child abuse as a national problem in the forefront of the media and on the minds of legislators, as well as those who are 'thinkers' in our community, so that we can come up with the kind of initiatives which will bring about change, and protect the innocent and vulnerable.

There are no accurate figures on child abuse. Most abuse is evidently not reported, judging from cases which have emerged recently, of abuse in schools run by religious institutions. It may be years before a victim will actually tell somebody what happened to them as a child. More often than not, a child is abused by someone known to the family. Shame and guilt can silence a victim.

This isn't just an indigenous problem, although the facts presented in the Australian suggest that the instances of abuse are frighteningly high. But it's a virus which infects every group in our community.

It's time for political and community groups to find ways to make this a national issue of the highest importance and work towards encouraging victims to report the monsters who have abused them, and to put some kind of fear into the people who prey on children.

Abuse affects the entire family of a victim, whether knowingly or not. It may scar them for life. It may influence their own children and children's children. It is a social disease which needs to be eradicated. Our focus may be on Aboriginal communities of NT right now, but we need to look beyond and see the problem for what it is, and act on it as a matter of urgency.