Imagine you’re a child protection worker who has received a notification from a teacher voicing concerns about a child in her class. The case involves a five-year-old boy named Toby. Toby’s mum has had…
‘Freedom of religion’ does not provide a church with any more or less accountability for its actions than a trucking company.
AAP/Shepparton News/Verity Lewis
Some religious groups are feeling under attack. They claim their “freedom of religion” is being impaired. For example, federal Attorney-General George Brandis, speaking to the Law School of Notre Dame…
Some parents still use physical punishment to control or change their child’s annoying or unacceptable behaviours.
Melle V/Shutterstock
Children endure many forms of violence, from slapping and pushing, to fatal assaults; almost one in five of the world’s homicide victims in 2012 were under 20. The recently released UNICEF report on violence…
Rolf Harris - he entertained for generations, but now what to think of him?
AAP/Newzulu/Guy Corbishley
When entertainer Rolf Harris was convicted of 12 cases of indecent assault there was first shock from his many fans in Australia and overseas, then a sense of disbelief that a man who won the hearts of…
Daniel Pelka suffered horrific abuse at the hands of his parents.
West Midlands Police/PA Wire
The horrific neglect and subsequent death of Daniel Pelka at the hands of his mother and step-father raises a number of questions about safeguarding procedures and practice. We are told teachers were concerned…
Hitting and other forms of harsh physical punishment is associated with mental health problems later in life.
Spamily
Research published this month in the journal Pediatrics confirms what child advocates have long known: it’s never okay to hit children. Study author Tracie Afifi and her colleagues investigated the link…
There is a culture of abuse in the ranks of the ADF – only a Royal Commission will uncover it fully.
AAP/Alex Coppel
How does one establish a plan to lure one of your female colleagues into a dormitory room for consensual sex, but unwittingly into the scope of a webcam for broadcast? How does it come to fruition? What…
Some ADFA cadets have been through horrific abuse. It’s time for their trauma to be on the record.
AAP/Alan Porritt
One could be mistaken for thinking that the recent flurry of activity around Defence abuse is a recent phenomenon. The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) Skype Affair of 2011 drew nation-wide attention…
Offenders such as Gerard Ridsdale, jailed on paedophile charges in 1994, must be exposed.
AAP/Ballart Courier
Victorian victims of clergy sex crimes and their families have been fighting for justice for years – some for decades. The previous Labor state government did nothing for them. The Baillieu government…
Women who are raped, sexually assaulted, bashed by a partner or stalked are much more likely to develop mental health problems than women who do not experience gender-based violence, a study has found…