What About The Children?

[the_great_she_elephant]

I am amazed and disgusted that in all the indignation over what Gillian Triggs should or shouldn't have done or who said or didn't say what to her, not ONE SINGLE POLITICIAN  except, finally, Malcolm Turnbull, has commented in any way on the contents of her report..

She found that  over a 15-month period from January 2013 to March 2014, spanning both the Labor and Coalition governments  there were 233 recorded assaults involving children and 33 incidents of reported sexual assault. 

If these findings are true - and as far as I know nobody has so far disputed them -   then what is going to be done about it? Who had the duty of care? who is going to be held responsible. What measures are going to be put in place to stop this abuse happening in future?

Both Gillian Triggs and George Brandis are astute and comparitively wealthy adults able to instruct top  legal practitioners to protect their reputaions - but who is going to protect the safety of these children? How many more children have been abused since March 2014? Is a child perhaps being abused in a detention centre  even while you are reading this post? 

Surely to goodness after all that was learned from the Children In Care Royal Commission this report cannot simply be put in a "don't want to know" basket while both sides of Pariament try to gain political mileage out the motives of the Human Rghts Commissioner or the behaviour of the Attourney General.

At some point -though probably not in the lifetime of this government  or even  the one that follows it - there will inevitably be a Royal Commission into the treatment of children in detention centre. what do you imagine its findings are likely to be?

[debra9275]

If anyone should "offer to resign"' it should be Brandis and abbott

[vicr3000]

No worries, the word "offered" didn't stand out that well.

Re the rest

I was being a bit pig headed and devils advocate.

I think their was a bit of an Agenda and I don't think Triggs thought it through as much as maybe she might have.

After all, causing a huge ruckus does not do her or the Commission any favours at all and makes the whole

job that much harder.

A bit like the UN HCR, non stop criticism so eventually they get told to p off.

[debra9275]

But she is not the one who has caused a huge ruckus , they have been at her throat for months

[i-need-a-martini]

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@vicr3000 wrote:

I was being a bit pig headed and devils advocate.

I think their was a bit of an Agenda and I don't think Triggs thought it through as much as maybe she might have.

After all, causing a huge ruckus does not do her or the Commission any favours at all and makes the whole

job that much harder.

A bit like the UN HCR, non stop criticism so eventually they get told to p off.

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Her job IS to create ruckus about human rights issues.

And like the UN HRC, she follows up that criticism with strategies and recommendations.

The irony in all of this is that whne the report was first issued in November, the Abbott Govt actually undertook some of those recommendations. Do you recall Morrison holding press conferences saying that all children under 10 years old would be released on bridging visas? Well guess what? That was as a result of the recommendations in this report. 

So why has Abbott suddenly gone off on a tangent not supported by his own colleagues? It is truly off the planet behaviour.

[gleee58]

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@debra9275 wrote:
But she is not the one who has caused a huge ruckus , they have been at her throat for months

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She did not cause the ruckus.

The govt should have taken the report and used it to their advantage but they chose to sit on it and use it as a political weapon. 

It is they who caused a ruckus and they who have caused the distraction from the children in detention.

[vicr3000]

The 4 of you should become a choir

[i-need-a-martini]

And there is one last thing I would like to point out before I hit the sack about the Labor/Liberal debate on this topic:

Labor (pre-Rudds last ditch attempt the move to the right in order to gain political points) had a policy of releasing children and of eventually granting them (and their families) residency.

The Liberal party instead are detaining these children INDEFINITELY with NO HOPE of release. This  is the cause of much of the sharp escalation in detained children attempting suicide or self harm.

The thought that a girl of 13 (the same age as my own sweet innocent daughter) living in an environment where there is no hope and feeling as if their only release is death breaks my heart. How can a father of 3 daughters not feel this way?

At least under Labor these children had some HOPE of making it out of their misery. There WAS light at the end of the tunnel.

[cherry*135]

Triggs isn't going anywhere, nor should she, no matter who many times you post she should resign etc.

That overblown attack on her from Abbott is going to do him more harm than her.

[vicr3000]

I need.

I thought Abbott was releasing them ?
Hence the numbers decreased, although the time spent in was slightly longer ?

[cherry*135]

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@poddster wrote:

Did I say I have not read the report?

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You were asked that question and failed to give a reply. It is your individual choice whether to read it or not.