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?

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@poddster wrote:

So ele which one would you choose? You have the captain's pick.

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Which one of what would I choose?

[poddster]

I reiterate

ele if you had the means to protect one of 2 children and one of them happens to be a family member, wouldnt you protect that one?

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@poddster wrote:

I reiterate

ele if you had the means to protect one of 2 children and one of them happens to be a family member, wouldnt you protect that one?

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I may only have one heart, Poddy, but I have two arms.

And if you think that's a silly answer then take a long hard look at the question, because it's the best answer it deserves.

[poddster]

You see ele, there are times that every one has no option but Sophie's Choice to some degree

[icyfroth]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

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@poddster wrote:

I reiterate

ele if you had the means to protect one of 2 children and one of them happens to be a family member, wouldnt you protect that one?

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I may only have one heart, Poddy, but I have two arms.

And if you think that's a silly answer then take a long hard look at the question, because it's the best answer it deserves.

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Well Ms Triggs had the right instincts.

Gave her profoundly disabled daughter into foster care in order to focus on her abled children.

And her career, no doubt.

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@poddster wrote:

You see ele, there are times that every one has no option but Sophie's Choice to some degree

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Except that in this thread we hav been dicussing children being ill treated in governmant institutions, If a child is beng ill-treated in a government instituution then the government - or its agents has the power and the means to intervene. there doesn't have to be a choice.

Anyway, I've been racking my brains to think of a plausible scenario where I would actually be called upon to make such a choice. How does this sound.

It is a beautiful sunny day and I am flying around the grounds of my extensive riverside estate (did I tell you I won lotto)  in my private helicopter (no, I don't really have a pilot's licence but this isa ' hypothetical', right?)

As I fly over the lawn I see two little girls sitting together in the sunshine making daisy chains, (all together now "Ahhhh") I hover overhead to watch them, but suddenly, shock, horror, I see that a lion has escaped from my private zoo and is heading staight towards them. 

What can I do. quick as a flash I put the helicopter into auto hover mode and grab my rope ladder (never travel without a rope ladder folks you don't know when you might happen to need one.) Attaching end  to the helicopter I toss it out and scramble down it towards the girls.

But wait! I cannot climb uback up the ladder carrying both of them. which one shoud I save? One is my granddaughter, the other hte daughter of my cook. Easy you say, choose the granddaughter. But wait there's more. My granddaughter is much bigger and heavier than the cook's child. Can I carry her and still climb the ladder? Will the ladder hold the weight of both of us? Maybe I should choose the little one. Oh, the torment, oh the agony. Maybe I should just shut my eyes and pretend it's not hapening.

In the end, of course the zookeeper, twho is paid a shedload of money to look after my menagerie, arrives  with his dart gun and tranquilises the lion

No choice needed. End of story.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Well Ms Triggs had the right instincts.

Gave her profoundly disabled daughter into foster care in order to focus on her abled children.

And her career, no doubt.

And this has some bearing on whether refugee children in detention centres are less deserving of protecion than Australian children in the community?

[poddster]

The problem is that zoo keepers are lazy sods and having forgotten the dart gun due to drunken stupor, realises that he is unarmed and scarpers to the safely of the outhouse. Ooops! the choice remains and the lion is now crouching for the pounce

[the_great_she_elephant]

Nah, the lion spots him and decides he'd make a better meal. And while it's devouring the corpse I get both the children safely up the ladder. Of course all this has taken quite some time, so there's always a chance the copter will run out of fuel and crash before I get it back to base and we'll all end up dead.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. stay tuned for tomorrow's thrilling episode.