We know that organised abuse networks are operating because the Tasmanian Commission of Inquiry heard evidence of them and briefed Tasmania Police. Also, as a result of involvement in LOUDfence, I have become a lightning rod for dozens of disclosures which are collectively indicative of organised ‘rings’ operating in Launceston and across Northern Tasmania. Police have had the details since December 2023.

Organised abuse involves multiple adults who conspire to sexually abuse one or more children. Organised abuse can include the sexual exchange of children between perpetrators as well as the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. 

.Expert Professor Michael Salter says that organised abuse is relatively common with as many as 1 in 5 victims relating this experience in clinical settings.

With such evidence we should all be dismayed that there is an apparent reticence on behalf of Tasmania Police to acknowledge their existence. Professor Michael Salter observes a similar attitude in other Australian law enforcement agencies, in which a gap exists in the active policing of individuals participating in these ‘rings’.

Victim-survivors are left to speculate why Tasmania Police discounts material provided about these ‘rings’ as being ‘speculative’ and therefore unactionable.

Conversation starters:

1. Is it because the investigation of ‘rings’ are viewed as too resource intensive by Police? Rings are conspiracies and they will be challenging to ‘unravel’.
2. Is there a lack of political will to chase down the offenders?
3. Are there in fact higher priorities such as cracking down on youth crime?
4. Perhaps Tasmania Police lacks the specialised expertise and data management capabilities needed to ‘crack’ these rings?
5. Is it the inability of Tasmania Police to access information held by other Government Agencies that makes it impossible to find corroborating evidence? (2030 is when the legal impediments to sharing info across Agencies are meant to be removed by the Tasmanian Department of Justice)

Today’s ABC news article about a Child Sex Ring which operated in Wollongong in NSW in the 1990s has strong parallels with the current situation in Launceston. The ring was revealed as part of the Wood Royal Commission into NSW Police.

Types of organised abuse:

Network abuse describes networks of mostly extra-familial offenders acting on a shared sexual interest in children.

Institutional organised abuse refers to the sexual abuse of children by people who work with them in an institutional setting, in which one or more staff members engage in or arrange the sexual abuse of children in their care. Ashley Youth Detention Centre (pictured above is reportedly an example of institutional organised abuse).

Familial organised abuse involves cultures of sexual abuse within families, in which children are subject to sexual abuse by family members and adults outside the family.

Ritual abuse refers to incidents of organised abuse that is structured in a ceremonial or ritualistic fashion, often incorporating religious or mythological iconography. Ritual abuse is a characteristic of particularly abusive groups, and is typically associated with the torture of children and adults and the manufacture of child abuse material.

Technologically-facilitated organised abuse involves the sexual abuse of one or more victims by multiple adults that is facilitated by technology in some way.

Reference:– https://www.organisedabuse.com/info