I see attempts to subscribe a laxity in chid safeguarding with conservative political parties. This isn’t necessarily the case. In my experience those dismissive of child sexual abuse reveal their personal character and it often has little to do with their political affiliation.

A true commitment to preventing child sexual abuse is something that comes from the heart, and is often shaped by painful personal experience. Unfortunately though it seems that men find it more difficult to express their support, particularly those who move in social circles that reinforce patriarchal worldviews.

With major political parties loath to grapple with this in the party room it is individual candidates who are left to decide the extent to which they will make common cause with the victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in their electorate.

With the snap Tasmanian election on July 19, LOUDfence Tasmania calls on all candidates to make a personal and public commitment to improving child safeguarding by securing a Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) card. Supportive politicians remind me that as part of their role they routinely interact with children and other vulnerable people and maintain a WWVP Clearance to lead by example. With the revelations of the COI it is really a ‘no-brainer’.

Those candidates who choose not to secure a WWVP Card undermine their credibility and damage their own election prospects.

The next Parliament has much more work to do to implement the COI’s recommendations especially given experts are observing possible backsliding. To truly make Tasmanian children safe there needs to be a major overhaul of the State’s integrity bodies, and a COI into Tasmania Police. All MPs in the next Parliament need to be ready for a very robust and confronting reckoning with the lack of accountability over generations that has seen thousands of children abused in Tasmanian institutions.

Key Takeaways

1. Children don’t have politics!
2. LOUDfence exhorts all candidates to secure a WWVP Clearance and to note this in their election advertising material and website!
3. The next parliament must have all MPs meeting this most fundamental character test denoting their fitness to take elected office and make legislation designed to prevent ongoing rampant child sexual abuse.
4. Who of us would want to be represented by a person considered unsafe to be around children?