I have three kids. From the time they slithered out, I worried about them. Strike that. From the time they were conceived, I worried about them.

Login or signup to continue reading

And when they wanted to do the 97 activities that modern children seem to love to do, that meant two of us having to be in three different places at the same time.

Why did we need to be there? Because my precious angels (who grew into bloody bossy adults) needed care and supervision - and I wasn't going to outsource that to people I didn't know.

The rate of child abuse in this country is terrifying - and we don't even have the whole picture. The prospect terrified me then and it terrifies me now, as a doting grandma. Swear to god, did you read the story about the poor girl abused by the person who was meant to care for her?

Who do you trust? Can you trust any organisation?

Now, if ever anything has put me off an organisation with care and responsibilities for chlidren, it's the kind of behaviour that tries to avoid that very responsibility. This time it is Scouts ACT.

It claimed this week that the amendment to the Civil Law Wrongs Act proposed by ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury would have a chilling effect.

Well yes, I sincerely hope that's right. Anything that has a chilling effect on child abusers in this country is welcome. And let me remind you that one of the ACT's most notorious convicted paedophiles, Aaron James Holliday, was a former trainee Scouts leader. Nice that in 2018, Scouts Australia apologised to children abused under its care. But apologies are not enough.

We urgently need to take on child abuse - and Rattenbury's amendments will at least make children safer in the ACT.

I'm not going to spend 40 hours in labour to deliver my kid into the hands of an abuser. All weapons necessary to fight this scourge, whether it's during childcare,........

© Canberra Times