A DISCUSSION PAPER

1/1/2007

International Innocence Day *

Stand up for those falsely accused of child sexual abuse.

Purpose.  ( As per the UK model)

"To raise awareness of false allegations of child sexual abuse - to press for a proper public inquiry."

Theme

" The right of the falsely accused to be heard and the wrongfully convicted to be released."

One of the biggest obstacles to the progress of our struggle has always been fear.  In  a witchunt climate,  people commonly wish to hide what is happening to themselves and their families. In the witchunt of the 1600's, this was not so easy.  Burnings were a rather public event. Today,  unless you are a person of some note it is possible to suffer in comparative obscurity. Perhaps this course is often chosen because of the fervent wish all will  eventually go away if we keep our heads down.  This could be seen as  the old flight or fight response and is a response to be expected as well as respected as an individual choice.  However in reality, bitter experience has shown  this simply does not work in by far the majority of cases. This monster has a tendency to come back and bite you at any time regardless of your chosen response,  in our case after fifteen years.Those not personally effected  who know and should speak out, do not because of the fear they might be seen as sympathetic to pedophiles.  Rather, they should be seen as outraged by the injustice. They need encouragement from us.

  I believe it is time to face the reality of our position and I see it as simply this;  

If we continue to adopt the head down position, we will  continue to be treated as irrelevant - our cause will continue to be ignored.  This plays right into the hands of all the forces which confront us.

To use the colloquial,  " The squeaky wheel gets the most oil."  Sadly, as we know, the media generally has used the censorship by ommission approach.  We need to express ourselves in other ways.

The most common public response I find as I discuss this issue,  and I do so at every opportunity, is 'Oh, I thought this had gone away a long time ago'.  We who live with it day after day see it very differently.

Now is the time to yell from the rooftops.  We are innocent and we have nothing to hide so let's yell !  Now is it the right time!

•  Our counterparts in the UK and Ireland are calling for an international day of awakening. (27/3/07) - (plus a date in June to be announced.)
• The Bill D'Arcy matter is about to hit the headlines here. This case will draw national interest as evidenced by the recent Melbourne Age article.
• A group of us is planning a large world class conference at a Q'ld University possibly for June 2007.
• The number of innocents in our jails continues to grow.  They need to see we support them.
• A federal election is looming.
• Liz Mullinar has been publicly exposed. ( Richard Guilliatt. the Australian )
• Hetty Johnston seems to be much quiter now. ( perhaps after we exposed her infamous statement )
• Perhaps the public is feeling a little unsettled about the issue , particularly in regard to historic cases.

I use the word 'yell' in the sense that our message must be heard.  This does not mean using illegal or violent tactics.  Quite the contrary.  Ours is a just cause.  We must get the message across to the listening public in a way which is compelling but respectful.  Dignified, but strong and resolute is the way I believe.  The UK is advocating vigil's as the tactic over there.  This can be a powerful way of getting our message across too.  It encourages the use of visible and moving symbols.  It allows for those who must remain anonymous to do so.

It is a method with which few could find fault as it is widely used by Church and Justice groups.

If we follow the UK model, we will need to draw in groups sympathetic to us. eg. Men's groups, social justice groups, prison support groups, civil liberties etc.

We will need to set up State and or regional organising groups. They could be autonomous but the individual group focus would need to be carefully orchestrated and co-ordinated.

The numbers need not be large but the message needs to be strong.

For the greatest impact, groups need to be carefully issue focused and wide spread.  We should try for at least one group in every state and territory.  In Q'ld, we should be able to manage at least two, say Cairns and Brisbane.

Institutions we might focus on

• Psychologists, psychiatric and counselling boards/representative bodies.
• Police/Investigators
• Parliaments
• Prisons
• Media

There  may be other target groups you could mention.

This paper is meant to promote quick and meaningful discussion.  If we are to co-ordinate our actions with other countries eg. NZ and the UK., time is of the essence. 

I am hopeful of a prompt response so we are able to get the ball rolling.

Yours very sincerely,