South Australian Care Workers have formed a new lobby group as the State Government continues to investigate many hundreds of allegations of child sex abuse by former and current State wards against their childhood carers.
The CareWorkers Coalition of South Australia has been created amid growing concerns that care providers are being falsely accused of child sex offences by individuals seeking compensation payouts offered by the State Government.
Coalition spokesperson
Julie Halifax said extensive international experience over the last 20 years had demonstrated that the Rann Government’s offer of compensation for sexually abused State wards would also generate many false complaints here.
“In other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, literally thousands of false allegations, have been linked to government offers of compensation.” said Ms Halifax, an experienced foster parent.
“From 1993 to 2005, the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia spent over $150 million, firstly investigating and compensating 1500 alleged victims - and then compensating falsely accused carers. There was not a single conviction, let alone a single charge being laid against over 400 accused carers. How much will it cost taxpayers here in South Australia?
“The Mullighan Inquiry has now received complaints from 780 people and its time frame has blown out by two years to 2007, when it had already been extended to finish by June next year.”
“International experience with similar inquiries has shown that many of these complaints will not be genuine, and that there will be hundreds of innocent care workers falsely accused. Compensation is the main incentive, followed by persons who are simply seeking attention.
“Lives are ruined by false allegations of sex abuse. Careers and reputations are destroyed. The psychological impact can be enormous. Three carers in Canada actually committed suicide when false accusations were believed by their Governmental employers. All three were posthumously found innocent. Similar tragedies have also happened in France.
“The Care Workers Coalition of South Australia has been formed because we need to protect ourselves from unwarranted assaults on our integrity, our reputations and profession. The justice system must be fair and equitable for all.”
“ We want justice for those who have been genuinely abused whilst in State care, but we do not want to see the genuine victims and a balanced approach lost in the stampede of other people making false allegations in a rush for compensation.”
Ms Halifax said the Care Workers Coalition would represent residential care workers, foster carers, youth workers, doctors, teachers, coaches, managers, counsellors, security staff, grounds workers, office workers and anyone with concerns about the threat of false allegations.
Its primary objective is to ensure care workers receive fair treatment and natural justice during the Mullighan Inquiry and any subsequent processes, such as, police investigations, internal government investigations and criminal prosecutions.There already have been 60 cases referred by the Mullighan Inquiry to the South Australian Police,” said Ms Halifax.
“We don’t want to repeat the overseas experiences of innocent people being wrongfully arrested, charged, convicted and then released from prison. In many thousands of other cases, no charges or convictions at all resulted, just expensive investigations.”
“Innocent care workers have since successfully sued for many millions of dollars of compensation for trauma inflicted upon them by their employers and Governments.”
Ms Halifax said the CareWorkers Coalition of SA was also becoming increasingly concerned that the Rann Government, and particularly the Minister for Families and Communities, Jay Weatherill, was prejudging people before they had appeared in court.
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Mr Weatherill is constantly telling the media that “we know abuse occurs because there are cases before the criminal courts”. This is grossly inappropriate.”
“Anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around: This basic human right is now under threat.”
“Accused people are not offenders. They are alleged offenders.”
"People making allegations are also being described as “victims” and “survivors” before their claims have been proven or tested. They should be described as “complainants” until the Court has delivered a verdict.”
“The Care Workers Coalition demands that the Rann Government and other commentators stop using such politically charged language.”
Ms Halifax said the Care Workers Coalition also wanted the Mullighan Inquiry and other investigations into allegations of child sex abuse to:
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Offer all complainants and accused persons the opportunity to undergo professional polygraph testing; as used by police forces all over the world, including Australia.
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Videotape all interviews with complainants and accused persons.
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Investigate the veracity of allegations for a basic level of accuracy as many false allegations overseas were easily disproved, but no simple checks were conducted because it was fashionable to ‘believe the children’ at any cost, even though most are now adults.
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Immediately put into place - and enforce - meaningful disincentives to stop people from making false & malicious allegations.
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Reinforce and reiterate to the public, and the media, the importance of the presumption of innocence, a balanced approach and privacy.
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Reinforce and reiterate to the public, and the media, the need for avoiding myths, speculation and stereotypes.
“We do not want miscarriages of justice to reoccur in South Australia when we can learn from others and put in place a process that is fair for everyone involved.”
Ms Halifax said the CareWorkers Coalition would shortly announce details of a public meeting for any professionals, foster parents and other care providers concerned about the Mullighan Inquiry and other child abuse investigations.
A well-known Adelaide law firm, Griffin Hilditch, had been engaged by the CareWorkers Coalition to provide professional legal advice, and to make submissions to the Mullighan Inquiry on matters affecting careworkers.