Child Abuse and Fear

I see to recall a recent post about child abuse but here's another letter which struck a bit of a chord with me and my obsession with the constant fear-mongers we have in government.


October 12, 2007
I HAVE just received my NetAlert Protecting Australian Families Online package in the mail. The Australian Government has spent $189 million to date, and the document is full of fear.
According to the document, 40 per cent of children who chat online chat to people they do not know, and 39 per cent of children have photos of themselves online. Oh dear. Where are the statistics to say that the World Wide Web is harming our children or putting them at real danger?
How much is the Australian Government spending on child sexual abuse in this country? The most recent national figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare indicate that 198,355 reports of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect made were made to authorities nationwide in 2002-03. This figure has risen significantly in recent years; there had been 91,734 reports in 1995-96.
It is estimated that 85 per cent of sexual abuse occurs in the home.
Even assuming all abuse out of the home is online (a ridiculous proposition), we are targeting $189 million at 15 per cent of the abuse.
Why doesn't the Government address the 85 per cent? I guess that telling families they best look in their own backyard rather than the amorphous "internet" isn't as politically compelling.
One in three girls and one in six boys will be the victim of sexual assault before the age of 18 but there is virtually no direct ongoing government funding to help victims.
There is also no accurate information about the prevalence of child abuse in Australia. The most accurate statistics available are the numbers of reports of suspected child abuse made to statutory child protection departments. While these figures give some indication of the incidence of child abuse and neglect, it is believed that fewer cases of abuse are reported than are occurring.
The Government may be better placed spending $189 million in the area of child sexual abuse, which is real, rather than on the fear campaign it is running with the Protecting Australian Families Online program.
Pheona Arndell
Bronte

Perhaps it also resonates becuase I finished reading The Unknown Terrorist last night and while I was generally rather dissapointed with the book from a literary point of view (get me!) I enjoyed the ending which seemed to focus on the selling of fear. It was still pretty crude and I wouldn't recommend the book but it chimed.