Abstract

The inconsistency of the Child Abuse Vigilantes

Article

Ill-informed, inexperienced and untrained self-appointed vigilantes who know better than the courts the suitable sentence for child-abusers are mystifyingly silent as to the issue of children who are said by medical practitioners to be suffering severe mental stress by their captivity on Nauru.

This observation is not to affirm the validity of the claims, but it might be expected that there is enough evidence at least to induce anyone who genuinely purports to care for the welfare of young children to speak up with the same volume of noise to support an independent assessment of the position, and to advocate any remedy which might ameliorate the harm which might be found to exist. The silence implies that there are other agendas.

The government should take serious steps, radical if necessary, to protect those children, whose position is not of their making.

The law has long found that every absolute principle eventually requires modification tomeet the exigencies of justice.

Child abuse is too important and too serious to allow it to be used and trivialised by the behaviour of self-appointed vigilantes, who have a conflict of interest between popularity and other serious considerations.