Child abuse enablers should be prosecuted as harshly as the predators themselves: Steve Fisher

An abuse survivor and key advocate has questioned whether there could be a paedophile ring active in Tasmania’s state school system. LATEST >>

STAFF who have enabled child abusers to continue teaching in Tasmania’s school system must be criminally prosecuted “as harshly as the paedophiles themselves”, a key advocate says.

Survivor Steve Fisher said Tasmania had long been regarded as a “paedophile playground” due to abusers being protected and provided with ongoing employment, and that it was time for enablers to “be prosecuted to the nth degree of the law”.

He also questioned whether there could be a paedophile ring active within Tasmania’s state school system.

Mr Fisher’s comment have come in the wake of a report into child sexual abuse in the state education system, which has criticised a “deeply disturbing” history of allowing predators to continue teaching for decades while complaints piled up around them.

“It’s very sad that basically we have another situation where institutions are rife with not only paedophiles, but people covering paedophiles up and moving them around,” he said.

New sex abusve survivor support centre opening

“They should be treated as harshly as the paedophiles themselves. Somebody that enables four paedophiles to do (whatever he wants) is basically abusing four lots of children themselves.”

Mr Fisher said he had been campaigning for an inquiry into Tasmanian institutional child sexual abuse for almost two decades.

“If the Bill had been passed, if we’d had a Commission of Inquiry 18 years ago, how many children would have been saved? It’s been like a political football,” he said.

“The recommendations (from the new department independent inquiry report) have to all be implemented and we need to really come together as a society and just stop this. This is ridiculous.”

Mr Fisher said he was disturbed – but not surprised – to hear current Department of Education staff were under review and investigation since the inquiry.

“It’s just mind-boggling to think in this day and age, after all we’ve gone through, the abusers basically use the same MO as what they did 20 years ago and they’ve gotten away with it,” he said.

“At the same time, thank God it’s been uncovered and something will be done about it.”

Mr Fisher, who survived abuse at the hands of Anglican priest Garth Hawkins during the 1980s, is the founder of support organisation Beyond Abuse.

Concern flagged over 41 current Education Department staff

MORE than 40 current public school staff in Tasmania have been flagged as having “some record of concern”, according to a new report into child sexual abuse.

The full report of an independent inquiry in the Education Department’s responses to child sexual abuse also reveals a culture of “victim-blaming” and abuse cases taking long periods to resolve – or never being resolved at all.

On Tuesday, the findings and recommendations from the inquiry were released, criticising a “deeply disturbing” history where alleged child sexual abusers were allowed to continue teaching for decades.

The Mercury has since obtained a copy of the full report, which reveals 41 currently-serving departmental staff have “some record of concern”, including three principals, with 21 of those cases assessed as requiring further review and possible investigation.

The report details a number of case studies highlighting the department’s problematic history of dealing with serial child sexual offenders, including priest-turned-teacher Anthony Alan LeClerc and science teacher Darrel George Harington.

The report also referred to convicted female offender Casey Sullivan, who taught and offended in the Huon Valley region between 2012 and 2015.

The report authors, forensic psychologist Stephen Smallbone and international law academic Tim McCormack, said recurring themes about sexual abuse allegations in Tasmanian schools included victim-blaming, and perceptions that schools and the Department of Education were unwilling to believe children’s sexual abuse complaints.

Report author Tim McCormack. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

Report author Stephen Smallbone. Picture: ANNETTE DEW

They also said another common theme were concerns about abusers being transferred to other schools after complaints piled up against them.

The Department of Justice made a call for public submissions before the authors were appointed in October last year.

They received 19 submissions referring to 30 children who had experienced alleged or proven sexual abuse in Tasmanian schools.

“Several submissions described how school staff blamed child complainants for the situations in which they were sexually abused,” Professors Smallbone and McCormack said in the report.

“Another common theme in the submissions was that school staff often failed to provide support to students who had disclosed sexual abuse.”

The report also identified serious limitations in the Registration for Working with Vulnerable People clearances including that most sex offenders don’t have a record of prior convictions, and many may only attack for the first time while already employed at a school.

In Question Time on Wednesday, Labor leader Rebecca White said she was appalled to learn that 21 people had been identified as needing further investigation.

“How many are currently being investigated?” she asked. “Are any of those 21 still working in our schools?”

Minister for Education, Children and Youth Sarah Courtney said appropriate action was being taken, including reviewing all known historic allegations of abuse made against current employees.

She said the majority of recommendations would be complete by the end of 2022, and that the government had already established a new Office of Safeguarding Children and Young People.

During 2020, the Mercury revealed both Harington and LeClerc had simply been transferred from school-to-school, over decades, whenever the sheer volume of complaints about them made their positions untenable.

‘Gravely concerned’: Labor grills government over abuse report

THE government is under fire from opposition parties for its record on child protection after a damning report on the handling of abuse claims in the Education Department.

An independent inquiry into responses to child sexual abuse claims found the department routinely deflected or ignored concerns and complaints, “often by disbelieving or blaming students, and by shielding alleged or known sexual abusers”.

In Question Time on Wednesday, Labor leader Rebecca White said she was appalled to learn that 21 people had been identified as needing further investigation.

“How many are currently being investigated?” she asked. “Are any of those 21 still working in our schools?”

Minister for Education. Children and Youth Sarah Courtney told Parliament appropriate action was being taken.

“I’m advised that five code of conduct investigations have commenced for alleged historic sexual misconduct as part of the Secretary’s work — with employees being suspended to the period of investigation,” she said.

“Two of the code of conduct investigations had now concluded, with there being no evidence of sexual misconduct told by the employees in question and their employment has recommenced.

“Appropriate action has been taken the Secretary of the Department of Education to review and action any immediate risks to children and young people in Tasmanian schools that were identified by the report.

“These include reviewing all known historic allegations of child sexual abuse made against current employees identifiable in the report to ensure appropriate action has been undertaken.”

Ms White said she remained gravely concerned.

“It made my stomach drop to learn that teachers no longer feel they can report cases of potential abuse of children because they don’t think will be acted upon,” she said.

“It also made my stomach drop to learn that there are 21 cases identified through this report of individual teachers within the Department of Education or individual staff within the Department of Education, who they have real concerns about when it comes to allegations that have been made about their conduct and the safety of children.

“We asked the Minister to explain what the status was of those 21 cases. I remain concerned that the 16 that you didn’t mention. We are unclear about the status of those.”

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor accused the government of sitting on the report for five months — and allowing parents to continue to send their children to school in “complete ignorance”.

She said it was “shifty” that the government tabled a redacted report to Parliament at the same time as releasing the full report to the media under Right to Information laws.

Deeply disturbing: Tassie schools ‘shielded abusers, blamed victims’

TASMANIA’s Education Department has been criticised for its “deeply disturbing” history of allowing alleged child sexual abusers to continue teaching for decades while complaints piled up around them.

On Tuesday, the findings and recommendations from an independent inquiry into the department’s responses to child sexual abuse were released, reproving the way Tasmania’s state school system’s default reaction to allegations was often to “protect itself”, shield abusers and disblieve students.

Convicted sex offender Darrel George Harington.

During 2020, the Mercury revealed how between the 1970s and 1990s, the department simply moved prolific paedophile teachers Darrel George Harington and Anthony Alan LeClerc from school to school whenever the sheer volume of allegations against them made their positions untenable.

The report authors, Professors Stephen Smallbone and Tim McCormack, said the department routinely deflected or ignored concerns and complaints, “often by disbelieving or blaming students, and by shielding alleged or known sexual abusers”.

“We have found it deeply disturbing that, as concerns, complaints and ineffectual responses literally piled up in the Department of Education’s records, serial abusers like Harington and LeClerc were not just allowed to keep teaching for decades, but that (department) leaders and others so wilfully disregarded the obvious risks and harms to students,” they said.

“Department of Education responses over this period routinely involved deflecting or ignoring concerns and complaints, often by disbelieving or blaming students, and by shielding alleged or known sexual abusers.”

The pair said the department’s responses couldn’t be explained away simply because “that’s just the way things were back then”, because the evidence showed abusers like Harington and LeClerc were often managed in ways “completely at odds” with community expectations at the time.

The report also found there had been “significant uncertainty” among school principals and staff about who should notifying Tasmania Police with sexual abuse allegations.

Meanwhile, the Education Department secretary apologised “unreservedly” to historical victims of child sexual abuse in state schools.

“I am deeply sorry for the historical abuse that happened in our schools and apologise unreservedly to the victims and survivors,” secretary Tim Bullard said.

“As an organisation, we recognise and regret our past failings. They have left a lasting and negative impact on the lives of victims and survivors.”

Mr Bullard said the department would implement all of the inquiry’s 21 recommendations to improve the safety of children in state schools over the coming year.

He said some of the recommendations - such as the creation of a new executive director role in child safekeeping - had already been implemented, alongside recommendations from the federal royal commission.

Education Minister Sarah Courtney said she shared Mr Bullard’s “deep sorrow and regret” about the abuse of children in Tasmania’s state schools, and that “quite clearly there was still more work to do”.

“We don’t want to live in a community where this behaviour is ever acceptable, or indeed ever happens,” she said.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the “deeply confronting” report pointed to a departmental culture that “provided cover for paedophiles”, which also lacked “robust systems and data collection”.

She also criticised the lag time between the report date of June this year, and its release just this week.

“Every day of that four months, Tasmanian parents have been sending their children into public schools in trust that they will be cared for,” she said.

“Right now, there are still question marks over the processes that the department has to keep children safe. There are still question marks over mandatory reporting requirements and the systems that the department has.”

The inquiry into the Education Department was announced in August last year.

Three months later, the state government announced a full Commission of Inquiry would be held into abuse responses of the education department, the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, Tasmania’s hospitals and other government organisations that dealt with children.

Hearings of evidence in the Commission of Inquiry are expected to begin in February next year.

Opposition leader Rebecca White said it was important the recommendations as revealed on Tuesday were implemented now, not after the commission’s work was done.

“We can’t condone a culture of cover-up,” she said.