Explosive document slams inquiry into child sex abuse as mere ‘guise for progress and reform’

A lawyer for child sexual assault victims in Tasmania has slammed the government’s management of allegations and its upcoming Commission of Inquiry.

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A KEY lawyer working for Tasmanian child sexual abuse survivors has slammed the state government’s “culture of corruption” in protecting paedophiles, claiming an upcoming Commission of Inquiry may do nothing to stop the “assault and torture” of the state’s most vulnerable children.

In an explosive new document, Sebastian Buscemi has penned a damning list of his criticisms surrounding the inquiry’s “limited” terms of reference as potentially enabling the ongoing physical and psychological abuse of children in Tasmania.

But Mr Buscemi’s Commission of Inquiry submission is also a scathing indictment of the state government’s management of child abuse allegations, which he describes variously as “disingenuous”, “misleading”, gaslighting and secretive — all hidden beneath a veneer of attempting to appear proactive and accountable.

Lawyer Sebastian Buscemi in Hobart. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

The lawyer has been a key agitator in the campaign for an inquiry into historic and current child abuse at the hands of state government employees.

However, since the inquiry was announced last November, Mr Buscemi has been keen to raise the alarm that it could be a mere “guise for progress and reform”.

He says an inquiry that only investigates child sexual abuse at the hands of state government employees is a dangerous move, considering the variety of abuse at institutions such as the Ashley Youth Detention Centre (AYDC).

“The illusion of accountability poses a far greater risk to children in Tasmania than the failure to do anything,” Mr Buscemi says in his submission.

“Whether this is remedied will depend on the government’s willingness to hold itself to account. Should the state fail to do so, there would no doubt it is content to witness and even facilitate, the assault and torture of some of its most vulnerable children.”

Mr Buscemi said AYDC was an example of how state government child abuse had not lessened over time, but simply become more subversive.

He said not only were the centre’s detainees subject to overt sexual and physical abuse — but suffered other types of human rights abuses such as lack of appropriate health care, interference with privacy including legal correspondence, education being withheld as punishment, isolation, neglect, and dehumanising, humiliating or degrading treatment.

“It is entirely consistent with any systemic violation of human rights and/or abuse of children that a self-investigation would be framed to avoid revealing the extent of wrongdoing and/or determine to resolve that conduct,” he said.

“In this context it is unsurprising the draft terms of reference fall short of dealing with the scope of the problem and appear to be designed to avoid uncovering the true nature of what is occurring.”

A government spokesperson said the terms of reference were “very broad and wide-ranging”, based on the federal royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse, and gave the inquiry the ability to examine any unlawful or improper treatment of children connected with sexual abuse.

They said the inquiry also had the power to investigate circumstances where a person had been helped to avoid detection for abuse.

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