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| Down Under |
| Canberra fund to stop Bali child attacks |
| 2005-04-12 |
| THE Howard Government yesterday approved funding for child protection courses in Bali hotels on the same day Foreign Minister Alexander Downer came under pressure for refusing to update travel warnings following two child sexual assaults on the island. Child Wise national program manager Karen Flanagan yesterday was told of the federal funding for a program to educate predator-prone industries in Bali about screening for pedophiles. The cash comes two years after Child Wise advised the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that overseas hotel child-minding services were a possible playground for pedophiles. "The head of the consular branch in DFAT confirmed it today," Ms Flanagan said. Under the program, hotels will be taught how to recruit, screen and handle staff who work with children. It came as Mr Downer was forced to defend his decision not to issue pedophile-specific travel warnings for Indonesia, after - as revealed by The Australian yesterday - being pressed to do so by families whose children were abused. Mr Downer yesterday said a general warning about childcare had been included on the DFAT website. A two-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy were abused while in the care of creches at exclusive Bali resorts. The families - through Justice Minister Chris Ellison - called on Mr Downer to upgrade travel warnings to include the assaults and a list of hotels which failed to meet Australian standards. Mr Downer said the assaults could not be mentioned because a police investigation failed to substantiate claims the two children were sexually abused while they were in care. He said yesterday "it would be a tough thing to do" to upgrade the warnings - despite the Federal Police having found the Indonesian investigation flawed. "The Australian Federal Police co-operated with their Indonesian counterparts on both investigations, neither of which has led to charges being laid," he said. "It's simply impossible for Australian officials to check out every childcare centre in the world." But the AFP, which investigated the alleged rape of the girl at the Sheraton Nusa Indah's creche in 2001, found "serious flaws" in the handling of the case by local authorities, the ABC's Lateline program reported last night. Hotel staff were not properly tested for gonorrhoea, which the young girl contracted after the alleged rape. The second incident allegedly took place in November 2003 when a five-year-old West Australian boy was allegedly orally raped at a "kids' club" at a neighbouring resort. The boy's mother, in a harrowing account of her son's ordeal, told the ABC's Lateline: "He held him down using my son's shoulders and he forced his mouth open ... he actually showed us using his hand how the man held his mouth open (and) where he obviously put his penis in." The families say they did not get adequate consular assistance in Bali or Australia. The boy's mother said her husband rang the embassy and the AFP on the day of the assault and left a message but received no response. He was also referred to an emergency Canberra number, but no one answered. Back in Australia and frustrated by the lack of action, the mother sent an email to John Howard, Mr Downer and other officials. An official from DFAT later wrote to the family claiming the first the department had heard of the allegations was in that letter. There was no record of the father's calls. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |