Child abuse study on hold - Cherbourg
02.06.2010



By: Tony Koch


THE parliamentary overseer of Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission has suspended a child sexual abuse study, after a researcher expressed alarm about Aboriginal primary school students being exposed to an explicit questionnaire and illustrations.
The state parliamentary CMC committee appointed Brisbane barrister Peter Richards to investigate the complaint, which has provoked anger among parents of children used in the study at the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg, northwest of Brisbane.
Those interviewed by The Australian said yesterday they were not informed of the content of the CMC survey and would not have given their consent if they had known it dealt openly with sexual matters.
It's understood children at Cherbourg State Primary School were read questions from a 14-page document by researchers detailing various scenarios involving sex and sexual abuse, in some cases by a relative. The study was led by CMC director of research Margot Legosz, who declined to be interviewed.
A copy of the questionnaire, obtained by The Australian, alludes to one of the accompanying illustrations depicting oral sex with a boy.
Other illustrations depict a man putting his hand down the pants of a young girl and a man unzipping his trousers in front of a child.
The intent of the study, which began last year, was to evaluate the awareness of the children of sexual abuse. But Cherbourg Mayor Sam Murray, who has a child at the school, said parents had not been told what the program involved.
``If this is true, someone has to be held accountable to the kids, the school and our community,'' he said.
Another parent, Jennifer Hart, said the explicit matters dealt with in the study were ``not for outsiders to deal with''. She would not have agreed to her children being involved in such lengthy questioning about sex.
The CMC confirmed the action to suspend the study by the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee. The CMC said the concerns had also been referred to Queensland Police, which had found no grounds for criminal action.
However, the CMC agency refused to say exactly what had been put to the children, believed to be aged between nine and 13.
``It is not possible to answer the majority of your questions as it would be inappropriate for the CMC to comment on any details regarding the investigation,'' the agency said in a statement.
Griffith University indigenous unit head Boni Robertson, who headed a landmark investigation into sexual abuse in indigenous communities a decade ago, said yesterday the program ``breaches research standards on several levels -- cultural, moral and ethical''.
``All research of this type has to be approved firstly by an officiating body and whoever approved this needs to be brought to account,'' Professor Robertson said.