Very angry

Wanna know how to get me upset?

Wanna know how to piss of a victim of abuse? Wait until another person goes public about their abuse, and then suggest that they’re just doing it for money for fame.

I don’t think people grasp the concept that not everyone wants to be famous. Not everyone is looking for that 15 minutes. Some people just want to be heard. They want justice. They want to right a few wrongs.

Everytime I see a new person who is being investigated, for just a minute, I’m so happy that others are following in my footsteps, and are taking on the high profile untouchables. But that joy doesn’t last very long, because it only takes a few minutes for the doubters to come out. All the people who think the only reason a person would ever speak up is because they want to be the next Kim Kardashian, or they want to pad their bank accounts.

Except for me, I can’t recall the last public figure who actually named another public figure, and then went to court. Corey Feldman spoke up about the industry, but didn’t name specific people. There’s a few others in the US who have spoken up, but unfortunately, the US has a statue of limitations. If a person doesn’t press charges pretty quick, then it just becomes slander if they name someone. Over here, people will speak up to let others know it’s happened, or is still happening. I have spoken to several other former kid actors over here in the US who have been through abuse. Some spoke up, some didn’t. They all know how terribly hard it is to live with, being judged. Every little thing you say will be over analyzed, picked apart, recorded, and then, if you’re lucky enough to make it to court, it can and will be used against you. Ever drunk tweeted Simon Cowell? Well, you can bet your arse that will come up in court. Ever said you thought a certain party would be fun to attend? Oh, you must be making up a story of abuse so that you can hob nob with the other actors then.

Most public figures simply don’t say anything. They don’t want to get involved. It’s messy. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t help your career. Not all publicity is good publicity. Corey has been steadily working for years. Not box office gold, but he’s still working. Think his going public about him and Haim being abused helped his career? Pfth. He copped so much shit after that, I’d be surprised if he ever talked about it again. Imagine trying to speak up and have Barbara tell you “You’re ruining an entire industry.” Think I helped my career by standing up? I was slowly finding my place in life. I was just getting my shit together. Then I went public. I couldn’t make a comeback to TV if I wanted to these days. No one would hire me. I was asked to do Celebrity Apprentice the first year, but my “minders” told me not to do it, because it would look bad if we went to court. Now it’s over, I won’t get anything either. There’s not a lot of work for people who speak up against their own. Right now, it’s “too soon” after court. Next year, I’ll be long forgotten.

As a public figure, you’re not supposed to talk about how hard the journey is, in case others who are thinking of speaking up hear you, and decide not to. There’s so much pressure to constantly say the right thing. Everyone is watching, waiting. So many people put demands on you. They’ll all use your name publicly, as if they’re right there with you, when in most cases, they haven’t checked in on you for months. When it’s over though, they all give you a pat on the back, publicly of course, then move on to the next cause. You’re left standing there, life in tatters, not knowing where to go, who your friends are, or what to do next. Can you do what you want now without people watching and speculating? If you decide to go back to TV, will it be used against you in an appeal? Will people come out and think, well, she must have been planning this all along? Or do you just go crawl back under the rock you were dragged out from? Give up on everything? Some days that seems much easier.

So if it’s that hard for people who are used to the public scrutiny, I can’t imagine what it would be like for a non public person. Funny though, with all these people pointing foul, and claiming anyone speaking up must be doing it for fame or money, I couldn’t name a single person off the top of my head who has spoken up against Robert, Rolf, Jimmy, Max or now Cliff. Can you? Do you know who any of these people are? There are literally hundreds of people who went to police about Jimmy Saville. Hundreds. Can you name any of them? What about Rolf? What about Robert? Do you even know how many people were involved in the Robert investigation? Think it was just the five that went to court? Nope. That’s just the ones who had enough evidence the police could lay charges. There was more. Many more of us. But apart from his niece, who didn’t get charges laid, do you know who any of them are? Do you think we somehow all came out of this four year ordeal better off? Are we now all rich and famous? Are we driving around in Bentleys, on our way to the Yacht Club? Are we drinking with the hipsters in Ibiza? Am I back in Oz, working on a TV show? Better still, did I manage to convert my infamy in Oz to a career in Hollywood? Yeah, cause that’s just what a producer here is looking for…. A has been child star from a foreign country who pressed charges against her on screen dad, while implicating her producer and network. Gosh, I have no idea why I don’t have people from Hollywood offering me stacks of cash for a reality show. – Yes, that was sarcasm. (Which you’ll learn you need to point out for when your blog posts come up in court)

What about any of the other cases? Are any of those people better off? Have they made a wad of cash? Are they on Oprah? Or DWTS? Or anything?

No. Nobody presses charges against a celebrity for sexual abuse to better themselves. At least not financially. It certainly doesn’t help with your street cred either. It just makes people uncomfortable. Nobody knows what to say in front of you. People at work will be paranoid that you’re now the sexual harassment lawsuit girl. People will think you magically got a bunch of money. Not sure where from. I didn’t get any victims of crime money. The govt slashed it while the police were investigating. Robert’s lawyer made a big deal about spreading the rumor that his client was bankrupt. (Of course, he’s still got enough for an appeal though) Not that I could sue anyway. While there’s no statute for criminal charges, one for a civil suit passed well before we went public. We can have the dates waived with a court order, but after being through court once, I doubt most people have the energy left to fight again. I know I don’t. I do hope all the girls in the Rolf Harris case can band together for strength and follow through on their case for compensation. They probably won’t get much after lawyers fees, etc, but hopefully it’s enough they can pay for counseling, or at least a time out to de-stress from the court proceedings.

I know I’m rambling on at this point. I guess all I really want to say is, before you open your mouth and declare that someone must be getting unfairly targeted for being a singer, actor, sportsperson or whatever, stop and think. Do you even know who the victim is? Do you know anything about them at all? Do you have any idea of what they’ve been through, or what it must be like for them to now be speaking up? Do you really think there’s anything to be gained by them pressing charges? Most importantly, when you open your mouth with your doubts, who else are you hurting? Are you questioning your own loved ones? Would they have told you something that was happening to them, but now won’t, because they think that you’ll think they’re just making it up? Are you passing judgement on a friend who may have been through abuse, but hasn’t shared that with you?

When you declare someone must be doing it for fame or fortune, it says a lot more about you than about the victim. It says that it’s something that you’d consider doing. That whole thing about robbers being worried about being robbed, or hitmen being killed, cheaters being cheated on, etc…

Most of us just want to stop the pain. We want to make it right. We want an apology. We didn’t make a consensual sex tape that “accidentally got leaked”. We were abused, against our will. We’ve already been stripped bare and had our emotions played with. We don’t need it again while already going through a shitty experience. Don’t be that person who pokes someone who’s already on a ledge.

August 13, 2014

Searching for Direction

Where to now?

You ever feel like you’re having a mini mid life crisis? I think I’m having one of those right now.

I’m 37 years old, and honestly, I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I have a great job. I get paid lots of money to sit in an office and do a minimal amount of work. I should be grateful. I know I should be happy. But, I’m not. It’s boring and unfulfilling.

A few years ago, I had a long look inside and wondered what I wanted to do. Matt and I sat down, and thought about all the things I loved. The happiest people do what they enjoy, and turn that into a living. Success isn’t about how much money you have, but how rich you feel. Rich to me isn’t about cash either. It’s about quality of life. Happiness. Waking up and felling like you’ve got a purpose.

So, I knew I liked SCUBA, I knew I wanted to try to go back to working in the media. Not really in front of the camera, but producing. I started Going Down. It was freaking awesome. There was always something new and challenging. I enjoyed looking forward to setting up the next location. I loved meeting new people. I was amazed at how much more respect people gave you as a “Producer” than as an actor. Then, I was asked to talk about all the shit that went down on Hey Dad..! I didn’t want to at first, because I felt like I was finally on a path in life. But, I knew it was the right thing to do, so I did it. Then there was all these people claiming I was only coming forward to promote Going Down, which was a load of shit. So, I shut it down. No more diving. No more travel. No more meeting awesome people. No new challenges.

The last four years have been a challenge, but not the good kind. I know I’ve changed as a person. I know it made me stronger, probably a little smarter, and a little bitter. I kept looking forward to it all being over. For four years, you just wish it would all end. Finally, we went to court. We put the bad man away. It’s not quite over, he’s still appealing, but I’m pretty much done.

So now I don’t know what’s next. The last four years I’ve spent focused on getting to court. I’ve focused on putting him away. I’ve had a few months now to decompress. I was looking forward to campaigning for new laws. To change some things. Honestly though, it’s just so hard to do anything effective in Australia when you’re living in Texas. I want to be a great ambassador for kids, but it’s a challenge when you’re 13,000 kms away.

So now I’m trying to work out what’s next. Do I start Going Down again? Do I go back to acting? I never thought I’d go back to acting, but I think it might be good to try it again, as therapy more than anything. I want to change my memories of working in TV, and know it’s not all sleazes and assholes.

I love to create things. Do I follow in my dad’s footsteps, and design clothes? I love fashion. I love make-up. I love color. I’ve had so many people tell me I should be a stylist – I’m pretty brutal about what does and doesn’t look good on someone.

I like to write. I’ve thought about studying journalism. I like to help and heal people. When I joined the guard, I was going to become an EMT…

I guess for now I’ll remain at my desk, filling out reports. But I’ll be doing lots of soul searching, trying to find direction….

July 16, 2014

A Secret Safe to Tell

Encouraging your kids to disclose abuse

I received a wonderful kids book from author Naomi Hunter.

Naomi wrote a children’s book, about the journey of a small child being abused, and how they found their voice and told somebody.

Most kids being abused are told by their abuser that it’s their secret. That they can’t tell anyone. That even if they did, that nobody would believe them, or they will get into trouble. Naomi shows all the emotions that kids go through, in a surprisingly simple way, and how when the little girl does speak, somebody believes her. It’s a little girl in the book, but it would work just as well with boy children.

I hope the government grabs this book, and puts it into every school library and every kids classroom in Australia. It’s such a simple book, yet so incredibly powerful. One child has already disclosed to her parents after reading the book.

You can get a signed copy of the book by going to Naomi’s FaceBook page or you can get it through the publisher here. You can also go to your local bookshop and have them order it in if it’s not already on the shelf.

Best of luck to you Naomi. So proud of you for such a great book.

July 10, 2014July 10, 2014

Flying frustrations

Pacific Wings

How I wanted to love you Pacific Wings/ Sun Air International. You’re a small plane at a tiny airport. Hearing you existed in my small town gave me visions of that great 1980’s TV sitcom, Wings.

When my husband assured his boss that by leaving San Antonio and it’s big international airport he could still get around, we had no idea… His first flight to Houston went fine. He said it was cute. But then he tried to return. Granted, there was a bad storm, and I fully understand your not wanting to fly. You even did the right thing, and gave your 6 passengers a cab. He got some random cabbie from a far off nation, who didn’t understand road rules, or stripes, or accelerators. He was in that cab with a kiwi, a local military guy just back from war, and my husband, who has lived through cab rides in China. All three sent messages home telling people they loved them. Not your fault, but still, not a great experience.

So he tried again. He went off to Tampa without a hitch, but his flight back was running late. He was going to make it, but it would be tight. I called you guys to say he would be there, but it would be close. He got there, and you had left. Not late, not on time, but early. He was told by the people at the next counter you had left 3 minutes early, with only one passenger on board. This time, he was pissed.

I however, decided to give you one last chance. We’re headed to Albuquerque tomorrow. Instead of driving to our house in San Antonio, leaving a car there and flying to Albuquerque, where we are picking up a new car and driving back to Texas, we decided to just fly out of Victoria.

Our friend who we’re buying the car from is also flying into Albuquerque. I picked our right times so we would arrive at the same time. However, someone just called me to tell me that our 6am flight is cancelled, and they’re going to put us on the next flight. Yeah, that doesn’t work for me. My connection leaves before your next flight to Houston does. When I explain I have a connection, she tells me she doesn’t see that. Right, cause I booked it separately. You don’t fly anywhere else. She then said I should email someone for a refund…

So, now I have to work out how the hell we’re going to get to Houston tomorrow before 9am for my other flights.

So Sun Air, I tried. I tried to give a small operator a chance. I tried to give some money to the little guy. But you failed, and now I’ll never get my husband to use you guys again. I’ll never experience my fantasy of Wings.

There’s rumors a new airline is coming to Victoria. One that will fly to more places than just Houston. One that will actually fly out when it’s supposed to. I look forward to that day….

July 10, 2014

The Judge said What?

Judge Garry Neilson said What?

A Sydney judge has compared incest and paedophilia to homosexuality, saying the community may no longer see sexual contact between siblings and between adults and children as “unnatural” or “taboo”.

District Court Judge Garry Neilson said just as gay sex was socially unacceptable and criminal in the 1950s and 1960s but is now widely accepted, “a jury might find nothing untoward in the advance of a brother towards his sister once she had sexually matured, had sexual relationships with other men and was now ‘available’, not having [a] sexual partner”.

He also said the “only reason” that incest is still a crime is because of the high risk of genetic abnormalities in children born from consanguineous relationships “but even that falls away to an extent [because] there is such ease of contraception and readily access to abortion”.

Ok, so it’s awesome that people no longer view gay sex as taboo. I’m glad he recognizes that. However, everything that comes out of his mouth after that just scares the shit outta me.

Does he really think that two consenting adult males who engage in sexual activity is the same as an adult male having sexual relations with a male child? Is he OK with an adult male having sex with a 10 year old boy, because gay sex is no longer taboo? Does he not understand that gay sex has nothing to do with pedophilia? One can be gay, and have no interest in little boys. One can be interested in little boys, and have no interest in consenting adult gay sex. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

Then there’s his comments on women. So he thinks it’s OK to fuck your sister, as long as she’s been with a couple guys before you? So many jokes about Tasmania come to mind, and suddenly, none of them are funny. I can’t believe this guy thinks it’s all good to look at your sister, think, yep, she’s obviously up for it, cause she’s been with a couple guys, had a kid, so if I want me some, I can just go get it. If I get her knocked up, I’ll just take her to get an abortion.

What planet does this guy live on? Even if a woman has had a relationship with a man and is no longer a virgin, that doesn’t mean that she is therefor open to any man to have sex with her. Does this Judge have a sister? I’m terrified for her if he does. What if he gets horny one night and thinks he can just have her?

This man needs a serious background check. Someone needs to dig in and see if he’s a member of NAMBLA. Anyone who thinks that a woman is just there to service a man, relative or not, doesn’t need to be sitting on the bench. If you can’t understand the difference between consensual sex, incest, and “oh hey, you’re not a virgin, so quit your whining”, needs some serious evaluation.

I hope this guy is disbarred. He needs to be forced off the bench. They need to go back and look at all his past cases, and see if he’s been unduly lenient to sex offenders and those charged with incest.

So grateful we’ve got the Royal Commission going on, and people are finally understanding the full effect of sexual assault on kids.

Let’s get ready for National Child Protection Week, 7th – 13th September 2014 by getting rid of this guy.

Read the Sydney Morning Herald article here. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/judge-compares-incest-and-paedophilia-to-past-attitudes-towards-homosexuality-claiming-they-might-not-be-taboo-anymore-20140709-zt0v2.html

Thanks to Louise Hall for the article and bringing this guy to our attention.

July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Accurate geography in reporting

When reporters can’t use a map

I know I shouldn’t let it bother me so much, but since news.com.au just loves to make a huge point of everytime an American report screws up geography about Australia, I feel it’s probably time someone pointed out when they drop the geographic ball.

Now, I know that some people in Australia think that in the US there’s LA on one side, NY on the other side, and not a whole lot in between, except for Texas. But that doesn’t mean that everything that doesn’t happen in LA or NY is therefor in Texas.

This case first came to my attention a couple months ago, because Calhoun County in Texas is in my area of operations at work. I read the article out to everyone, because we couldn’t believe we hadn’t heard about it, but it was on an Australian news site. Then when this popped up again today, well, lets just say I’m not impressed.

Now, I’m going to give the writers a bit of a break, and acknowledge that there is a Calhoun County in Texas. But this article states they are Calhoun High School students. So it’s the town, not the county. The article then states in happened in Gilmer County. Yes, there is also one of those in Texas. But the dead give away should have been the fact that they linked to an article; Gilmer Sheriff Stacey Nicholson told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Atlanta is most definitely NOT in Texas. It’s in Georgia. Where, if anyone had even Googled this event, they’d immediately see that this is where this event occurred. So please, before you make another article on your site about how bad the US reporters are at geography, make sure you also know how to use a map….

California on the left, New York way up on the right, the big yellow one in the middle is Texas, and then there’s 47 other states in there where things happen too.

July 7, 2014

Tiny House Movement

Joining the tiny house movement, kinda.

I’m pretty excited to see that there’s about to be a TV show starting called Tiny House Nation on FYI channel.

I’m a huge fan of the Tiny House movement. I also love Earthships, Eco Domes and other forms of natural building. I love the idea of being off-grid, and leaving a smaller footprint. I’m not into stuff. I don’t collect designer handbags or watches. I don’t covet expensive things. I don’t need a mega mansion. I’d rather use my money to travel, or have experiences. I’d rather collect memories than stuff that will just sit on a shelf somewhere.

I first got interested in Earthships several years ago. I was wondering what we could build down at the ranch. It’s pretty remote, and I love the idea of being completely self sustained. If there ever is an actual Zombie Apocalypse, I want to be somewhere far away, and not be relying on anyone to save me. I’ve always said if there’s ever a major glitch in the system, while ATMs are down, and everyone is freaking out about no internet, or electricity, the Hamish will be fine. Well, until the guys with guns show up and take their stuff…

The Earthship is a pretty hefty investment, and one has to live in it full time for it to really work. So then I was looking at eco-domes. I thought about building one of those, until I started an earthbag kitchen at the ranch. It’s a LOT of hard, heavy work, and the summers here are just too hot for any kind of manual labour.

While I’ve been deployed, I have been living in a vintage Airstream. I loved her. She is old, and was pretty gross when I bought her. I’ve done lots of work on her, but she’s really small.

My 23' vintage 1972 Airstream Safari — My 23′ vintage 1972 Airstream Safari

I absolutely loved living in her. She was small and cozy, and had everything I needed. It’s perfect for the dog and I. However, when Matt would come visit, it wasn’t fun. It’s got twin beds, so not so romantic. It’s also very small, and Matt is claustrophobic. He would hit his head on the door every time he stepped inside, and he grew to hate it with a passion. I think it set back my quest to get Matt to join the tiny house movement.

One day though, Matt woke up, realized that since he works from home, and could work from anywhere, while I work in a city 2.5 hrs away, he decided he’d rather live small with me, than live in our 2400 sq ft house in San Antonio without me. We knew we couldn’t live in the Airsteam together, and so we started looking at more practical options.

We didn’t build a tiny house. Matt is a Texan and I just don’t think I’ll ever get him in a true tiny house. We did however end up with a 5th wheel toy hauler. We wanted something to be mobile, because we still like the idea of traveling. When I’m tired of working here, we can pick the next place on the map, and just move our house there. We love the idea of moving to Florida, but not packing boxes and unpacking boxes. We ended up getting a toy hauler, because it has the garage in the back, which Matt uses as an office. After traveling in a Class C motorhome for a couple years, we understood it was important to have a separate room for him to work. Plus, when we do finally move, we can put all our outdoor stuff back there while we’re moving.

rw425

It’s not really all that tiny either. At 44′ it’s actually pretty damn big. Probably the biggest one in our RV park! But it’s certainly way smaller than our house. In fact, it’s probably smaller than our Master Bedroom at home. It’s got everything we need though, and find we are actually way happier in it than we are on the weekends we go home to our stick house. I’ve even got veggies growing in pots down here. We’re still on the grid, but figure we’ll get off grid eventually. Baby steps. At least it’s got a big generator in it for if the power goes out. It’s even got it’s own gas tank with pumps near the back.

So now we’ve got our house in San Antonio for sale, and we hope it sells quickly so we can just enjoy being full time RVers. We love living in the RV park. No, it’s not the same as a trailer park. There’s a trailer park up the street. They are “mobile homes” but there’s really nothing mobile about them. RV parks have a great mixture of people. Where we are, there’s full timers, who are mostly retired people, and there’s a bunch of oil field workers. Then in winter, we get all the snow birds, or “winter Texans”. There’s also regular travelers who pass through for a few days while exploring the nation. We don’t have to mow the lawn, or clean the pool. Everyone is social, and people get together for pot luck dinners, or a beer after work. We pay a monthly slip fee, but it includes everything except electricity. No more property taxes, water bill, cable TV bill or trash collection fee. Being fully self contained, we got a traditional mortgage, so it’s not even a huge monthly payment for the RV. This one is high end, but my airstream was under $7k, with repairs. It was cheaper to live in that than an apartment. (Yes, I’m very frugal)

We love the RV life so much, I’m actually thinking of buying an RV park if we ever do move to Florida. Even more than that, I’d like to start a tiny home community. I’d buy some land, or an existing RV or mobile home park that has lots of green space. Then set up a tiny home park, with communal vegetable gardens. – I must sound like such a hippy!

Anyone else dream of getting rid of their solid home, and living small? Or anyone already gone off grid? Do you love it, or hate it?

July 7, 2014

Rolf moving to prison camp

Rolf Harris sentencing

I know there’s people who think because of his age, Rolf should have a more lenient sentence. But this is ridiculous.

Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris moving to cushy open prison dubbed the Savoy of Slammers after four weeks in Wandsworth jail

So not only was Rolf Harris given a very short sentence, but now we find out that he’s only going to spend 4 weeks in a real prison, before being sent off to some cushy prison camp, where they don’t even have fences, or make people stay in their ~~hotel room~~ prison cell. Sounds like the place Derryn Hinch talked about. Where the prison was nicer than some old folks homes, and the people certainly ate better.

If he had been caught when he was 40, 50 or 60, would they have given him such a lenient sentence? Just because he’s old, doesn’t mean he should be treated easier. Predators like him who attack young children, who have no care that their victims have to live with it for their entire lives, which could mean 50 or 60 years. These people are given leniency because of their age. They’ve gotten to live long free lives, able to attack so many people. Letting them serve a couple years and then releasing them to go home and live out their twilight years in peace? Pfth. Their victims aren’t given that courtesy.

Hopefully in his couple of weeks in jail he will learn what it means to constantly watch your back. To be nervous when someone approaches. To always have that little bit of fear. Not saying I hope anyone physically attacks him, but someone like him will probably learn a healthy dose of fear just from the verbal taunts. Still better than what his victims got.

Hopefully though, this will encourage other victims to come forward before their attackers are old. If we see people like this getting lenient sentences, maybe that will encourage people to come forward sooner, to ensure their attacker gets a proper sentence.

If you’re still wondering whether to come forward about your experiences, do it. Don’t let the Harris sentence put you off. Even though his sentence is light, his reputation in ruined. His victims will be entitled to compensation. – If he hasn’t already hidden it all, I’m surprised he didn’t have his lawyer spread rumours he was bankrupt 😉

Let’s all start speaking up. Let’s teach these people that they can’t get away with it. Let’s show the next generation that we’re not going to tolerate it.

July 2, 2014July 2, 2014

Name and Shame

The debate over naming sex offenders

As many of you are aware, I am 100% behind the Derryn Hinch campaign to get a sex offender register in Australia. Living in Texas, where we have an online sex offender registry, which feeds into apps so I can see offenders around me at any time, I know that it can work. There’s no mass hysteria. There’s no public lynchings or floggings. No random acts of violence around offenders. There’s simply an awareness that there are predators out there, and a tool that lets you see where they are. It lets you plan your kids route to school, or know which houses to avoid while selling Girl Scout cookies. We’re not quite as radical as the Sheriff in Florida who puts up signs out the front of offenders houses, but we know these people exist. There’s something we should be learning from the high profile sex offenders that have been convicted over the last couple of years. The Daily Mail had an excellent article today about why Sex Offenders MUST be named. When I named Robert, it turned out other girls had been to police before, but he just kept managing to get it covered up. I went super public, and not only did other girls who had been to the police before get to re-open their cases, but many more girls went to the police. It wasn’t just the ones who managed to get charges against him. There were others. Many others. It’s just that some of us had enough proof to get charges laid. It doesn’t diminish what he did to the other girls, it’s just there wasn’t enough to secure a conviction. By going public though, not only did his victims come forward, but so did witnesses. People sent in photos, people gave first hand accounts of the things they had witnessed. Instead of the police having to track down potential witnesses, they had been calling them, setting up appointments. They were inundated, but it meant we got a guilty verdict.

Rolf Harris was under investigation back in 2012. It was hinted in the media who it was, but he had gotten a suppression order preventing the media from publicly naming him. Only a couple of girls at that point had come forward. When he was finally publicly named, many more women and witnesses came forward. It made the case stronger. There was another bunch of women in his case that had also been molested by him, but who didn’t get a day in court. But because he was publicly named, he will go to jail for all of them.

These celebrities hold a great deal of power. People are afraid to speak up against them. Especially when it’s just one person against a giant. It’s almost like a David and the Goliath battle. When only one person speaks up, people pounce on the victim, claiming they must be trying to tarnish a good man’s reputation, or they must be after fame or money. However, when a whole bunch of people start going to police, and it’s known that there are several complainants, even if nobody knows who they are, people have to start believing where there’s smoke, there’s fire. I can understand nobody coming out about Savile when he was alive. He was a very protected species. All of these people are. But once a couple people spoke, many more did, and now it looks like he may have been the worst sex offender ever seen in Britain. I’d like to see more of these offenders brought to justice, not just hear about them after they die. The Operation Yewtree investigation stemming from it though is amazing.

There’s a second point here. We have now seen several very high profile people charged as sex offenders. Robert Hughes, Rolf Harris, Max Clifford, Jerry Sandusky, Malcolm Fox, etc. If we can publicly name these high profile people as sex offenders, and have everyone know what they did, why can’t we name and shame everyday citizens who are harming people? People keep citing that by naming the offender, we’ll be letting people know who the victims are. Which just isn’t true. For six weeks, there was cameras out the front of the Downing Center court everyday. There was five victims, and many other witnesses. Except for me, nobody knows who any of the other victims are. If with all that public exposure the victims are still protected, I don’t buy that naming an offender will name the victim. The other thing we’ve learned is that these people don’t have just one victim. There are usually many, many victims. You can’t tell who their victims are when you name them. It could be anyone.

People in Australia seem to not want to understand that sex offenders are everyone. It’s not just one or two people. Right now, pedophiles are so protected, that people just don’t get they are everywhere. One in five kids in Australia will be molested before the age of 18. That’s a HUGE number of victims. Who do people think are committing all these offenses? A sex offender registry will let people see just how many offenders are out there. It might scare people at first to know just how many there are. After a minute, they’ll get over it. Instead of burying your head in the sand about it, it’s better to have an awareness, and then you don’t have to be fearful of it. You can pop on there and check out to see if your neighbour offering to mind your kids has a questionable past. You can see if the house you’re thinking of buying is in a neighbourhood with a bunch of offenders. You can check out your kids karate coach. Going on a date? See if the person is a rapist…

Knowledge is power. Pretending that sex offenders don’t exist doesn’t help anyone. It certainly doesn’t protect anyone. Next time you see a sex offender mentioned on the news, pay attention. Listen to see just how many times that person has been caught before, but simply moved to a new area and started offending again. If there was a register, people would know not to let that person near their kids.

Sign the petition. Get involved with organizations like Bravehearts. Educate yourselves, and your kids. Let’s make Australia a safer place to raise children.

Watch Derryn Hinch’s episode on Sunday Night on Seven to see more about the petition.

June 30, 2014

Act now for Aussie kids

#whoRUprotecting

For those who don’t receive the emails from Bravehearts, here’s the one that went out today. I’m excited to be an Ambassador for Bravehearts and taking part in this years campaign for White Balloon Day.

Dear Sarah Monahan

We are in the middle of one of the most significant historical moments in child protection this country has ever seen.

Survivors of childhood sexual assault are finally breaking the silence and telling their stories – many for the first time.

The silence, secrecy and shame that are the offender’s best friend are now being challenged like never before. The victims who for too long have been invisible, without recognition, void of an effective response are finally being seen and heard.

Get involved with one or all of the events listed in this newsletter and on behalf of the tens of thousands of children and their families that your support reaches – thank you.

Regards,

Hetty Johnston

Bravehearts Founder and CEO

#whoRUprotecting is a national campaign encouraging Australians to act for the protection of the children in their lives. It might be your son, daughter, niece or nephew, grandchildren, students, a friend’s child or like Hetty – all Aussie kids.

Get involved:

Host an event – hold a ‘white’ morning tea, organise a ‘wear white’ day at your child’s school or at your workplace or encourage your community to take part in a ‘white walk’ while raising funds for Aussie kids.
Social media selfie – snap a #whoRUprotecting selfie: the selfie requires you to answer the question ‘who are you protecting’ and display the answer in a photograph.
Social media – positively promote Bravehearts and White Balloon Day on your social media accounts using the hashtags #whoRUprotecing and #whiteballoonday.

There are many more ways you can get involved, just visit www.whiteballoonday.org.au.

Blind man contests Coast corporates in Bravehearts Time Trial

Damien Williams will fly blind, relying on his wingman to navigate the undulating 43km course when he competes in the annual Bravehearts Time Trial on a specially designed tandem bike in November.

The father-of-two is one of the first competitors to sign up for the annual event and will race against ORICA-GreenEDGE representatives and a chain of Gold Coast corporates – including Von Bibra Auto Village and Onyx Property Group.

The Bravehearts Time Trial will take place in the picturesque Samford Valley, just west of Brisbane and will feature many of the elements of a professional cycling event including ramp start, motorcycle cameras and timing gates.

To join Damien in this exciting adventure, visit www.braveheartsadventures.org.au.

Marathon Melina set to tackle grueling Bravehearts 777

Melina Blanco is accustomed to triumphing over adversity and will muster all of that determination when she tackles the gruelling Bravehearts 777 – 7 Marathons across 7 states in 7 days.

The 20-year-old counselling student will take on the 300km run for the second time to raise funds for Australian children affected by sexual assault.

Herself a survivor of this devastating crime which affects one in five Australian children before the age of 18, Melina will run marathons in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra, Northern New South Wales and the Gold Coast and aims to raise $7,770, bringing her total amount raised for Bravehearts to almost $20,000. To join Melina, visit www.braveheartsadventures.org.au.

Ready, Set, Mow! Claude’s

on track to raise $700,000

Australia’s favourite mowerman, Claude Harvey is again pushing his customised cutter for child safety– this time from Caboolture to Bundaberg, hoping to bring his total fundraising efforts for Bravehearts to $700,000.

The 68-year-old grandfather will visit 30 towns throughout Queensland during his mowerthon which commenced in Caboolture on 27 May.

During his 53 day journey he plans to visit such towns as Kilcoy, Kingaroy, Biloela, Gladstone and Gin Gin before concluding his trip on July 18 in Bundaberg and aims to raise $50,000 for Australian children affected by sexual assault.