By Andrew Johnson
"We need adults to stand up and say it's wrong!" That's the answer I receive time and time again when speaking to children and young people about violence against them.
Listening sessions found that violence against children took place both in private and in public spaces.Credit: DMITRI MARUTA
As the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People, my task is to improve their welfare. To do this, my team and I like to be out in the field with those we represent. After I became the advocate in 2015 we began holding listening sessions and in the course of talking to more than 15,000 children and young people, it quickly became apparent that violence was a major issue.
So we held focus groups with 202 young people in seven schools. We discovered that they conceptualise violence as physical, emotional and sexual and that it can happen to anyone, not just certain types of youngsters.
Advocate Andrew Johnson has established a campaign to raise awareness and end violence against children.
Overwhelmingly, we heard that violence against children took place anywhere and everywhere – both in private and in public spaces, in "safe places" and "even with people you trust".
I've spent close to 20 years working around the world for various children's organisations –from South Sudan to Sweden – and at times as a society we forget this happens at home in Australia as well. Children told me it happened in our streets, in our schools and in their homes. It doesn't discriminate. Hearing this brought into focus how prevalent and damaging violence is, regardless of where you are in the world.
There were lots of ideas regarding what should be done about it – from parenting courses to safe houses for all young people – but one solution came up time and again; a public campaign.
The youngsters we spoke to wanted to see adults, including myself, publicly recognising the issue and committing to do something about it. They realised that only by shining a light on what is often hidden could we achieve long-term change.
Interestingly, this was in stark contrast to adults' perceptions. We worked with Galaxy Research to poll 1006 adults, and learnt they vastly underestimated the extent of violence.
More than one in four in NSW think just 200 or fewer children are victims of violence. One in eight children under the age of 18 has experienced physical or sexual abuse, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. So, it is perhaps unsurprising children and young people wanted a public campaign (given the royal commission's findings on the issue, it really should come as no surprise to anyone).
Positively, adults also want action to be taken, with 85 per cent saying combating violence against children should be a government priority, while 41 per cent would be prepared to pay a levy to invest in programs to address the issue.
That's why we have established a campaign to raise awareness and end violence against children. It launched this month at NSW Parliament House, and we are encouraging everyone to sign a pledge committing to address the issue. It is a small but important first step to drawing attention to the problem and, to paraphrase many children's comments, it is taking a stand and saying violence is wrong.
Andrew Johnson is the Advocate for Children and Young People.