7 MAY 2013: Whistleblower detective fronts sex abuse inquiry - "The New South Wales policeman who blew the whistle on an alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Hunter Valley says senior police searched his office for sensitive files while he was on leave. 'The crimes were of the most horrid nature, the worst I've heard,' he said." Read More [Australia's ABC News]
31 MAY 2005: Child
rights crusader faces lawsuit - "A secretive international society linked to the occult is using Victoria's religious tolerance laws to sue a Melbourne anti-child abuse activist." Read More [Herald Sun - Australia's biggest selling daily paper]
03
MARCH 2005: Bracks
leaps to defence of watchdog - The calls followed comments by one of
the Office of Police Integrity's senior investigators, that were revealed
in The Age. The investigator described
the new body as "something that looks more like a crime commission"
but which lacked the power to investigate police
corruption and organised crime. Read
More [The Age]
02
MARCH 2005: New
doubts on police corruption watchdog - When asked whether the new body
could investigate organised crime and police protection of organised
crime, the investigator replied: "No,
it can't."
Read More [The Age]
11
FEBUARY 2005: Police
bungled woman's sex assault claim - Mr Overland
admitted that while most police were not reluctant to investigate famous
people, he could not discount the possibility that some officers
"wouldn't be intimidated or wouldn't have other reasons for perhaps
not pursuing allegations against high-profile people as vigorously as
they might."
Read More [The Age]
25
JANUARY 2005: "Police
will apply to the Office of Public Prosecutions to charge a former Mornington
childcare centre operator over the naming of alleged sex abuse victims
on a website." ... A Department of Human Services inquiry later found
that Mr and Mrs Shulver had "permitted
the abuse to occur or were involved in that abuse." Read More [Mornington Peninsula Leader]
16
NOVEMBER 2004: Victorian ombudsman
launches inquiry into botched sex abuse cases - "Director of the Child
Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, Dr Reina Michaelson, says the complaints
which sparked the probe were horrifying."
Read
More [ABC News]
16
NOVEMBER 2004: "A sudden decision by
Victoria Police to drop a rape investigation involving a prominent television
industry figure is likely to be examined as part of a special inquiry
by the state Ombudsman."
Read
More [The Age]
30
SEPTEMBER 2004: Police
& teachers charged in child porn bust - "One-hundred-and-fifty people, including police officers and teachers,
have been arrested in what the Federal Police (AFP) describe as Australia's
biggest Internet child pornography bust." Read
More [ABC News]
16
SEPTEMBER 2004: Police 'bungling'
child abuse case - "Parents of children at the centre of a bungled sexual
abuse investigation say they are worried it is being mishandled by police
for the second time. The investigation into the alleged abuse of up
to 19 young children at a Mornington child-care centre in 1992 was one
of four cases reopened in July after the Ombudsman found they had been
mishandled by Victoria Police." Read
More [The Age]
30
AUGUST 2004: Police still under
scrutiny on abuse cases -- "Two senior members of Victoria Police's
sexual crimes squad remain under internal investigation following a
damning Ombudsman's inquiry that criticised their handling of child
sex abuse complaints. But force command has shelved
plans to immediately transfer the pair because of the threat
of industrial problems."
Read
More [The Age]
13
JULY 2004: Police reopen case -
Fresh probe into sex abuse claims -- Read More Page
1 - Page 5 [Mornington Peninsula Leader]
10
JULY 2004: Ignoring a plea for
help -- "There is this guy in (name of town) and he rapes girls
and he had tried to do it to my best friend but I haven't been there
(to his house) and I'm never going there." That note, printed in
a childish scrawl and handed to child-abuse counsellors running a school
workshop in December 1999, triggered a sequence of disturbing events
that would eventually reveal how Victoria Police failed the children
of a small Victorian town." Read
More [The Age]
09
JULY 2004: MPs and police 'in child
sex network' -- Reina Michaelson, head of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Program, and Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston said victims had told
them of an organised child pornography and prostitution network with
links to former MPs and senior police officers. Read
More [The Australian]
09
JULY 2004: Politicians, cops 'in
child sex ring' -- "A sophisticated pedophile network involving former politicians
and police has been operating in Victoria since the 70s, anti-child-abuse
campaigners claimed yesterday." Read
More [Townsville Bulletin]
09
JULY 2004: Claims police mishandled
child sex abuse cases -- "This week Victoria Police suffered another
blow to its reputation. This time over claims, supported by the Ombudsman,
that the Sexual Crimes Squad mishandled some investigations into child
sexual abuse. Making the initial complaint, and now more allegations
about an organised paedaphile ring operating in Victoria, is Dr Reina
Michaelson, from the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program. She came
into the studio on Friday after a meeting with the Police Commissioner
Christine Nixon and Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland. "
Read
More [ABC News]
09
JULY 2004: Sex victims would talk,
say groups -- "Sex abuse victims are prepared to testify to a royal commission
about Victorian police involvement in organised pedophilia and child
pornography, child abuse groups said yesterday. Victims also alleged
that at least one former senior politician had been involved in a pedophile
ring." Read
More [The Age]
08
JULY 2004: Abuse cover-up
not being investigated by police - "Dr Reina Michaelson
of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (CSAPP) and Bravehearts
founder Hetty Johnston, told reporters in Melbourne they had given authorities
the names of eight victims and witnesses. A former Victorian Labor Minister,
a veteran television celebrity and a prominent television producer were
among the perpetrators allegedly involved in the network."
Read More [Australian Associated Press]
08
JULY 2004: Cops, politicians in
'abuse ring'
-- "Ms (Hetty) Johnston today challenged Victorian Premier
Steve Bracks to table the document in the State Parliament after the
ombudsman announced it would be kept confidential." I am incredibly
disappointed that this is not going to be a public document," she
said. "I challenge your Premier to do what (Premier) Peter Beattie
did in Queensland when he tabled the Anglican Church report which was
the final death knell I suppose for the Governor-General, to table this
report. Have the guts and the courage to let the public know
what's going on inside its police force." Read
More [news.com]
08
JULY 2004: Call for royal commission
into paedophile claims -- "Dr Reina Michaelson from the Child Sexual
Abuse Prevention Program, claims victims have provided evidence that
police have covered up, participated in and gained financially from
child pornography and prostitution." Read
More [ABC News]
08
JULY 2004: Police 'failed' on child
sex abuse cases -- "Victoria Police will reopen four child sex abuse
investigations and overhaul its sexual crimes squad after a damning
Victorian Ombudsman inquiry identified serious shortcomings in the way
cases had been handled."
Read
More [The Age]
08
JULY 2004: Inquiry finds fault
with sex crime squad -- "A review of the handling of child sexual abuse
has raised questions about the ability of some officers assigned to
these crimes ... The investigation began after child psychologist and
sexual abuse victim advocate Dr Reina Michaelson went to Chief Commissioner
Christine Nixon to complain about the way a number of cases had been
handled." Read
More [The Age]
08
JULY 2004:
Victorian police in pedophile rings --
"A highly organised pedophile ring involving police and former politicians
had been operating in Victoria since the 1970s, anti-child abuse groups
claimed today. Dr Reina Michaelson of The Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Program and Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston today said they had been
told by child sex abuse victims that former Victorian elected politicians
and police members were involved in child pornography and prostitution."
Read
More [Sydney Morning Herald]
18 MAY
2004: A Brisbane
law firm is considering a class action over the publication of material
identifying suspected child sexual abuse victims on a website. The
website, which contained police statements with names, addresses and
birth dates of children involved in alleged sexual abuse at a Mornington
childcare centre in the early 1990s, was shut down.
Read More [Mornington Peninsula Leader]
11 MAY
2004: "A website containing police statements with names and addresses
of the alleged victims of child sex abuse in Mornington has been shut
down after action by Victorian Privacy Commissioner Paul Chadwick."
Front Page --
Page 08 [Mornington Peninsula Leader]
04
MAY 2004:
"A psychologist is demanding a Royal Commission over the police
investigation of a child sex abuse scandal that rocked Mornington in
the early 1990s. Dr Reina Michaelson also wants the Royal Commission
to examine possible police involvement in an organised pedophile ring."
3 PAGE SPREAD !!! Front
Page -- Page
08 -- Page
09 [Mornington Peninsula Leader]
19 APRIL 2004: "Police files
on a suspect in claimed sexual abuse by men dressed as police are said
to have 'disappeared'".
Read More [The Age]
08
APRIL 2004:Vic: Abuse cover-up not being investigated by police Read
More [Australian Associated Press]
08
APRIL 2004: "Breaking
the silence" - Letter To The Editor
Read More [The Age]
06
APRIL 2004: "The Department of Human
Services refused to mount its own investigation into allegations of
sexual abuse of schoolchildren in a Victorian country town after details
were provided through the mandatory reporting system."
Read
More [The Age]
05
APRIL 2004:
Child sex allegations levelled at Vic police -
There have been allegations that Victorian police are hampering investigations
into an organised paedophile and child sex pornography network.
Read
More [ABC News]
05
APRIL 2004: "Police are investigating two matters involving psychologist Reina
Michaelson. As
well as the break-in report, they are looking into an alleged threat
made by a TV network executive against one of Dr Michaelson's relatives
in August 2000".
Read
More [The Age]
