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Child sex
abuse hysteria and the Ellis case |
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The wisdom of
Gordon Waugh - Index |
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Quite rightly Frank
Haden commented on the stupidity of ACC compensation for sexual abuse claims
("Reality check needed for sex abuse compo", June 20). It is a
colossal scam, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. The physical injury
scheme has been perverted by ideology to include "mental injury"
arising from alleged sexual crime. But mental injury is associated with every
crime. ACC should either cover all such mental injury, or none. If society deems
inclusion of sexual crime appropriate, then ACC must make decisions only from
a proper evidential base. That demands proof of abuse and conviction of
alleged perpetrators. But ACC must surely be the only insurance scheme to pay
compensation without proof of loss or damage. ACC's several hundred
approved counsellors uncritically believe stories of abuse. They presume to
know intuitively that abuse occurred, and claim an ability to diagnose
consequential mental injury. That self-proclaimed expertise simply does not
exist, but ACC makes compensation and treatment decisions on the basis of the
beliefs, assumptions and quackery purveyed by its counsellors. In recent years, this
industry has submitted about 100,000 sexual abuse claims. If they are all
genuine, I will eat my hat. |
