12595855-FC13-23
Friday, 31 March, 2023
INSPECT SAT & WED 10.00-10.30AM 37 McAnally Drive, Sunshine Beach
Find your own inner Noosa
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40-page liftout Property Guide
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PAGES 14-15
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INSIDE
PR OP ER TY
Snowy and seven dudes
Alli Pope and the book that started it all.
Picture: SUPPLIED
Fresh from winning the Best Kids and Family Award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Noosa-based theatre company Jally Entertainment is bringing its pantomime, Snowy and the Seven Cool Dudes, home to The J for the school holidays for one show only. It’s difficult to believe it was just over a year ago that Alli Pope launched a kids’ book of the same name at Annie’s Books in Peregian Beach. Since then the local writer and thespian has been touring the Snow White-inspired pantomime created from the book around Queensland and NSW schools to great acclaim, ultimately leading to a nomination and then a big win at Adelaide Fringe, the second largest arts festival in the world with 1200 acts and ticket sales over a million. That’s what you call a dream run for Alli, who wrote and produced the show, described tongue-in-cheek as “an inclusive story of kindness, featuring messages about keeping fit and making healthy food choices”. Continued page 33
Predator warning Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is happening here. This is the message the Integrated Family and Youth Service (IFYS) want to shout out to spark a greater awareness of CSE and end the abuse through their initiative Project Paradigm which was launched at Birtinya on Monday. IFYS managing director Tony Pignata was joined by former Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson and Former FBI agent Dr Dennis Desmond to deliver a picture of CSE and its proliferation across the country, much of it being initiated through online platforms. IFYS, which was established on the Sunshine Coast 40 years ago, delivers a range of specialist support and intervention programs for children, young people and families, and
has expanded over the years, now employing 850 people and providing 65 services across Queensland. The Project Paradigm campaign is designed to drive action and prevention and to encourage people to report the signs of abuse. It builds on the work of IFYS in 2022 in which they educated and engaged more than 600 professionals, 700 parents resulting in direct contact with almost 150,000 children. CSE can occur in many ways, through an individual or organised crime and the affects on children are lifelong, Mr Pignata said. Bob Atkinson, who was one of six commissioners on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, told guests it had been 10 years since the Royal Commission which had created a groundswell of activity, and raised awareness of CSE
within institutions. Children abused in institutions make up only 20 per cent or less of children sexually abused with most abuse occurring in a familiar context, many through technology, Mr Atkinson said. “It’s such a new area. We have to make sure we do all we can to prevent it and respond to it at the earliest opportunity,“ he said. “It destroys trust. For children, when trust is destroyed that causes lifelong harm.“ The Royal Commission called for people to come forward and tell their stories. Some did so in public hearings while others were able to speak in privacy. There was no doubt children had been sexually abused and all organisations including faith-based and sporting organisations involved with children were mentioned, except
Girl Guides, he said. “Many people came forward because they didn’t want to see what had happened to them happen to other children,“ Mr Atkinson said. “So many people wanted to come forward to tell their story. They did from all over Australia. Many people had never told anyone what happened to them. “There were 57 public hearings but we had so much information they could have had 1000 public hearings. “By 57 we had enough to make evidencebased recommendations. We found a lack of research in areas but that was not surprising. CSE did not even have a language to describe it.“ The inquiry commissioned 59 research reports and made 409 recommendations. Continued page 8
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By Margie Maccoll