Hi! https://www.commissionofinquiry.tas.gov.au may provide more insight. The reasons why cm occur here are the same as anywhere else however the perceived high frequency and blind eye observation may have to do with having such a small population, everyone knowing each other. Reporting someone for cm, could lead to an entire community turning their back on a person.

Might have to do with funding e.g police don’t have time to pursue reports, less accessible services to disclose to, schools not well equipped. Our CJS have a huge workload also, are understaffed so the DPP may be quite cut throat when it comes down to deciding which case to send to court. Tas also doesn’t offer much support to its community, we know disadvantage can lead to offending.

Also, to be blunt. Tas tends to lag behind when it comes to social movements/changing norms, institutional responses etc. we see this in Tas being the ( one of the?) last to legalise same sex marriage. I like to think Tas is moving away from ‘polite’ society into a more proactive, modern one. What I mean by this, is that cm may have been ignored because of the huge stigma around it.

Also, children generally aren’t believed. They aren’t considered reliable witnesses. The cm cases i have encountered tend to be in institutional settings ( schools, religious institutions, hospitals etc) which have a lot of (perceived) power and ‘ saving face’ is a top priority.

I’m not sure if people turn more of a blind eye to it here more than other places. I do think the commissions of inquiry, the class action and media’s reporting of the two play a role in our perceptions of that. However, in the link above there are statements that explain people being aware and trying to bring it to attention only to be shut down by higher powers.

Really interesting observation. Not sure if my rant makes any sense. Apologies.