Yeshivah College funding should be reviewed: Vic MP
ABC
Samantha Donovan
27 March 2015
TRANSCRIPT:
MARK COLVIN: Child sexual abuse cover-up allegations at the royal commission about Melbourne's Yeshivah College have led one Victorian MP to urge the Prime Minister to reconsider the school's funding.
Yeshivah is in the state electorate of Labor's Philip Dalidakis, and he says abuse victims have told him that some in the orthodox Chabad community are still ostracising them.
Mr Dalidakis says the response of some of the school's leaders to the revelations at the commission has been completely inadequate.
Samantha Donovan reports.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: At the child abuse royal commission last month, a series of adult men gave evidence they'd been sexually abused while attending Melbourne's orthodox Jewish Yeshivah College in the '80s and '90s.
They believed reports of their abuse at the time had been ignored by the school's leaders. They told the commission when some of them reported their abuse as adults, their families were ostracised by the Chabad community.
Philip Dalidakis is the school's local member of the Victorian Upper House. He's also Jewish. And doesn't believe the school is doing enough to address the issues raised at the commission.
Mr Dalidakis has written to both the Prime Minister and the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews urging them to reconsider funding the school if changes aren't made.
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: If public funds are going to go to private schools, then there should be an expectation, whether they're Jewish schools, Catholic schools or Protestant schools, Islamic schools, there should be a level of governance oversight where people in the community can have a degree of confidence that those schools are working in the best interests of both the students and the parent body to make sure that there are no concerns whatsoever about how those public funds are being used.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Dalidakis says the school shouldn't get government money unless all of those who covered up child sexual abuse and protected perpetrators resign. He wants all documents relating to the covering up of abuse to be produced and given to the authorities and the introduction of rules designed to prevent child sexual abuse, or at least detect it, and making clear that concealing such offences is illegal. He also wants a compensatory fund to be established for past victims.
Mr Dalidakis says some Yeshivah victims are telling him the royal commission hearings haven't changed things for them.
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: To my great disappointment, I have spoken with a number of victims just in the last week alone. Some of those victims that are on the record publicly, some that have used pseudonyms in giving evidence to the royal commission.
But unfortunately the one thing that is in common with both of them is that there is still a great deal of ostracism going on, a lot of bullying behind the scenes and a lot of attempts to try and push them into a way of dealing with this issue that is anything other than transparent or open or supportive.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: And what feedback from other Jewish constituents of yours and members of the Chabad/Yeshivah community?
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: Yeah I think it's fair to say that I've been, you know, I've welcomed and very warmly welcomed the support of probably about 80 per cent of people that have been calling and emailing and messaging me.
I think that within that 80 per cent is a great deal of actual current parents of Yeshivah students who are supportive of the position that I've taken. So I think that we're starting to get a groundswell of opinion that the people at the top, the people at the management of the Yeshivah centre actually need to take some action. And that action needs to be based around the protection of children and to ensure that this can't happen again.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Dalidakis says Yeshivah College's current principal Rabbi Smukler is highly regarded, but he believes he may soon resign.
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: The principal of the Yeshivah, and I again want to stress this and make this very clear, is actually seen as one of the people helping to try and drive change from within. Relatively new in terms of the overall length of time from this nasty history, he has tried to support the victims and at each step tried to enforce change.
But it appears to me that there's come a pressure point, if you will, where he can no longer engender the type of change that he's wanting and so making, I guess, making a very public threat about whether or not he needs to leave the school because clearly the trustees and the committee of management are not listening to him about the change that he's desiring.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: A spokesman for Yeshivah College told PM he was unable to comment on the issues raised by Mr Dalidakis this afternoon, but he would get in touch next week.
MARK COLVIN: Samantha Donovan.
Originally published at ABC.
MARK COLVIN: Child sexual abuse cover-up allegations at the royal commission about Melbourne's Yeshivah College have led one Victorian MP to urge the Prime Minister to reconsider the school's funding.
Yeshivah is in the state electorate of Labor's Philip Dalidakis, and he says abuse victims have told him that some in the orthodox Chabad community are still ostracising them.
Mr Dalidakis says the response of some of the school's leaders to the revelations at the commission has been completely inadequate.
Samantha Donovan reports.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: At the child abuse royal commission last month, a series of adult men gave evidence they'd been sexually abused while attending Melbourne's orthodox Jewish Yeshivah College in the '80s and '90s.
They believed reports of their abuse at the time had been ignored by the school's leaders. They told the commission when some of them reported their abuse as adults, their families were ostracised by the Chabad community.
Philip Dalidakis is the school's local member of the Victorian Upper House. He's also Jewish. And doesn't believe the school is doing enough to address the issues raised at the commission.
Mr Dalidakis has written to both the Prime Minister and the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews urging them to reconsider funding the school if changes aren't made.
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: If public funds are going to go to private schools, then there should be an expectation, whether they're Jewish schools, Catholic schools or Protestant schools, Islamic schools, there should be a level of governance oversight where people in the community can have a degree of confidence that those schools are working in the best interests of both the students and the parent body to make sure that there are no concerns whatsoever about how those public funds are being used.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Dalidakis says the school shouldn't get government money unless all of those who covered up child sexual abuse and protected perpetrators resign. He wants all documents relating to the covering up of abuse to be produced and given to the authorities and the introduction of rules designed to prevent child sexual abuse, or at least detect it, and making clear that concealing such offences is illegal. He also wants a compensatory fund to be established for past victims.
Mr Dalidakis says some Yeshivah victims are telling him the royal commission hearings haven't changed things for them.
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: To my great disappointment, I have spoken with a number of victims just in the last week alone. Some of those victims that are on the record publicly, some that have used pseudonyms in giving evidence to the royal commission.
But unfortunately the one thing that is in common with both of them is that there is still a great deal of ostracism going on, a lot of bullying behind the scenes and a lot of attempts to try and push them into a way of dealing with this issue that is anything other than transparent or open or supportive.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: And what feedback from other Jewish constituents of yours and members of the Chabad/Yeshivah community?
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: Yeah I think it's fair to say that I've been, you know, I've welcomed and very warmly welcomed the support of probably about 80 per cent of people that have been calling and emailing and messaging me.
I think that within that 80 per cent is a great deal of actual current parents of Yeshivah students who are supportive of the position that I've taken. So I think that we're starting to get a groundswell of opinion that the people at the top, the people at the management of the Yeshivah centre actually need to take some action. And that action needs to be based around the protection of children and to ensure that this can't happen again.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Mr Dalidakis says Yeshivah College's current principal Rabbi Smukler is highly regarded, but he believes he may soon resign.
PHILIP DALIDAKIS: The principal of the Yeshivah, and I again want to stress this and make this very clear, is actually seen as one of the people helping to try and drive change from within. Relatively new in terms of the overall length of time from this nasty history, he has tried to support the victims and at each step tried to enforce change.
But it appears to me that there's come a pressure point, if you will, where he can no longer engender the type of change that he's wanting and so making, I guess, making a very public threat about whether or not he needs to leave the school because clearly the trustees and the committee of management are not listening to him about the change that he's desiring.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: A spokesman for Yeshivah College told PM he was unable to comment on the issues raised by Mr Dalidakis this afternoon, but he would get in touch next week.
MARK COLVIN: Samantha Donovan.
Originally published at ABC.