The privatisation of incest : the neglect of familial sexual abuse in Australian public inquiries

This chapter reflects on the recurrent focus of Australian public inquiries into child abuse on extra-familial and out-of-home settings and the relative lack of attention paid to familial abuse. Since the 1970s, public inquiries have become an increasingly common method through which governments respond to critical child protection incidents and public concern about child abuse. It is therefore striking that the last public inquiry into child sexual abuse that addressed incest concluded in the late 1980s. Since then, public inquiry has focused on abuse outside the family, although it is evident that there are ongoing and systemic failures to detect incest and provide adequate support to victims.