Please see my letter below to Ms Gillard regarding the sale of books and dvd's promoting child abuse in Australia. This letter was an update to previous correspondence in regards to concerns about Christian Fundamentalists homeschoolers whose children remain unregistered and unaccounted for. My major concern was that these homeschooling families are promoting and selling various books and dvd's instructing you to whip babies as young as 4 months old. It has been commented that the book has sexual undertones when describing how to whip a naked boy.

Regards

Kate Gibbons
Child Abuse Australia
http://childabuseaustralia.wordpress.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: kate gibbons
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 12:21 PM
Subject: John Angelico - Australia advocates child abuse

Dear Ms Gillard

I wrote to you on December 2nd 2007 voicing concerns over a book and dvd's being sold in Australia which advocate severe violence against children. The book and dvd's include whipping babies as young as 4 months old and appear to have sexual undertones. It is conversed as a pleasurable experience by the author of this book in his description of whipping a young boy, who is bent naked over a table. If the young boy screams or winces, the amount of whippings increase. When the young boy is unable to silence himself, he is held down and the beatings continue until he is silenced. Having been hit with the plastic piping myself, I do not understand how any child could take this abuse silently.

The book by "The Pearl's" is sold by a Mr John Angelico a homeschooling parent from Victoria as well as numerous other sources in Australia. The book by the Pearl's was linked to the death of 4 year old Sean Locke in America. Sean's mother was a devoted follower of the Pearl's and used the methods suggested in the Pearl's book on her children. This is the same book which continues to be sold by John Angelico and others here in Australia and is openly supported by many Christian Fundamentalist and homeschooling families in this country.

The US journalist who reported on the murder of 4 year old Sean, contacted me this morning to let me know the trial of Sean's mother starts on Monday.(Please see email below). Whilst it has been made blatantly clear to me by each Governmental department or Governing body that Mr Angelico is entitled to sell this book, I would hope it's connection with the death of a child would prompt an immediate review of the situation and it will surely be of interest to follow this trial.

While the Pearls are well known in Fundamentalist Christian circles, they were largely unknown to the secular world until March 2006, when their discipline methods were tied to the death of a North Carolina boy and the alleged abuse of two of his siblings. As reported by Mandy Locke of the Raleigh News & Observer, the children’s adoptive mother, Lynn Paddock, 45, a devotee of the Pearls’ teachings, is currently behind bars. She is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 4-year-old Sean, who suffocated when wrapped tightly in blankets, reportedly to keep him from hopping out of bed. She is also charged with felony child abuse in connection with welts found on two of Sean’s other five siblings. Nowhere in the Pearls’ book do they advocate restraining with blankets; however, Sean’s siblings had apparently been struck with a particular type of “rod” recommended by the Pearls: a length of quarter-inch plumbing supply line.

Paddock's attorney, Michael Reece, confirmed that Paddock owned "To Train Up a Child" and was a devotee of the Pearls' teachings. He maintains that Sean's death was accidental and that there's a difference between corporal punishment -- which he acknowledges may be "unpopular" -- and abuse. And actually, Paddock's connection to the Pearls may serve as part of Reece's defense of his client. "She's following a recognized philosophy even if it's not a mainstream one. The only one who advocates the PVC pipe is Pearl, " he says. "You can pull a switch off a tree all day long. There's no other reason to buy a PVC pipe -- that's clearly from him."

I am the first to defend freedom of speech but it appears we have double standards in Australia. Fundamentalists and homeschoolers openly sells books that teach you how to physically assault children and it appears that the police, child protection services and yourself are unable to act. Yet a Western Australia newspaper was recently raided to find the source of a leak about government policy on spending taxpayer money to get re-elected. The raiding of this newspaper was quite clearly a restriction of freedom of speech. Perhaps police time would be better spent reviewing the material being sold in Australia promoting child abuse, which surely should NOT be classed as freedom of speech. If the Australian Government are able to raid this newspaper, then please explain to me why you haven't acted on the information we have provided regarding the promotion of child abuse by fundamentalists and homeschoolers. These include dvd's showing you how to whip babies and children. I would like to reiterate from previous correspondence that the whipping of a 4 month old baby with a willow branch stripped of knots, does not constitute corporal punishment and any child protection expert could clarify this for you.

I look forward to your reply.

Regards

Kate Gibbons
Child Abuse Australia

http://childabuseaustralia.wordpress.com/