Kathryn Farrell

Years ago I nicknamed the Order of Australia Medal the ‘Pedo Medal’ due to the large number of high profile pedophiles like Rolf Harris who have been awarded one.

But today’s honour list contains a legit recipient: Pastor Bob Cotton. As a child abuse victim I’m no fan of church ministers – but Bob has proven to be one of the good ones.

Bob was awarded an OAM for ‘service to the community as an advocate for child protection legislation.’ In short, Bob campaigned to upgrade the penalty for concealing child sex abuse from a summary offence with a maximum 2-year penalty to a serious crime carrying a 5-year prison sentence.

But Bob didn’t work alone. He describes himself as the public face of a band of ordinary middle aged Aussie blokes who trod the streets gathering 10,000 signatures required for the matter to be tabled in parliament.

Thank you to Bob and your mates for not just caring about the plight of Aussie child abuse victims – but for getting off your butts and doing something.

You can find Bob’s latest comments here: https://twitter.com/pastorbobcotton

Fiona Barnett