After his colleague, former Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Milton Orkopoulos was charged with child sex offences in November 2006, NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, declared war on child abusers.

"If you are a pedophile, I am your enemy," he thundered in Parliament.

However, more than a year and a half later, it's apparent that when it comes to tackling child abuse, Morris Iemma is a man of bluster rather than substance.

It's not as though the Premier isn't well aware of the scale of the problem. It was his government that commissioned Breaking the Silence, a 300 page report on child abuse in Aboriginal communities.

Written by a task force headed by Aboriginal leader, Marcia Ella-Duncan, Breaking the Silence found that child abuse in Aboriginal communities had reached "epidemic proportions," with child sexual assault up to four times the rate of the general population. According to Ms Ella-Duncan, the report paints a "stark picture of intergenerational abuse and social disadvantage."

You'd think given his tough talk in Parliament, that Premier Iemma would be morally outraged enough to commit the resources needed to seriously tackle the problem.

Yet as the Herald revealed last week, after a year of the Government's implementation plan in response to Breaking the Silence only one Aboriginal child sexual assault counsellor had been hired to deal with such a massive demand. Although two more counsellors have recently been appointed, the vast majority of children in need of this support remain unable to access it.

If Mr Iemma was serious about overcoming the abuse of Aboriginal children he could start with the following five point plan:

1. Appoint an implementation team, headed by a senior public servant reporting directly to the Premier. This person needs to have the clout to enforce compliance with the implementation plan across all areas of government.
2. Properly fund the implementation, with a particular focus on providing trained Aboriginal child sexual assault counsellors across the state on the basis of need. One thing that the NT Intervention has taught us is that tackling abuse and entrenched disadvantage requires far more resources than the NSW Government has ever devoted to this task. The counsellors are vital, because they offer the best chance of breaking the cycle of violence so that today’s victims don't become tomorrow’s perpetrators.
3. Expand and properly resource the state's Joint Investigation Response Teams (JIRTs). Better equip them to work with Aboriginal communities, particularly in rural areas. The JIRTs have had success in laying charges and securing convictions, but their work requires great patience and sensitivity given the historically poor relationships between the police and Aboriginal communities. The distressing nature of their work also leads to a high burn out rate among officers.
4. Formally identify, support and resource Aboriginal Children's Champions across the state. I know scores of Aboriginal people across NSW working successfully to overcome abuse and its causes. These people receive almost no recognition and even less resources.
5. Establish an independent, transparent and public review of the implementation after one year, along similar lines to the recently announced Federal Government review of the NT intervention. This will improve accountability and develop a strong evidence base to guide progress.

Unfortunately, the Iemma Government has shown little inclination to do these things. The hard men and women who run politics in this state have decided that because these are Aboriginal children at risk the electorate is unlikely to care.

However, their smugness is misplaced. Irrespective of the issue, voters have shown a willingness to punish governments that they see as cynical, complacent, arrogant and uncaring. There is no more potent example of how NSW Labor has become all of these things than the callous way it has abandoned this state’s most vulnerable children.

Gary Highland is National Director of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and a former Federal Labor Government Ministerial adviser.