Boggabilla Aboriginal Elder Heather de Caux wants the prime Minister Kevin Rudd to visit Boggabilla and Toomelah.

“It’s time to let the truth be known,” says Mrs De Caux.

She is referring to claims of child prostitution at Boggabilla and Moree which made National headlines three weeks ago.

She and other Elders want the Prime Minister to come to a Community Engagement Day.

“I’ve invited everyone, including the Prime Minister, the Federal and State ministers for Health and Indigenous Affairs, the local members of parliament, the Moree Plains Shire Council and the media.

Mrs De Caux has also invited representatives from the police, the department of Child Services, New England Health and the trucking industry.

“Once all the walls come down, and the truth is out there, we can begin to move towards healing.”

Mrs De Caux said Elders were responding to reports on ABC’s Late Line and in the Koori Mail alleging there was a child prostitution crisis in Boggabilla.

“We held an Elders Table meeting, and they said they were as shocked as anyone by the reports in the media,” she said.

“We hadn’t heard these stories about girls being drugged and raped and we know those girls would have told us if it had been going on.”

Mrs De Caux said many people had been working over the years to improve the situation in Boggabilla.

“We’ve combated each ugly problem as it reared its head over the years, from drug dealers, the destruction of vacant houses to children on the streets. We’ve always worked to make our community safer to live in.”

Mrs De Caux said the national media stories had wrongly given the impression that nothing was being done when issues of child sexual abuse arose.

“When we know, we tell people who can help, but we can’t do anything unless real people come forward and tell us what’s happening.”

Mrs De Caux said many in the community were upset young girls shown sitting by the side of the highway on LateLine.

“The innuendo was that those were the same girls as the ones involved in the prostitution, and that’s just not true. They’re just kids who like to hang around the Servo, and now people are talking about them.”

“We want everyone to come and have their say. It’s for every child who may be suffering and for future generations.

“We may not get everyone to come but the invitation is there because we want strategies and policies to help our community move ahead,” Mrs De Caux said.

“And we don’t want our families to suffer a loss of liberty or their cultural lifestyle.”