A new cross-Tasman police strategy to deal with ''appalling'' rates of child abuse was launched yesterday.
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There were more than 286,000 reports of child abuse in Australia during 2009-10, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
That is a 16 per cent reduction in child abuse since 2008-09, the first decrease in a decade.
The policing strategy, issued by the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency, seeks to drastically improve the way police deal with child abuse cases.
It seeks to strengthen early intervention and prevention by police, and increase responsiveness and cross-jurisdictional cooperation.
The launch was timed to coincide with National Child Protection Week, which begins on Monday.
The strategy describes responding to child abuse as ''complex and challenging'', and identified a need to harmonise the investigative approaches of different police jurisdictions.
Targeted training and education for officers dealing with child abuse was recommended.
The agency also identified the need to strengthen ''age appropriate'' interviewing techniques to obtain evidence quickly.
Chief executive officer Jon White said police forces also needed to improve responses to child abuse in indigenous and culturally diverse communities.
''Police commissioners acknowledge that child abuse, in all its forms, is an insidious crime that is a black mark on our society and which often leads to long-term emotional and psychological difficulties for its victims,'' Mr White said.
The strategy also recognised the importance of early detection in child abuse, and called for better avenues through which to report abuse quickly.