Apathy on regulation costs us dear - Under-resourced regulation

Few societies that imagine themselves modern, progressive and reliable democracies have paid as high a price as we have for our indifference to proper, well-resourced regulators. Even fewer, once the alarming consequences of this crime-facilitating neglect are realised, continue to tolerate a failed status quo and demand a new culture of oversight, accountability, and meaningful sanctions. It seems we do.

It’s almost 20 years since the horrors inflicted on vulnerable children, especially in institutions established to offer shelter, could not be ignored any longer. The evil uncovered was on such a scale that any humane person would imagine a chastened, shamed society would do whatever was necessary to make a recurrence impossible. Tragically, but all too predictably, the Grace case and too many others like it show that reasonable expectation was another misjudgement.