Ray Hadley has recommended a tough but necessary read to his listeners.

As a long-time ambassador for child protection organisation Bravehearts, Ray has fought tooth and nail to advocate for victims of child sexual abuse.

“When I first started talking about child sexual abuse at the start of my career … programmers came to me and said ‘people don’t want to hear about that’.

“It’s something I’ve battled for the 30 years since.

“If you don’t talk about it, we’re as guilty as those who hid it in the past.”

Bringing further light to the issue, six-time Walkley Award-winning author Suzanne Smith has written about the abuse of young boys within Marist Brothers schools and in Catholic schools around Australia in The Altar Boys.

“Thank goodness that you’ve been championing this, and you continue to talk about it,” she told Ray.

“It hasn’t gone away.

“The collateral damage of all this cover-up, Ray, continues on. We have an epidemic of men … aged 45 to 65 who are suiciding.”

The “hero” of Ms Smith’s book is in fact a priest, Father Glen Walsh – one of the few to report abuse in defiance of the Church.

“My book is a hard read, but it’s also about the little people who stood up.”

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