Maureen Kneipp started the clinic in a school room in Boggabilla 18 years ago.

Wednesday, June 11 – coincidentally the day of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services hearing in the town – was her last day on the job.

Ms Kneipp said she could no longer go on in the job because of the child protection issues in the community.

“It (the child protection issues) has broken my heart,” she said.

Asked to detail her concerns to the inquiry Ms Kneipp was unable to do so.

She told the inquiry she could not talk about those problems “without crying. No, I can’t, sorry”.

Ms Kneipp said she had stayed in the emotional and often very difficult job to try to help local children.

“I am passionate about the children,” she said.

“I would like something really good to happen so that the kids can have happy lives.

“(That) they are not getting to the age of 12, 14, 15 where they are being treated like criminals because they have had such sad lives and there is no-one to protect them.”

Ms Kneipp told The Leader she had had to move on for her own wellbeing.

“It is very heart wrenching. I’d come home crying all the time and I wasn’t sleeping,” she said.

“The child protection issues are huge and it is

something the community needs to deal with, but it is not new. That the community is opening up and talking about it (child abuse) is a step forward. It is giving others strength to also come

forward.”

Ms Kneipp said dental health was also a major issue – not just for Aboriginal people but pensioners and anyone without private health cover.

The tyranny of distance and cross-border legislation confusion made a bad situation worse.

“Dental health here is atrocious,” she said.

“The specialist we have coming here is for chronic disease only. The poor health of our children can be attributed to very poor dental health.

“To see a dentist in Queensland (at Goodooga only nine km away) you have to have a Queensland Health Care Card.”

The alternative is to make the 120km trip to Moree.

“You might as well be 500 miles away as 120 kilometres when you’re a family on a pension with no vehicle,” she said.

“It might mean taking a bus here one afternoon, having a medical appointment and then catching the bus back the following day. It could be a three-day trip to get dental treatment.”