Shocking: Half of all child sex abuse in Australia is committed by children.

Tragically, our courts and newspapers are too often filled stories about young victims of sexual abuse. But what about young perpetrators?

Experts have estimated that children are responsible for up to half of all child sexual abuse cases, with half of those committed by the victim’s sibling. According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald, in New South Wales alone, 800 children between the ages of 10 and 17 are identified each year for causing serious sexual harm.

It’s statistics like these that have NSW Health worker, Dale Tolliday, calling for more clinics to help young victims recover and obtain the psychological services they need to minimise lifelong harm. Yet two years after a report recommended the doubling of such clinics, nothing has been done.

Tolliday is a clinical advisor to New Street, a public rehabilitation service for young sexual abuse offenders. The average age of his clients is just 13.

“It’s almost unbelievable for the average person, to think children would be capable of doing something like this,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

NSW Health worker Dale Tolliday is calling for more clinics for young sexual abuse victims. via Linkedin.

Tolliday reports that many of these young perpetrators have been exposed to violent pornography or are even victims of sexual abuse themselves. However, he believes that the main contributing factor to their behaviour is whether they have witnessed domestic violence.

"Most of these boys are carrying quite strong misogynistic, heterosexual stereotypes about entitlement and sexual behaviour," he said.

Freda Briggs, a child protection academic from the University of South Australia, told smh.com.au that it is important to clarify the distinction between so-called normal and problematic sexual behaviour in children.

She described the former as "you show me yours and I'll show you mine", while the latter tends to involve penetration and oral sex and is often characterised by secrecy, bribes and threats.

The true numbers of child-on-child sexual abuse cases is impossible to determine and sibling abuse even more so, as parents are usually hesitant to report their own child's behaviour to police.