THE Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, has used the video-sharing website YouTube to promote his call for a national enquiry into the state of childhood in Australia, .

  Repeating a call he made during the recent federal election campaign, Dr Freier uses the video to say that the best present for children would be a release from the pressures of sexualised products and advertising. “Children have a right to their childhood, but we’re stealing it away,” he says. He cites figures that suggest depression among young people is four times as high as it was 30 years ago.

  The “pornification” of the public space had created a culture that was toxic to children, sexualising them before they were physically or psychologically ready. This was creating a level of peer pressure that was extremely hard to resist, both by children and parents, he said.

  In an earlier newspaper column, Dr Freier claimed that as many as one in five children were suffering from some sort of eating disorder.

  Dr Freier said he had put his message on YouTube to try to reach a broad audience, including a younger demographic.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lddx5hEBvy0