taking an oath and out of the public gaze.

National Liberal Party candidate Ms Cheryl Pooley was speaking following a Police decision not to lay charges in connection with abuse allegations at Nambour nursery.

Legal experts said after that decision that pre-school children might not understand what it meant to swear an oath.

Ms Pooley said on Monday that children should be allowed to give unsworn testimony, in private.

She also called for automatic therapy for abused children so they did not grow up to become abusers.

Rapists and violent criminals needed rehabilitation to stop them re-offending, she added.

And some women beaten by their partners needed education so they did not tolerate the abuse.