Consultation Starts on Abuse Royal Commission

ABC - 7.30
November 20, 2012

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3637175.htm

[with video]

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Many people who suffered sexual abuse as children in institutions will be desperate to tell their stories to the royal commission the Federal Government announced last week, but how many of those cases will be investigated? The Government has released a discussion paper on the inquiry and is calling on any interested parties to provide suggestions about how it should run. The Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, is in Sydney today to promote changes to the federal anti-discrimination laws but she made time to join me in the studio to discussion the royal commission plans.

Nicola Roxon, will every person who wants to tell their tale of sexual abuse to this royal commission be able to do so, and will every one of those cases be investigated?

NICOLA ROXON, ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Well, our position and our starting point is yes, they should be able to, but of course there's going to be a lot of work done - particularly with victims' groups who are talking with us now about how you potentially might group people together, how you might find a selection of individual stories. We do think it's important for people to have the opportunity to tell their story and we do think that that informs the sorts of recommendations commissioners will make - but it has to be manageable, so there's a difficult balance there. Whether they will all be investigated is going to depend on the circumstances of every case. We're really trying to make clear that a royal commission is not a police force, it's not a prosecuting body, it's not a court and the normal criminal processes should still continue. We don't want people to see this as an alternative to pursuing, in the proper forums, criminal action if that should be taken.

LEIGH SALES: But will the royal commission have an investigation arm that will be able to recommend where charges should be laid?

NICOLA ROXON: We're still working through those issues. We've made very clear that the powers are there - a royal commission certainly can do that sort of work - but as part of our consultation we want to get feedback on how it can interact with existing inquiries, how it could look at matters that are obviously already before the courts and how we have good processes to refer matters that may not have been to the police but perhaps should be. That's always part of a royal commission's work, but this will need to be designed very sensitively to make sure it meets all of those needs properly.

LEIGH SALES: Is it fair to say, though, that if this royal commission is a success, we will see people in senior positions sacked, or in some cases charged? That would be an outcome that we will see accountability around some of these crimes?

NICOLA ROXON: Well, I don't think that I can make those sorts of predictions. I think the royal commission will be a success if we can find recommendations that will help us make sure that we prevent - to the extent we can - child abuse in the future, and we make sure that our institutions are much stronger so that when child abuse is reported or known that people don't disbelieve children or turn away or ignore or hide this terrible crime that can occur to children...

LEIGH SALES: Of course, but I think there will be...

NICOLA ROXON: ...certainly there will be referrals, certainly there has to be a mechanism if things are brought to the attention of the commission that haven't been brought to the attention of the police and ought to be, then there will be a process for referrals without a doubt.

LEIGH SALES: Because what victims and the community at large would want is some degree of accountability for what's happened.

NICOLA ROXON: Absolutely, but I think if you listen to a lot of the commentary, particularly from victims' groups, what they want is the processes to change, the systems to change, the institutions to change. Of course people also want justice - so they want to be able to tell their story and they want perpetrators to be bought to account - but there's a very strong theme in the feedback we've had so far. It's about getting the system stronger so that this doesn't happen again, not necessarily about each and every individual perpetrator, or indeed each and every individual victim.

LEIGH SALES: A lot of the records about confidential settlements that the Catholic Church has already done are held within the office of Catholic Insurance Limited. The various departments of public prosecution around the country would also hold records relating to cases involving clergy. As Attorney-General have you taken any steps to ensure that records that are out there are not destroyed?

NICOLA ROXON: No, we haven't taken any steps to do that. Of course, we would call on any people that might be potentially called before the royal commission - whether they're religious institutions, whether they're government bodies, whether they're private institutions - to cooperate fully, and we would have every expectation that no evidence would be being destroyed.

LEIGH SALES: Can they be prosecuted if it is destroyed?

NICOLA ROXON: I'd have to take advice on that, because they'd potentially I think be breaching both state laws and Commonwealth laws.

LEIGH SALES: Are you aware if there are any steps as Attorney-General you can formally take now to stop the destruction of any evidence?

NICOLA ROXON: I'm sure there will be certain powers that existed, but the royal commission hasn't been formally constituted yet. We're making sure that we're establishing it properly. I think if we didn't take this time to consult on the terms of reference we'd be criticised, so there are a number of powers that aren't in place yet. I think that every institution on the record has said they will cooperate with this royal commission. We have to have a high expectation that nothing will be done to try to avoid any queries, questions and materials that the royal commission might ask for. But I don't want to jump to conclusions that people are doing that simply because the question's being raised. But I certainly would call on all people to make sure they're going to cooperate, and certainly we would be very disappointed if there were any suggestion that people were destroying evidence in order to avoid the reach of the royal commission.

LEIGH SALES: Nicola Roxon, thank you very much.

NICOLA ROXON: Thank you.