Not All Victims' Stories Will Be Heard at Abuse Royal Commission

By Ben Packham
The Australian
November 20, 2012

www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/not-all-victims-stories-will-be-heard-at-abuse-royal-commission/story-fngburq5-1226520155798

Attorney General Nicola Roxon at a press conference in Canberra today. Photo by Ray Strange

COMPENSATION for victims will be a second order priority for the royal commission into child abuse, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says.

Contrary to other media reports today, Ms Roxon has also signalled that every victim may not get a chance to tell their story to the royal commission, saying she wants to ensure the inquiry is "manageable".

But she said the priority was learning how to reduce child sexual abuse and improve the handling of complaints.

"Our primary concern is to look at the recommendation that will help fix the system for the future," she said.

"So our primary concern is not to be looking at compensation as a starting point. But I think ... the entire community understands that that might be something that flows from the work of the commission, so we are not ruling that out."

Ms Roxon, who yesterday released a discussion paper on the upcoming royal commission, said many victims wanted to recount their own stories of abuse to the inquiry, and the process could be cathartic.

But she said the inquiry would struggle to hear every complaint.

"One of the challenges is how we meet those needs without entirely overwhelming the commission," she said told ABC radio.

"And I think we can do that by taking account of past inquiries, by looking at ways that individual stories tell us something about the future.

"But it will be a complex piece of work for the commission itself to start to sift through and identify which stories are the ones that will actually help them form their views most."

She said the Irish model of an investigative wing and a confidential wing to the inquiry was a "very good model" that should be considered

In the consultation paper released last night, Ms Roxon gives victim support groups, institutions, religious organisations, state governments and others one week to have their say on the inquiry's proposed terms of reference.

The four-page paper sets out the limits of the commission's work and rules out out specific investigative powers for the inquiry.