VIC Lawyer Welcomes Commission Focus

9 News
January 11, 2013

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/01/11/17/02/vic-lawyer-welcomes-commission-focus

A lawyer who will represent scores of Ballarat sexual assault victims at the royal commission has welcomed the focus on organisational abuse, saying it can devastate entire generations.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday announced the terms of reference for the royal commission on child sexual abuse, which will start as soon as possible and hand down its interim report mid 2014.

It will focus on how organisations have managed and responded to claims of sexual abuse and associated forms of abuse and neglect.

Viv Waller, who will represent 70 victims of abuse perpetrated by clergy in Ballarat during the 1970s, said abuse within churches and schools was particularly abhorrent, given offenders had access to a fresh lot of victims each year.

"Entire generations of families can be destroyed by a sexual offender remaining in a school or in a church because in the years that follow, they have the opportunity to abuse their victims' younger siblings," she told AAP on Friday.

She said the royal commission should consider reviewing the time limit for victims of sexual assault to pursue compensation through the courts.

Dr Waller said she also hoped the commission would examine the Catholic church's use of the Ellis defence, which it used to successfully argue that it wasn't legally an entity that could be sued over the actions of its priests.

"Personally, I find it morally bankrupt," she said.

"I find it lacks compassion and I find that it lacks any sense of justice for victims."

Dr Waller welcomed the appointment of multiple commissioners, singling out Justice Jennifer Coate, a former coroner and the first Victorian Children's Court president, as a fearlessly independent and courageous person.

Comment was being sought from the Victorian government, which already has a parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse underway.

The Victorian inquiry will continue its work, said Georgie Crozier, chair of the family and community development committee which is conducting the inquiry.

"The scale and scope of the royal commission is vast and will take some time to establish and get underway," Ms Crozier said.

"In Victoria we have already made significant progress with our inquiry and we will continue with our work."