Six Will Shine a Light on Sex Abuse

By Steve Lewis and Alicia Wood
The Australian
January 12, 2013

www.theaustralian.com.au/news/six-will-shine-a-light-on-sex-abuse/story-e6frg6n6-1226552334380


THE most comprehensive investigation into child abuse in Australia will be headed by a NSW Supreme Court judge.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday announced an unprecedented six-strong royal commission, headed by Justice Peter McClellan, with wide-ranging powers to investigate decades of abuse by the church and other institutions.

Public hearings are expected to begin within months, and the commission will have its own investigations units.

The commission has been asked to provide an interim report within 18 months, and and is expected to cost more than $50 million during its three-year term.

Ms Gillard said it would be expected to investigate cases going back decades, adding

this "hideous, shocking and vile crime" had been swept under the carpet too long.

Justice McClellan will be joined by one-time Queensland police commissioner Bob Atkinson, former Democrats senator Andrew Murray, Family Court justice Jennifer Coate, Productivity Commission member Robert Fitzgerald and psychiatrist Helen Milroy - an expert in the trauma caused by sexual abuse.

A special unit will investigate individual cases of sexual assault and cover-ups in a bid to ensure the commission does not get bogged down by the expected flood of claims.

The Catholic Church - attacked for turning a blind eye to widespread abuse by priests - pledged to "fully co-operate and engage" with the commission.

CEO of its newly formed Truth, Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, said the church "stands ready and willing to assist".

The church, government agencies and institutions will likely be a focus of the inquiry

"It is clear from what is already in the public domain that too many children were the subject of child sexual abuse in institutions," Ms Gillard said. "And that too many adults who could have assisted them turned a blind eye so that they didn't get the help that they needed."

Federal opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis said the terms of reference were "sufficiently comprehensive to enable the royal commission to inquire into the evil of child sexual abuse".

Public hearings are expected to be held in major capital cities and key regional areas - although some of the more sensitive case studies could be heard in private.

Ms Gillard announced plans for the royal commission in November just weeks after Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox went public with allegations of a police cover-up of abuse in the Catholic Church.

Insp Fox yesterday said he supported the terms of reference and was particularly happy the commission would have its own investigative unit.

"If we are seeing things like organisational cover-ups that are occurring across state boundaries, this investigative arm means that will be identified," he said.

Adults Surviving Child Abuse president Dr Cathy Kezelman said victims would welcome the move, but the government had to ensure they were not further traumatised by giving evidence.

"But it can be empowering, because many survivors have not had the opportunity to tell their stories," she said.