Wide-Ranging Powers for Sex Abuse Commission
News.com.au
HE most comprehensive investigation ever into child abuse in Australia will be headed by a NSW Supreme Court judge and is expected to take evidence from overseas witnesses. 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. With public hearings expected to commence within months, the commission will have its own investigations unit to weed out the worst cases of abuse. The commission has been asked to provide an interim report within 18 months and is expected to cost well over $50 million during its three-year term. Unveiling the terms of reference yesterday, Ms Gillard said it would be expected to investigate cases going back decades and lamented that this "hideous, shocking and vile crime" had been swept under the carpet for 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 mental health trauma caused by sexual abuse. A special unit will be established to investigate individual cases of sexual assault and cover-ups by the church and other institutions, in a bid to ensure that the commission does not get bogged down by the expected flood of claims. The Catholic Church - which has established its own Truth, Justice and Healing Council - pledged to "fully co-operate and engage" with the commission. The six-person team has been given wide-ranging powers to investigate child sexual abuse and to report back on what "institutions and governments should do to better protect" children. Public hearings are expected to be held in major capital cities and key regional areas. Some of the more harrowing or sensitive case studies could be heard in private. Ms Gillard announced plans for a royal commission in November. SA Commissioner for Victims' Rights Michael O'Connell said he suspected some victims in SA would feel they had already told their stories to the State-based Mullighan Commission, and might not want to do it again. "Some victims will look on the Royal Commission as a fresh chance to tell their stories or elaborate on what they told Mullighan; and some victims will want to expose the failure of institutions to adequately address the abuse and them," he said. "It is evident institutional responses have not provided true justice for many victims." The commission has until December 2015 to complete its work.
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