Abuse Inquiry Prepares for a Mammoth Challenge

The Australian
January 12, 2013

www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/abuse-inquiry-prepares-for-a-mammoth-challenge/story-e6frg71x-1226552319664

ON paper, the Gillard government appears to have set down sensible terms of reference for its royal commission into child sexual abuse.

For practical reasons, the commission will not deal with abuse in the family or with the physical and emotional abuse or neglect of children, unless it occurred within the context of child sexual abuse.

But even without broadening its scope to include such evils, the commissioners, announced yesterday, face a mammoth task if they are to finalise their work, as envisaged, by December 2015 and produce an interim report by June 30 next year. Led by senior NSW Supreme Court judge Peter McClellan, their broad mix of judicial, policing, community service, public policy and child health expertise will stand them in good stead.

Structurally, the commission's work will be assisted by new legislation to allow the six commissioners to hear evidence separately, so the workload will be spread across the country. The establishment of a special unit to investigate cases of sexual assault and organisational cover-up, and help victims take their complaints to police, will be useful. The unit's work should also prevent the inquiry becoming bogged down in assessing thousands of individual cases. While the scope of the commission has been better defined, those in charge must ensure that it does not degenerate into a lucrative lawyers' picnic or an anti-religious witch-hunt.

Given the serious damage inflicted on victims, in many cases stretching back decades, it is encouraging that advocacy groups such as Bravehearts believe that the terms of reference meet victims' needs and will benefit future generations. It is also a good sign that institutions such as the Catholic Church again pledged full co-operation, although the commission's scope will stretch beyond the churches to include sporting and other clubs, state agencies, police forces, companies, schools, orphanages and foster care. It remains to be seen whether such a broad interpretation of "institutions" makes the commission unwieldy. The widespread abuse of children in foster care, for example, uncovered by previous investigations such as the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission's inquiry released in 2004, suggests that the royal commission will inevitably become embroiled in numerous minefields of what Julia Gillard correctly branded "hideous, shocking and vile crime".

While the commission's final deadline could be extended and it must do its job thoroughly, it is also important that changes to protect children, ensure the reporting of abuse and improve institutions' responses be enacted as soon as reasonably possible. For that reason, allowing the commission to stretch far beyond its three-year timeframe to approach the nine years taken in Ireland would not serve the public interest.

At this stage, several important issues remain unresolved. It is not clear whether the commission's "far-reaching powers" will overcome the confidentiality agreements signed by some victims as part of church compensation packages. And it remains to be seen what compensation for victims of child sexual abuse the commissioners recommend in carrying out their brief to advise governments and institutions on what "redress" should be provided.