Abuse Claims 'Avalanche'

By Kye White
The Advocate
January 14, 2013

http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/1232891/abuse-claims-avalanche/?cs=86

BEYOND Abuse spokesman Steve Fisher believes the state government needs to set aside extra resources to deal with the "avalanche of allegations" that will arise out of the royal commission into child abuse.

"There's a lot of institutions around Australia at the moment I think would be squirming, and that's the way it should be," he said.

"Police and departments like that are going to have to be prepared for what I would call an avalanche of allegations and so forth that are going to come forward.

"The state government is going to have to give them extra resources if they need it to start investigating."

The royal commission will be headed by New South Wales Supreme Court judge Peter McClellan.

The five other commissioners are former Queensland police commissioner Bob Atkinson, former Victorian president of the Children's Court Justice Jennifer Coate, Productivity Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald, consultant psychiatrist Professor Helen Milroy and former West Australian senator Andrew Murray.

"There was the thought that they may be all lawyers, but there seems to be a pretty good balance there," Mr Fisher said.

"We'll just have to wait and see how that mix of commissioners goes."

Mr Fisher said he "couldn't be happier" with the terms of reference of the inquiry, announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday.

"They haven't named the institutions, like the Catholic Church and so forth - we definitely know they are going to be part of it though, but we also really hope that the Family Court is going to be looked at," he said.