Commission Not Coping with Number of Victims

ABC News
April 2, 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-02/commission-not-coping-with-number-of-victims/4606394?section=vic

[with video]

STEVE CANNANE, PRESENTER: THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE ABUSE OF CHILDREN GETS UNDERWAY IN MELBOURNE TOMORROW.

MANY HOPE THE SCALE OF ABUSE WILL BE REVEALED.

THERE ARE ALREADY CLAIMS THOUGH THAT THE COMMISSION ISN'T COPING WITH PEOPLE CONTACTING OT TO GIVE EVIDENCE

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS REPORTS

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: With the opening statements now only hours away, the royal commission carries the hopes of many.

STEPHEN WOODS, ABUSE SURVIVOR: I really want to see this royal commission being used for what it should be and that's to heal so much of Australia.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Stephen Woods and two of his siblings were sexually assaulted over years at schools in Ballarat. He says the royal commission has encouraged many victims to speak for the first time.

STEPHEN WOODS: There are still victims, literally victims this week spoke to me for the first time ever from Ballarat and so I think that- and they will find that it's going to be a big, long hard difficult road.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The commission will look at abuse by organisations, religious, sporting, community or others. How that abuse is investigated and what can be done to ensure victims get justice. It's set to run until December 2015 and has been compared to a similar inquiry in Ireland which lasted a decade. Much of the Australian experience remains an unknown quality.

STEPHEN WOODS: There's so much information, there's so much crime, there's so many people who want to talk about their pain, and we're talking about pains of thousands of people. It's going to be massive.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Even before the first hearings there appear to be some problems with victims trying to tell their stories. Support groups say, parts of the referral process for victims is a shambles.

NICKY DAVIS, SURVIVORS NETWORK: I think expecting people to go to the commission's website, particularly these very traumatised people may be asking a little too much. There might need to be some public awareness advertisements as well, but it needs to be very, very clear and simple the information.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The Catholic Church has set up a truth, justice and healing council to manage issues and fallout from the commission. It says the inquiry should be allowed to run over its deadline and be given adequate resources.

FRANCIS SULLIVAN, CATHOLIC CHURCH COUNCIL: The truth and reconciliation aspects of this type of process need to be carefully integrated in with the formal royal commission processes and it's not something that can be done easily and it can't be done on few resources.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: One outcome that is widely anticipated is the mandatory reporting of abuse allegations.

STEPHEN WOODS: It has to be even initiated before the royal commission is finished because there's so many things that are being done now and there's so many paedophiles who are dying now, and there are so many victims who are still dying, that mandatory reporting has to come in straight away.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The Church is already asking that it gets a fair hearing to demonstrate how it has changed.

FRANCIS SULLIVAN: Ultimately institutions, the Catholic Church being one need the opportunity to tell their story to demonstrate what they've learnt over the years, about how to process, and how to manage complaints and allegations and bring justice.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: While past abuse cases will be covered in detail, child welfare groups hope what's happening to children now doesn't get forgotten.

DR. JOE TUCCI, AUSTRALIAN CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION: It can take the rhetoric of government over the past decades who have failed to put in place policies and funding and systems to make sure the children are safe within organisations that are supposed to care for them and look after them, and put in a national framework that will actually make a difference to the way the children are treated whilst they're in care.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: And from victims like Nicky Davis who have told their stories, there's advice on the ordeal ahead.

NICKY DAVIS: It's very hard to do that final step to submit it. It's really tough even though I'm very familiar now with telling my story it's hard and you can't underestimate how hard it's going to be for people.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The initial royal commission hearings over the next few months will all be behind closed doors.