Abuse Royal Commission Begins Work

By Patrick Caruana and Genevieve Gannon
Wa Today
April 3, 2013

http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-national/abuse-royal-commission-begins-work-20130403-2h5ph.html

Finally, the powerful people are here to help.

It is only the beginning of a long and traumatic process but victims and their families have tearfully embraced after waiting decades for the royal commission into responses to child sex abuse.

Chrissie Foster, whose daughter died of a medication overdose after being abused by a priest, said it was a day she thought would never come.

"It's an amazing thing to sit in there with those powerful people and hear what they're going to do for future children and right the wrongs of the past," she said after the commission's first hearing.

"I'm just so overwhelmed and happy that this is happening in our country."

The commission's chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, made it clear that the long and difficult work of the commission had only just begun.

More than 5000 people are expected to share their stories with the commission, even though recounting the abuse will be difficult and could trigger trauma.

Justice McClellan said the commission would hear "serious and often shocking allegations" from victims, to the point where commissioners were at risk of harm if they listened too long.

But he stressed the importance of victims having their stories heard.

"Part of the task given to us ... is to bear witness, on behalf of the nation, to the abuse and consequential trauma inflicted on many people who have suffered sexual abuse as children," he said.

Justice McClellan said the commission would take years to complete its work, admitting it was unlikely to meet its final deadline of late 2015.

"The task we have is large, the issues are complex," he told the hearing in Melbourne on Wednesday.

But Leonie Sheedy, of the Care Leavers of Australia Network, said victims would be willing to wait for the right outcomes.

"This is our one opportunity to get it right and if it takes a long time, then so be it," she told reporters.

No time limit will be placed on those willing to tell their stories, and the federal government says victims will have access to free legal advice so they can participate in the commission.

The Catholic Church, its insurer, the Salvation Army and the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions have already been served with notices to provide documents, Justice McClellan said, and more notices would be served.

But the commission was not a prosecutorial body and would not determine matters of compensation or make findings about individuals, he said.

It would, however, refer matters to state and territory authorities for them to prosecute.

Counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, said the commission would make findings about the conduct of institutions and of individuals within institutions in responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

Senior Catholic figures said they wanted the truth to be told, despite the church facing embarrassment during the commission.

"We are going to encourage, wherever possible, individuals to come forward with their experiences so that the truth can come out," the church's Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan told AAP.

Mr Sullivan said the church would pay compensation where appropriate.

Any existing confidentiality clauses would be cancelled so victims could tell their stories, Mr Sullivan said.

Private and public hearings are likely to begin in the final quarter of 2013.

Justice McClellan said the commission would cost "very significant sums of public money".