Commission Welcomed but the Pain Will Live on for Ingleburn's Hennessey

By Ben Chenoweth
The Advertiser
April 10, 2013

http://www.macarthuradvertiser.com.au/story/1419549/commission-welcomed-but-the-pain-will-live-on-for-ingleburns-hennessey/?cs=1185

Commission begins: Ingleburn's John Hennessey is one of an expected 5000 people to testify at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

CHILD abuse victim John Hennessey has likened the start of last week's royal commission proceedings to the demolition of the Berlin Wall.

The Ingleburn resident — a former deputy mayor of Campbelltown — has campaigned for years to see those who inflicted, ignored and covered up the abuse exposed.

Last Wednesday proceedings in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began in Melbourne. More than 5000 victims are expected to testify.

"There has been a lot of suffering and hidden pain because nobody would believe us," Mr Hennessey said.

"The beauty of the royal commission is it will show people in churches and other organisations they're not above the law — the law should be for all.

"The Berlin Wall has been smashed."

The 77-year-old is a victim of Britain's child migrant policy — a scheme that saw more than 130,000 British children exposed to sexual abuse and virtual slavery after they were institutionalised in four countries including Australia.

He has been one of the main campaigners calling for a royal commission. He said many of those who abused children and their position of authority would be exposed.

"We're sitting on a volcano and the 5000 people [testifying] is only the start."

But he said the pain child-abuse victims experience would always remain.

"Some of my old schoolmates have committed suicide and others have had terrible broken lives."

The commission's chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, conceded the 2015 deadline for the commission's findings was unlikely to be met.