Victims Prepare to Front Abuse Inquiry

By Pia Akerman
The Australian
May 6, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/victims-prepare-to-front-abuse-inquiry/story-fngburq5-1226635738826

[with video]

THE royal commission examining institutional responses to child sexual abuse has revealed it will begin hearing from victims this week, as a separate inquiry into alleged Catholic Church cover-ups in the Hunter Valley begins.

Survivors of child sexual abuse in institutions will start telling their stories to the royal commission in private sessions beginning tomorrow in Sydney, ahead of other private hearings in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Commission chief executive Janette Dines said many people had already come forward wanting to speak about their experiences.

"I want to assure people who have already called that we will get back to them," she said. 'As soon as we have enough people registered in a particular location we will make arrangements to travel to that place.

"I particularly encourage people in Brisbane and Adelaide to get in touch with us."

Experiences recounted in the informal private sessions are not considered sworn evidence.

Commission chairman Peter McClellan last month warned the timelines for the inquiry were "unlikely" to be met, though legal processes to elicit documents from the Catholic Church were already under way.

The commission had previously set a mid-2014 deadline for its interim report, with a final report due at the end of 2015.

News of the first private sessions comes as a NSW inquiry into alleged Catholic Church cover-ups of child sex abuse begins today in Newcastle.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox will be the first of a long list of senior police who will be in the witness box of the special commission of inquiry, which was announced by NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell in November following explosive allegations made to the media by Mr Fox.

He alleged the Catholic church had covered up evidence about pedophile priests in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the Hunter region of NSW.

The inquiry will look at how the church handled complaints about former priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher, both now dead.

It will also look at the circumstances in which Insp Fox was asked to stop investigating sex abuse in the diocese.

The NSW inquiry will sit for two weeks in May and three weeks through June and July.

Margaret Cunneen SC has been appointed as Special Commissioner for the inquiry.