$45m Fund Boost to Help Victims of Child Sex Abuse
By Chris Johnson
Survivors of child sexual abuse taking part in the current royal commission will be given more support, following a $45 million injection into community-based service providers.
The federal government will on Sunday list 28 support services around the nation that are sharing in the grants, to be used to help people wanting to submit evidence, attend royal commission hearings or cope emotionally with the proceedings.
The money will help those who have been personally affected by child sexual abuse and the families and carers of victims.
In January former prime minister Julia Gillard established the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and hearings began in April. The six-member commission, headed by Justice Peter McClellan, is inviting people who wish to share their experiences of child sexual abuse in an institution to contact it. Advertisement
Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said it was hoped the new funding would make it easier for those who wanted to share their experiences with the commission. ''The Australian government understands the importance of ensuring that survivors of child sexual abuse and affected family members are supported to participate in the royal commission,'' she said.
''It is vital there is support available to them before, during and after their engagement with the commission.''
Community Services Minister Julie Collins said the funding decisions were the result of an open selection process aimed at delivering a wide range of support services.
''The organisations chosen have considerable experience and expertise and will ensure people have flexibility and choice in the types of support they can access,'' Ms Collins said. ''For many people, talking about their experiences will be very traumatic, and we want to ensure a broad range of specialist support services are readily available to them.''
Organisations in all states and territories will receive funding for support services. Grants include $600,000 for Berry Street Victoria, $1.6 million for drummond street services and $1.1 million for Relationships Australia Victoria.
Simon Curran from Relationships Australia Victoria said the funding his organisation would get would provide therapeutic services for people affected by child sexual abuse. These included victims and their families wanting to attend proceedings, but also those who were not ready for that but were nonetheless emotionally affected by the publicity surrounding the royal commission, he said. ''We provide trauma-informed counselling, and when you treat complex trauma you need quite long-term input to work on all the components of that.
''We will also be able to give more support around preparing people emotionally and physically to attend hearings, so that it is as easy for them as possible under the circumstances.''
The NSW Rape Crisis Centre will receive $2.9 million to provide more face-to-face counsellors for the state and also for nationwide clinical counselling through the 1800RESPECT phone service.
Executive officer Karen Willis said the funding would allow her organisation to train more counsellors to give the best advice and support for anyone thinking about making a submission to the commission. ''What we will be able to do now is work more closely with the royal commission to make sure all of our counsellors are properly informed and up to date in this very important work,'' she said.
''And we will be able to now provide and train additional counsellors, both for the national phone line and face-to-face around NSW.''
The royal commission is investigating where systems have failed to protect children, and will make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions.
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