Royal Commission Rejects Claims That Wa Abuse Victims Not Speaking out

ABC
April 11, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2014/s3983893.htm?site=indigenous&topic=latest

MARK COLVIN: Officials from the child abuse Royal Commission have rejected claims that only one person from the Kimberley in WA is prepared to give oral testimony.

For the past six months, the inquiry has been working intensively in remote Aboriginal communities to encourage survivors to tell their stories.

One non-government organisation, Relationships Australia, says only one person from an Indigenous community has signed up to speak to the inquiry.

The Royal Commission's CEO Janette Dines spoke to Emily Bourke.

JANETTE DINES: We’re actually very pleased with the progress that we’re making in the Kimberley. We’re working very closely with trusted community organisations there. We’re working with Anglicare; we’re working with the Kimberley Stolen Generation; we’re working with the Kimberley Community Legal Services groups.

What those groups told us way back in August was, it would be slow and that we needed to take our time and that we couldn’t come once and expect that people would then be ready to talk, but that we needed to actually give people time, let some of the existing service providers in the community help us to engage, and that’s what we’re doing.

So, we’re actually quite comfortable and confident with the pace and with the numbers of people coming forward. And, all we want to make sure at the end of the day is that anyone who didn’t come forward from the Kimberley did so because they didn’t feel that this was right them, not because they didn’t understand about the Royal Commission or feel confident in our processes.

EMILY BOURKE: There are reports that only one person from the Kimberley is prepared to give oral testimony to the Royal Commission. Is that your understanding and, if so, are you surprised by that?

JANETTE DINES: That report is not accurate. I’m aware that there is one service provider funded by the Government who’s been trying to work in the community and hasn’t had a great deal of success in engaging with people.

We’re actually working with groups that are long-established in the Kimberley, have networks and they are very pleased with the work. We’ve been there for the last two weeks and my Indigenous engagement officers are very positive about the numbers of people that they’re talking to who are ready to come forward, so we’re certainly aware of 40-60 people who are ready to go.

So, I’m not concerned about a relatively new service provider to that region feeling that it’s not having much luck getting traction.

EMILY BOURKE: The median age in the Kimberley is 21. Do you think there is an issue with trying to reach out to victims who may not be alive anymore?

JANETTE DINES: There certainly is an issue in the Kimberley and one of the really exciting that’s happened in the last two weeks is about talking to a group of women who are talking about how they might tell the story of their mothers to the Royal Commission.

So, the Royal Commission, really, through private sessions particularly, is all about being flexible and being adaptable and finding the best way to tell the stories that need to be told.

EMILY BOURKE: There’s been some criticism by some prominent Indigenous leaders about whether the Royal Commission will examine abuse that occurred in the missions. Can that be done, firstly in the absence of any personal testimony, and, secondly, are you looking at any specific missions in the Kimberley?

JANETTE DINES: We’re talking right around Australia with local and with peak Indigenous groups about the sorts of institutions that they think it is important to focus on, and certainly the issue of missions has come out.

There was some misunderstanding late last year about whether missions we’re in the terms of reference, and they are certainly within our sights.

The Royal Commission has around 1,900 institutions that we’re aware of and so Indigenous missions certainly come into that category and part of the process now is really beginning to refine and prioritise which stories much be told in a public hearing.

MARK COLVIN: The CEO of the child abuse Royal Commission, Janette Dines, speaking to Emily Bourke.