Royal Commission to Hold Public Hearing into the Retta Dixon Home

Royal Commission
August 25, 2014

http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-release/1449/royal-commission-to-hold-public-hearing-into-the-retta-dixon-home


The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing in Darwin commencing on Monday 22 September 2014 into the Retta Dixon Home.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to:

Hear the experience of men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home in Darwin, Northern Territory between 1946 – 1980.

Inquire into the response of the Australian Indigenous Ministries (formally the Aborigines Inland Mission) (AIM) and the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments to allegations of child sexual abuse against AIM workers who were employed at the Retta Dixon Home.

Inquire into the response of the Northern Territory’s Police Force and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1975 and 2002 to allegations raised by residents of the Retta Dixon Home against Donald Henderson.

Inquire into the current laws, policies and procedures governing children in out-of-home care in the Northern Territory today.

Inquire into the redress schemes available to persons who were victims of child sexual abuse while resident at the Retta Dixon Home.

Any other related matters.

Any person or institution who believes that they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing by 8 September 2014.

Applications for leave to appear should be made using the form available on the Royal Commission website entitled ‘Application for Leave to Appear at the Royal Commission’ and include a short submission setting out the basis on which it is said the applicant has a substantial and direct interest in appearing.

The form and the submission should be lodged with the Royal Commission via:

Email: solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au; or Mail: GPO Box 5283, Sydney NSW 2001.

For more information on lodging your submission email

Contact: solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au

The public hearing will be streamed live to the public via webcast on the Royal Commission’s website.

Interested individuals and organisations are encouraged to view the proceedings via the webcast.