ABUSE Hearings for Tiwi Islanders

7 News
September 25, 2014

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25104346/abuse-hearings-for-tiwi-islanders/

The royal commission into child sexual abuse in institutions will hold private session for Tiwi Islanders as part of its engagement with Aboriginal communities.

Aboriginal inmates in prisons across Australia are also being contacted by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to make sure they can share their stories.

At a public hearing in Darwin the commission has heard confronting evidence of the brutalisation and sexual maltreatment of Aboriginal and mixed-race children in the Retta Dixon home from 1946 to 1980.

It has also heard evidence of Northern Territory failures to prosecute perpetrators of the abuse.

Commission chair Peter McClellan says the Darwin hearing is an important chapter in the inquiry's work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

At the opening of the hearing on Monday he said 827 Aboriginal people had contacted the commission.

This equates to 18 per cent of all people who have made contact since the commission began engagement with the public in April 2014.

Nine per cent of those who have attended private hearings are Aboriginal.

Just three per cent of Australia's 23 million citizens identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Justice McClellan said many Aboriginal organisations and advocacy groups had already engaged with the royal commission through submissions of issues papers and participation in roundtables.

Community meetings and forums had also been held.

He announced that in May 2015, there would be private sessions for people from the Tiwi Islands.

"We have been working with elders on the island throughout this year. A number of Tiwi survivors have already registered for private sessions."

The location of the private sessions will be set closer to the date and following consultation with the local community, a spokesman for the commission said.

Justice McClellan said the commission was also working with Aboriginal inmates in prisons across Australia to make sure they can get in touch.

The commission has employed six Aboriginal staff and provided regular cultural Awareness Training for Royal Commission staff.