Hundreds of child sexual abuse complaints referred to police: royal commission chair

By Irena Ceranic
ABC News
July 15, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-15/child-abuse-royal-commission-chair-speaks/6621742

Justice Peter McClellan says the commission's recommendations on victim compensation will go to the Government in weeks.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has so far referred 666 matters to police with a view to prosecuting the offenders.

The commission has received more than 13,000 allegations of sexual abuse with approximately half of those relating to faith-based institutions.

Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan gave an overview of the figures during an address to the 14th Assembly of the Uniting Church meeting in Perth this morning.

The speech marked the halfway point of the hearings which began two and a half years ago.

So far, the commission has completed 3,766 private sessions, and there are another 1,527 people waiting.

Justice McClellan said the people who told their stories in private sessions covered a broad spectrum of Australian society, but each of them has been "betrayed by a trusted adult" and for some "the lifelong consequences have been catastrophic".

"We have witnessed humour and ingenuity among survivors, but we have also seen profound sorrow, grief and pain that for many may never go away," he said.

Justice McClellan said for many victims, the best way to get justice would be through a national redress scheme, but that measure raised many complex questions, including who should be eligible, how a scheme should be funded, who should manage it, and what benefits it should provide.

The royal commission's recommendations on compensation for victims will be handed to the Federal Government in the coming weeks.

Justice McClellan said it was time to consider whether institutions should also face criminal charges for the abuse that went on in their facilities.

He noted that in both the United Kingdom and Canada, a law had been developed so institutions could be made liable for the "deliberate criminal act of a member of that institution, even when the institution itself has acted without negligence".

Currently, Australia does not have such laws.

After being granted an extension last year, the commission will now conclude at the end of 2017.