AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald
By JOANNE McCARTHY Sept. 10, 2015
THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held its 4000th private hearing in a jail in August as Britain followed Australia’s lead in tackling child sexual abuse.
The royal commission heard evidence on August 19 from a prisoner who had been sexually abused as a child.
In Britain, the head of its newly established Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse praised the ‘‘remarkable’’ response to the Australian commission.
In a speech to Australian church leaders on Thursday, Royal commissioner Justice Peter McClellan said he was pleased the British inquiry would closely follow successful Australian arrangements.
More than 1500 people were waiting for a private hearing and about 40 people a week requested a private hearing, Justice McClellan said.
The royal commission has received 16,361 allegations involving 3566 institutions since it was established in November 2012 following the Newcastle Herald’s Shine the Light campaign for a royal commission into historic child sexual abuse.
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