AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
December 10, 2017
By Melissa Davey
The inquiry which investigated decades of sexual abuse in institutions delivers its final report on 15 December
What is the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse?
The royal commission delivers its final report to the Australian governor general, Sir Peter Cosgrove, on 15 December, after five years’ work.
In 2012 the then prime minister, Julia Gillard, announced a royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse, something survivors and their advocates had been seeking for years after allegations in Australia and in other countries, notably the US and Ireland. “There has been a systemic failure to respond to it,” Gillard said. “The allegations that have come to light recently about child sexual abuse have been heartbreaking. These are insidious, evil acts to which no child should be subject. There have been too many revelations of adults who have averted their eyes from this evil.”
While successive prime ministers said a royal commission was not needed because state inquiries and investigations had been held, Gillard ordered the commission after explosive allegations made by Peter Fox, a detective chief inspector within New South Wales police. In a letter to the Newcastle Herald, he wrote that victims of historical abuse were coming forward in increasing numbers.
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