AUSTRALIA
The Age
November 12, 2013
Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.
How child sex abuse happens and how judges sentence offenders will be an important focus of the royal commission into child abuse, its chairman said on Tuesday.
Speaking in Melbourne, Justice Peter McClellan said the commission, having returned to Melbourne, would also look at the practical impact of the statute of limitations in preventing victims from suing perpetrators, which many people see as a “significant injustice”, and whether there should be a general compensation scheme.
Justice McClellan, chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, said that up to last Friday the commission had received 6362 phone calls, 2775 written inquiries and 627 personal submissions.
It had conducted 742 private sessions with victims, with 524 approved but awaiting appointments, and another 1300 seeking a private session, of whom probably half would get one, he said.
He said the private sessions, which were set up by act of parliament, had worked well. Although traumatic for many, the sessions had allowed victims to talk to someone with authority about the deeply traumatic and life-defining experiences they suffered as children.
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