Royal Commission to Have Special Investigative Unit

ABC News
January 10, 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-11/royal-commission-to-have-special-investigative-unit/4460586?section=act

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The Federal Government's revealed the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse will be designed to ensure individual cases of abuse that emerge in the inquiry are investigated by police and prosecuted as swiftly as possible. There'll be six commissioners on the inquiry, each with three year terms - with an interim report due at the 18 month mark. The Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, has told AM there'll be no set time limit for the commission, but the government wants to ensure it runs efficiently, given the mountain of evidence it's set to hear. To that end, it will have the power to establish a special investigative unit that will be able to examine past cases and liaise with police

ASHLEY HALL: The Federal Government has revealed the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse will be designed to ensure individual cases of abuse by police and prosecuted as swiftly as possible.

The Prime Minister will today unveil the terms of reference for the commission.

But AM can reveal there'll be six commissioners, each with three-year term with an interim report due after 18 months.

The Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, has told AM there'll be no set time limit for the commission, but the government wants to ensure it runs efficiently, given the mountain of evidence it's set to hear.

Nicola Roxon is speaking here to Lexi Metherell.

NICOLA ROXON: The Royal Commission is going to have an enormous job ahead of it. We will be announcing that we are appointing six commissioners to do this work. That's a large number of commissioners but we think it is necessary to ensure that the range of people that need to be heard will be heard and so that we don't have the commission take any longer than is necessary.

Commissioners will be appointed for three years and will be asked to provide an interim report within 18 months to government. It may be that report will ask for extra time but we want to keep it focused and hope that we can get recommendations from the commissioners in as short a time as possible so that the committee can get on with implementing those recommendations and ensuring that we can protect our children better.

LEXI METHERELL: And you've said that they will be appointed for three year terms. How long are you anticipating that this commission could go for?

NICOLA ROXON: Well, I think it's important for us to keep a close track on the work of the commission. It is not open-ended but we are as a government committed that the commission should be allowed to take as long as it needs. By asking for there to be an interim report in 18 months and by appointing people for three years that keeps a fairly tight focus on it although we do understand and appreciate that it may be that when the commission has done its first 18 months of work, that it knows it will need more time than that and of course the Government would then provide that.

LEXI METHERELL: What power will the commission have to make criminal prosecutions?

NICOLA ROXON: The commission doesn't have the power to prosecute individuals. People need to be very clear that the commission is a investigative body which is going to make policy recommendations to the government about how we, as a community, can better protect children but what the commission will need to do is be able to liaise very closely with police authorities across the country and we believe that by establishing proper processes within the commission to assist people where their matters might need to go to the police for prosecution, that that will help speed up the process and provide individuals with appropriate support when it can often be very difficult for these matters to be brought to the police.

LEXI METHERELL: And will this special unit that's being set up be run by the police or how will that fit within the broader commission?

NICOLA ROXON: The commission itself will establish all of its protocols and that will be able to be done and I think the priority piece of work for the commission is when they're announced today but we believe the option of an investigative unit where material can be gathered where perhaps a brief of material would be able to be developed by staff in the commission to hand to the local police authorities may well be a good liaison process that will allow those matters that need to be followed by police to be referred to them in a quite comprehensive way.

LEXI METHERELL: How are you proposing that the commission decides which victims get the chance to tell their story? Will it be everyone who would like to?

NICOLA ROXON: Again, these will all be matters for the commission. A Royal Commission once set up is independent from government and the processes a commission use can be established by the commission themselves and they have a very wide range of powers and are able to be quite flexible in the way that they take evidence or hear material.

There has been through the process with the terms of reference many different suggestions about ensuring that anyone who wants to come to the commission can but also perhaps narrowing the focus on issues that particularly look at recommendations the commission can make.

So there'll be I think some important sensitive early discussions that the commissioners need to have about the best way to strike that balance and I know that the victims and advocacy groups are very keen to work with the commission and to assist in managing what will be a vast number of people - some of whom want to tell their stories, others who want to make sure that someone who's had the same experience as them can tell their story and those issues will need to be worked through by the commission itself.

ASHLEY HALL: The Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, speaking there to Lexi Metherell.