Abuse an Ongoing Problem, Royal Commission into Sexual Abuse Told

By Sheradyn Holderhead
Herald Sun
July 9, 2013

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/abuse-an-ongoing-problem-royal-commission-into-sexual-abuse-told/story-fnii5yv7-1226676707469

SEXUAL abuse of children within Australian institutions continues today, a national royal commission has heard.

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse chief executive Janette Dines said it was unclear how large the inquiry would be but about 5000 people had made contact.

"It's certainly bigger than anything that's been attempted before in this country," she said.

"Many of the people coming to is in a private session are talking about their experience for the first time - sometimes in 50, 60 or 70 years ... Some people are talking about abuse that happened a long, long time ago but others are much more recent."

The commissioners began private sessions in Adelaide on Monday and will be here until the end of the month. The informal face-to-face appointments give people the chance to tell their story.

"This will not be the only opportunity for South Australians to come forward to tell their story," Ms Dines said.

"We will be in Adelaide during July and will return to South Australia as many times as it takes to hear peoples' stories."

Ms Dines said people who had come forward revealed they felt that because this was a national royal commission set up by the former Prime Minister, finally the issue was being taken seriously.

"There is such a sense of community outrage about the things that happened in the past that were not tackled and that has helped people to make the decision to come forward," she said.

Ms Dines said private sessions would be run throughout the life of the commission and that public hearings, where people could provide evidence on specific issues or institutions, begin in September.

She said there had been some confusion around the remit of the commission but that it currently was only considering the responses to abuse that had occurred within institutions.

At this time, the response of institutions to abuse that occurred in the home was not included but Ms Dines said the commission was currently seeking advice from the solicitor-general to clarify.