Child Sex Abuse Inquiry to Visit Kimberley

The Telegraph
August 16, 2013

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/child-sex-abuse-inquiry-to-visit-kimberley/story-fnii5tho-1226698451453

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will be in the Kimberley region next week to meet with Aboriginal community groups.

Commissioners Helen Milroy and Andrew Murray will spend almost a week in the state’s north speaking to representatives from the Kimberley Stolen Generations, Yawuru community leaders, Aboriginal legal and medical services, sexual assault and mental health services and the Kimberley Land Council to explain how the Royal Commission works.

Ms Milroy, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist from WA and Mr Murray, a Rhodes Scholar and a former WA Senator, will also be there to learn about the extent of institutional child sexual abuse in the Kimberley region.

This is the first of several planned visits by the commission to the region over the coming months.

Chief executive Janette Dines said the commission wanted to give Aboriginal people a voice in the inquiry process and encouraged victims to come forward to tell their story.

"The Royal Commission is committed to giving Aboriginal people a voice," she said. “We will be back in March 2014 for more community meetings, and then mid-year to meet with people who want to tell their story to the Royal Commission.”

The commission also announced this week that it would hold its first public hearing in Sydney on September 16.

The week-long hearing will look at how organisations including Scouts Australia, Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services and the then New South Wales Department of Community Services responded to information and allegations concerning Steven Larkins, the former CEO of Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services.

The commissioners will be in the Kimberley region from August 19 to 24.