Privacy for Sex Abuse Victims

By Patrick Billings
The Examiner
September 9, 2013

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/1762475/privacy-for-sex-abuse-victims/?cs=95


THE landmark royal commission into child sex abuse will meet Tasmanian victims this month.

It will first hold private hearings with victims.

Royal commission chief executive Janette Dines said there had been a strong response from people wanting to tell their story in a private session.

"More than 326 people have already told their story in private sessions across the country, and we expect to speak to at least 850 more before the end of the year," she said.

The royal commission will examine how institutions with a responsibility for children managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.

One of Tasmania's most high- profile child sex abuse cases involved Burnie's Marist Regional College when it was run by the Marist Fathers.

In 2008 trainee priest Paul Ronald Goldsmith was convicted of molesting about 20 boys in the 1970s.

Two other Marist priests who taught at the school about that time have spent time in jail for sexually abusing students in their rooms at the school.

Last year order head Father Paul Cooney said he expected Marist Fathers to be called before the royal commission when hearings were held in Tasmania.

The Marist Fathers are leaving the Burnie/Wynyard parish at the end of 2013 after 57 years in the parish and at Marist Regional College.

•The royal commission is encouraging people affected by child sexual abuse in institutions to register to tell their story by calling 1800099340 or emailing registerinterest@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.