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Royal Commission into Child Abuse Swamped by Submissions

By Barney Zwartz
The Age
November 12, 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/royal-commission-into-child-abuse-swamped-by-submissions-20131112-2xe5w.html

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.

"It is not uncommon for men of my age to break down and weep when describing the trauma of childhood," he said.

He spoke of one victim, "Robert", a gifted boy whose life went off the rails after being abused by a teacher in a Christian school.

"He has been unable to work, now has no friends, and wants little contact with family. His mother describes the experience as a living bereavement. The suffering for all involved is beyond adequate description."

Justice McClellan said the commission's first issues-paper, on working with children checks, produced 80 submissions. Common views included the need for national consistency, the need for more research, and to see the checks as just one element in a broader framework for protecting children.

Other issues-papers have covered the Catholic Church abuse protocol Towards Healing, child-safe institutions, and abuse in out-of-home care. Future topics would include mandatory reporting, offender programs and the support needs for survivors and their families.

Justice McClellan said child sexual abuse was still poorly understood. "It is plain that many in the community do not understand the potential for abuse to occur, the frequency with which it does occur, and the consequences for victims and their families."

Over the past three decades more than 300 inquiries in Australia had touched on the sexual abuse of children, at least 80 of them directly relevant to the commission's work.




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