Survival and Safety beyond the Child Abuse Royal Commission

Sydney Morning Herald
April 1, 2017

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/survival-and-safety-beyond-the-child-abuse-royal-commission-20170330-gvajsq.html

The good work of the royal commission must be translated into good work in every family, community and institution across the nation.

Crimes against children were committed at more than 4000 institutions across the nation, including 1500 with religious allegiances and 900 linked to governments. As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began its final week of public hearings, chairman Peter McLellan said it was "remarkable" that this scourge had been so widespread.

Members of the clergy accounted for one-third of the perpetrators revealed during the commission's four years of investigations. Teachers accounted for one-fifth. The abuses occurred under the watch of trusted adults at public and private schools, detention centres, out of home care, churches, orphanages and government bodies; defence establishments, sporting clubs, after school care, dance and performing arts academies; institutions providing services for children with disability, scouts, health care providers, and a yoga ashram.