AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Milanda Rout
From:The Australian
January 12, 2013
SIX days after Julia Gillard announced her sweeping – and rather ill-defined – royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse last November, law firms started circling victims for potential clients.
One newspaper advertisement read: “Royal Commission. Were you sexually abused? You may have a claim. Register now – time limits apply.”
The government was not impressed, and made noises about misleading advertising, given no compensation scheme had been announced, but it was the author of its own predicament.
The rushed decision by the Prime Minister to announce the inquiry without any terms of reference, structure, number of commissioners, length of time, whether it would include a compensation scheme, have a forum for victims or even have an investigatory arm left the doors wide open to all interpretations.
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