AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Pia Akerman
From:The Australian
April 04, 2013
COSTS and deadlines for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have blown out before any evidence has been heard, with nearly $1 million spent for each week since the inquiry was announced.
At the commission’s opening session in Melbourne yesterday, chairman Peter McClellan warned the timelines for the inquiry were “unlikely” to be met, though legal processes to elicit documents from the Catholic Church were already under way.
“The task we have is large, the issues are complex,” Justice McClellan said. “But we are now in a position to actively begin the work of gathering the stories and examining the responses of institutions.” He said the commission had spent or committed to spend $22m in the 25 weeks since it was announced by the Gillard government, with the money spent on start-up costs such as fitting out premises and buying an IT system.
“The running costs, including the cost of travel and resourcing commissioner hearings throughout Australia, will have the consequence that the work . . . will continue to require the commitment of very significant sums of public money,” Justice McClellan said.
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