AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM
TONY EASTLEY: When victims began to make claims of abuse at an Anglican run children’s home in Lismore in New South Wales in 2005, the Anglican Church argued it didn’t have a duty of care to the orphans who were abused at the home.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will begin its third public inquiry today, and the focus is on the North Coast Children’s Home.
The public hearing will investigate how complaints of abuse were handled, how the group claim was settled and what happened when other former residents of the orphanage came forward.
AM’s Emily Bourke reports.
EMILY BOURKE: The Anglican Church ran the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore from the 1940s to the 1980s.
In 2005, former residents from the home started coming forward, alleging physical, psychological and sexual abuse, dating back decades.
How the Church responded to those complaints and what redress it offered will now be dissected by the Royal Commission.
TOMMY CAMPION: I was still fighting and fighting when Julia Gillard stood up an announced a Royal Commission, and I felt safe then.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.