AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times
June 9 2016
Christopher Knaus
Damian De Marco sat in the gallery of ACT parliament on Thursday, watching as new laws were introduced that could have stopped the Catholic brother who abused him so many years ago.
“In all probability, it would have saved lives,” Mr De Marco said.
It took the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and repeated revelations about cover-ups of child abuse within the Catholic Church and other institutions to get to this point.
But, on Thursday morning, Chief Minister Andrew Barr introduced his reportable conduct scheme to the Legislative Assembly, a law designed to force institutions to report abuse complaints to an independent authority.
“The royal commission has shown that there are still too many dark places within institutions to hide those who would harm children, and there are still those who draw the blinds rather than face the embarrassment or damage that illumination may bring,” Mr Barr told the Assembly.
The scheme is modelled on the NSW system, which has been described as the best of its kind in the world.
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