UNITED KINGDOM/NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Listener
By Clare de Lore
From Millbank Tower on the bank of the Thames, the panoramic views take in some of London’s best-known institutions: Westminster Cathedral, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, Scotland Yard, MI5 and, across the river, Lambeth Palace (the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury) and MI6.
The landmarks – and the people who preside in them – are among the dozens of institutions and individuals in the professional sights of the woman who occupies offices on the 23rd floor: Dame Lowell Goddard, the New Zealander heading the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales.
Goddard, of Ngati Kahungunu ancestry, is a former High Court judge and chair of the Independent Police Conduct Authority. She is the third person to lead the inquiry: two previous appointees resigned because of perceived or actual conflicts of interest and the British Government went beyond the so-called establishment to find someone who could withstand the personal and professional scrutiny that comes with one of the biggest assignments in British legal history. Goddard and her husband, Chris Hodson QC, moved to London last year, and Goddard has spent the better part of 12 months establishing the inquiry and assembling her teams. She and four fellow panel members are determining which issues to investigate. They are supported by a secretariat, legal advisers and other professionals running a separate Truth Project. She expects to complete the work and report her findings and recommendations to the Government within five years.
What’s the scope of your work?
This inquiry is unprecedented in the breadth and scope of its terms of reference, which are the broadest you would ever have seen. The only inquiry with any parallels is the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Australian inquiry has been very helpful to us, because they already have three-and-a-half years’ experience, including the conduct of a very successful Truth Project.
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