AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
Tom McIlroy
Authority and respect for trusted institutions in Australian society should never override reports of danger to young people, the chair of the royal commission into child sexual abuse will argue on Monday.
Justice Peter McClellan will use a speech to the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies in Sydney to call for allegations made by children to be appropriately heard and investigated, regardless of where they originate, and without institutions or their leaders being able to diminish the preparedness of adults to act.
The speech comes days after human rights groups called for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to investigate Australia’s immigration detention centre on Nauru amid leaked reports of sexual violence, abuse and self-harm by refugees and asylum seekers detained at the facility.
The commission says investigating alleged child abuse on Nauru or Manus Island is outside its jurisdictional powers, and the speech does not cite immigration detention abuse allegations.
Justice McClellan will tell the conference the commission has heard from more than 5500 survivors of abuse in Australia in private sessions so far, and has referred more than 1600 allegations to police and other authorities.
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