AUSTRALIA
The West Australian
Gary Adshead and Luke Eliot, The West Australian
November 13, 2012
Dark chapters of child abuse and cover-up in WA will be exposed or revisited as part of the planned royal commission announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
As recently as August, _The West Australian _revealed WA Police had formed a task force to investigate 184 cases of abuse against children in State care.
But the tentacles of institutionalised sexual offending in WA can be traced back more than 60 years to the orphanages, hostels and school farms run by governments and church orders such as the Catholic-based Christian Brothers.
“There are going to be a lot of people ducking and weaving and trying put up road blocks where they can,” sexual abuse victim Todd Jefferis said. “But a royal commission will have the power to break through.”
Mr Jefferis, 39, brought Dennis John McKenna’s 15 years of systemic abuse at St Andrew’s Hostel to an end in 1990 and recently gave powerful evidence to an inquiry into how McKenna got away with molesting at least 16 children boarding at the State-run facility in Katanning.
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