AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM
ASHLEY HALL: The head of the royal commission into child sex abuse says it’s time to consider whether institutions should be criminally liable for the abuse of children under their care.
The chairman of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan, is set to make the comments today in Perth in a speech to mark the half way point of the hearings.
He says greater accountability is needed for the places and organisations where sexual abuse takes place.
Bridget Brennan reports.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: The royal commission has been running for two and a half years now and there’s already been more than 13,000 allegations of institutionalised child sexual abuse.
Leonie Sheedy is from Care Leavers Australia Network, one of the groups that’s been encouraging victims to speak up.
LEONIE SHEEDY: You know, I sat in a country town in Victoria on Saturday with a man of 80 years of age, with his wife, and she learnt things that she’d never heard in 58 years of marriage.
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