Child Abuse Royal Commission Enters Third Year

The Royal Commission into Child Abuse is about to enter its third year with private and public hearings due to resume next week.

The Commission is also set to hold public hearings in regional Australia for the first time.

In September 2014 the Federal Government agreed to an extension for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for a further two years.  

The Federal Government was asked to provide another $104 million and a further two years to complete the Royal Commission investigations into how institutions across Australia have responded to allegations of child sexual abuse.

The time extension would see the Commission complete its final report by December 15 2017.

The request came following the release of the Interim report into The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Federal Parliament in June 2014.

The report pointed to a number of areas of concern in relation to institutional child abuse.

“Despite legal obligations to report, it is believed that child sexual abuse is significantly under-reported in Australia,” the report said.

Reasons for this included:

• failure to identify children who have been abused;

• delayed disclosure by victims;

• reluctance of institutions to respond to allegations and report them to appropriate authorities.

“We are seeking to identify changes that should be made to facilitate disclosure by children and ensure institutions report allegations,” the interim report said.

The Royal Commission was established by former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard in November 2012 after allegations came to light about child sexual abuse which the she described as “heartbreaking”.

The schedule of hearings for the next three months is:

For more information on the Royal Commission go to http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/