Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Background

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia surfaced in the Roman Catholic Church and a number of other religious and non-religious institutions. Some of these allegations led to a number of convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Roman Catholic priests and members of religious orders. Some of the allegations relate to alleged incidents that occurred during the 1950s, others in more recent times. There were calls for a Royal Commission since the late 1990s.

Similar allegations against the Roman Catholic Church had occurred in the United States, Ireland, Canada, Belgium, and several other European countries. In Ireland, the Government Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established in 2000 and presented its final report to the Dáil in 2009, covering allegations of child abuse from 1936 onwards.

A 1996 parliamentary inquiry in Western Australia attempted to review the extent of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children in state care; however it realised that the scope of the task was too big. In South Australia there were allegations that the state government was not accurately reporting the numbers of children being sexually abused in remote parts of the state. In Queensland, during 1999 the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions (headed by Leneen Forde, a former Governor of Queensland), investigated the treatment of children in 159 licensed government and non-government institutions from 1911 to 1999. In its report, the Inquiry found that abuse had occurred and made 42 recommendations relating to contemporary child protection practices, youth justice and redress of past abuse.

In Victoria, in January 2011 the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry was launched to investigate Victoria's child protection system and make recommendations to strengthen and improve the protection and support of vulnerable young people. The inquiry was chaired by a former Supreme Court Justice, the Hon Phillip Cummins, and reported in January 2012. The report considered the issue of the sexual and other abuse of children by personnel in religious organisations and recommended that a formal investigation should be conducted into the processes by which religious organisations respond to the criminal abuse of children by personnel in their organisation. A bi-partisan parliamentary inquiry was established in May 2012 in that state to seek information about the causes and effects of criminal abuse within religious and other non-government organisations; whether victims were discouraged from reporting such abuse; if such abuse was reported, how the reporting of their experience of abuse was handled; the consequences of abuse, including the effect on the victims and others, and the consequences for the perpetrator(s); the adequacy of the policies, procedures and practices within religious and other non-government organisations that relate to the prevention of, and response to, child abuse; and suggestions for reform, to help prevent abuse and ensure that allegations of abuse are properly dealt with. During its proceedings it heard from a police report that detailed 40 suicide deaths directly related to abuse by Roman Catholic clergy. In October 2012, the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Ken Lay, in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry, recommended that some of the Roman Catholic Church's actions to hinder investigations (including dissuading victims from reporting to police, failing to engage with police and alerting suspects of allegations against them) be criminalised.

By June 2012, there was community and academic pressure for the establishment of a Royal Commission, most especially in Victoria.

Meanwhile, in New South Wales, a bishop in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese of the Roman Catholic Church supported some form of public inquiry into the issue. In November 2012, a senior officer of the NSW Police revealed that he was stood down from his investigation while he was compiling "explosive" evidence from a key witness and that ".....the church covers up, silences victims, hinders police investigations, alerts offenders, destroys evidence and moves priests to protect the good name of the church". On 9 November 2012, the Premier of New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell, announced the appointment of a Special Commission of Inquiry into allegations raised about police handling of abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church in the Hunter region. The commission is headed by Margaret Cunneen SC.

On 12 November 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that she would be recommending to the Governor-General the creation of a Royal Commission. On 19 November 2012, federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and Acting Minister for Families Brendan O'Connor released a consultation paper seeking input into the commission's scope of the terms of reference, how the Commonwealth and the states and territories will work together, the number of commissioners and suggested areas of expertise, the proposed timetable and reporting requirements.

Archbishop Hart, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, stated that he welcomed and promised co-operation with a Royal Commission to broadly investigate child sexual abuse in institutions across Australia. George Pell, Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney, stated that he hoped the Royal Commission will stop a "smear campaign" against the Catholic Church. During a press conference held on 13 November 2012, Cardinal Pell voiced his support for the Royal Commission and welcomed the opportunity to help victims, to clear the air and to separate fact from fiction.

Commissioners and executive

On the same day, Gillard announced the setting up of the Royal Commission and the appointment of six commissioners with The Honourable Justice Peter McClellan AM as its head. The six commissioners were:

The setting up of the royal commission was supported by the Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, and by the Greens, as were the terms of reference and the choice of commissioners.

The inaugural chief executive officer was Janette Dines, who served from January 2013 until June 2014.

Powers

The powers of Royal Commissions in Australia are set out in the enabling legislation, the Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cth).

The Royal Commissions Amendment Act 2013 (Cth) was approved by Parliament to give the Child Abuse Royal Commission additional powers to fulfil its Terms of Reference. Notable changes were:

1. Enabling the Chair to authorise one or more members to hold a public or private hearing
2. Authorise members of the Royal Commission to hold private sessions

Royal Commissions, appointed pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act or otherwise, have powers to issue a summons to a person to appear before the Commission at a hearing to give evidence or to produce documents specified in the summons; require witnesses to take an oath or give an affirmation; and require a person to deliver documents to the Commission at a specified place and time. A person served with a summons or a notice to produce documents must comply with that requirement, or face prosecution for an offence. The penalty for conviction upon such an offence is a fine of A$1,000 or six months imprisonment. A Royal Commission may authorise the Australian Federal Police to execute search warrants.

Submissions

The commissioners invited members of the public to make submissions, either orally over the telephone, in writing, or via face-to-face meetings with a commission officer. To help people planning to give evidence, in July 2013 the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus QC, announced provision of a free national legal service, independent of the Royal Commission, by the National Association of Community Legal Centres. Witnesses were offered the opportunity to tell their story to the Royal Commission via either public hearings or in private.

The commissioners identified a number of themes and invited members of the public, organisations and institutions to make submissions on each of the following issues. As of September 2016 there were no issues papers open for submission. The number of public submissions is listed:

Submissions were made by organisations including the Anglican Church, Anglicare, Barnardos Australia, Bravehearts, Broken Rites, CREATE Foundation, the Law Council of Australia, the Lutheran Church, MacKillop Family Services, Mission Australia, the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, SNAP Australia (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, Save the Children Australia, Scouts Australia, The Smith Family, the St Vincent de Paul Society, Surf Life Saving Australia, the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints), the Salvation Army, the Uniting Church and YMCA Australia. The Australian Government and the governments of the ACT, NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia made submissions. The list of government agencies which made submissions is extensive and includes the ACT Children & Young People Commissioner, the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Senate, the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian (Queensland), the Commissioner for Children and Young People WA, the Commissioner for Victim’s Rights SA, Legal Aid NSW, the Legal Services Commission of South Australia, the NSW Children’s Guardian, the NSW Ombudsman, Queensland State Archives, the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, the Victorian Commissioner for Children and Young People and Victoria Legal Aid. Many individuals made submissions, including David Hill and John Menadue AO.

Through the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Catholic Church established a national co-ordinating body, called the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, to oversee the church's engagement with the Royal Commission and the pastoral and other ramifications that arose from the sexual abuse scandal. The council was chaired by the Honourable Barry O'Keefe AM QC until his 2014 death. He was succeeded by the Honourable Neville Owen, a former judge, barrister and solicitor.

Public hearings

Hearings were conducted in every capital city and a number of regional centres across Australia.

List of public hearings

Hearings were held with a focus on case studies. The Commission's web site has an up-to-date list of case studies (49 as of 10 December 2016).

Scouts Australia

In the Hunter region of New South Wales, it was alleged that a former member of Scouts Australia, suspended from the organisation for abusing two Scouts in the 1990s, was employed as the chief executive officer of an Aboriginal child welfare agency two months prior to the formal introduction of working-with-children checks. In testimony before the commission in September 2013, it was revealed that the applicant's suitability for the role may have been assessed by relatively junior staff; and that he later falsified his working-with-children check. It was alleged that the NSW Department of Community Services (DOCS) gave the man permission to have a 17-year-old boy, whom he was grooming for sex, live with him. A former CEO of Scouts Australia testified that during his three years in the job, he dealt with ten allegations of child sexual abuse. He admitted a number of children were sexually abused or harmed and said the Scouts failed them. The commission heard testimony from two victims who spoke of the profound effect the sexual abuse had on their lives.

The first published case study of the royal commission dealt with the response of institutions to the conduct of Steven Larkins, who occupied positions of responsibility in Scouts Australia NSW and in the Hunter Aboriginal Children's Service. Larkins was prosecuted in 2012 for offences he had committed 15 years earlier, and was convicted and imprisoned.

YMCA NSW

Between October 2013 and January 2014, the commission heard evidence that there were systemic failures by management within YMCA NSW after a worker was hired to work at a YMCA child care centre located in Caringbah in southern Sydney without the appropriate background checks. The former worker, Jonathan Luke Lord, has since been convicted of offences relating to the abuse of twelve boys in his care, some as young as six. On 18 January 2013, Lord was sentenced to 10 years and a non-parole period of 6 years. He was sentenced for 13 offences involving 12 children and another 16 offences were taken into account.

Following evidence presented before the commission, the NSW Department of Education and Communities wrote to the Chief Executive Officer of YMCA NSW and issued a compliance notice that set out strict conditions for continuation of the YMCA's childcare licence. The Chief Executive Officer of YMCA NSW testified before the commission about the impact of crimes that occurred on YMCA NSW premises.

(The perpetrator)... was an insidious and deceitful individual, who was grooming not only children and parents but the YMCA itself. He gained the trust of the children, the parents and the fellow staff members to really get close to these children. (He would) go so far as to open the childcare centre for a parent who had to start work early. (He) went above and beyond to help out parents. We've got staff who are struggling to comfort children that come to them distressed because it might be seen as grooming practices. So (his) impacts have been devastating.

The Salvation Army

In January 2014 the Commission began investigating allegations of sexual and physical abuse of children at four boys' homes run by The Salvation Army. The homes examined by the Commission were the Bexley Boys Home in Sydney, the Gill Memorial Home at Goulburn in southern New South Wales, the Alkira Salvation Army Home for Boys at Indooroopilly in Brisbane and the Riverview Training Farm at Riverview in Queensland. The Commission heard testimony from two Salvation Army whistleblowers about allegations of child abuse between 1973 and 1975. The officers testified that they witnessed a boy had his arm dislocated during a beating by another Army officer. The Army banned the husband and wife whistleblowers from talking to other alleged victims of child abuse and dismissed them from their position as "house parents" at the Alkira home. When the whistleblowers complained to the Queensland Department of Children's Services, they were labelled troublemakers. The officer at the centre of the allegations had previously worked at the Bexley home from 1968; and then was the manager of the Alkira home between 1974 and 1976. The Salvation Army moved the alleged perpetrator to another Salvation Army service where he was promoted in rank. Following the allegations raised at the Royal Commission, The Salvation Army suspended the officer at the centre of the allegations. The officer concerned did not attended the commission's hearings but the inquiry has been told he refutes the allegations of sexual abuse. The inquiry heard that officers were moved interstate if they were accused of child sexual abuse. One officer was dismissed from the Army in 2005 due to allegations of child sexual abuse. The whistleblowers testified that boys at the home were used for alleged sexual exploitation and were allegedly subject to physical abuse.

"They were given drink and chocolates, well, they were used that day in Brisbane and the next day they were sent down to Sydney... (Another officer) told me the boys were useless and bad, and it had to be drummed into them that rules are rules."

Witnesses who testified included alleged victims of child abuse. A male witness told the Royal Commission that while at the Gill Memorial Home at Goulburn, aged 12 years, he was regularly sexually abused by a Salvation Army officer.

"....(I was abused)... at least four out of every seven days. Many times he would drag me out of bed at 3am for allegedly making a noise,.....He would punish me by taking me down to the bathrooms and making me scrub the toilets with a toothbrush. I was always there on my own. He would then sexually abuse me and send me back to bed at 5am. I would then have to get up at 6am to start my chores..... (He) flogged me when we got back for telling lies. He hit me with his open palm on my head, chest, arms and upper body."

Towards Healing

Case Studies 4, 8, and 31 inquired into the Catholic Church's Towards Healing program and the Church's responses. Hearing 8 also focused on Ellis' experience in civil litigation.

Mangrove Yoga Ashram

In December 2014, the Commission hearing examined allegations into the Mangrove Yoga Ashram of Swami Satyananda Saraswati of child sexual abuse by the ashram’s former spiritual leader Swami Akhandananda Saraswati in the 1970s and 1980s.

Knox Grammar School and Uniting Church

On 23 February 2015 the Commission started hearings concerning the response of Knox Grammar School and the Uniting Church in Australia to complaints and criminal proceedings involving teachers who sexually abused students. The Commission's remit includes inquiring into the 'systems, policies and procedures' involving the school's response to the complaints since 1970, and the experiences of former students sexually abused by teaching staff. Four teachers from Knox had been convicted of sexual offences against Knox students.

A former Knox teacher, a resident master at the schools boarding house in 1988, was summonsed to appear at the Commission, but failed to do so. A warrant was issued by the Commission for his arrest.

During hearings in early March 2015, several former Knox students and staff alleged that headmaster Ian Paterson did not refer several allegations of sex abuse he received to the police, despite there being a requirement for such allegations to be reported from 1988. The commission heard that in fact Paterson had never reported any student's allegation of sexual abuse to police during his thirty years in charge of the school. Paterson also stated that he had allowed several teachers accused of sexual abuse to resign and subsequently gave them positive references. Paterson denied that he had covered up the sexual abuse of students, arguing that he had responded to the allegations brought to his attention, and stated that "I should have known and I should have stopped the events that led to the abuse and its tragic consequences for these boys in my care and their families". Paterson stated that he was not aware that it was a crime for a teacher to grope or sexually proposition a student. Following the section of the hearing concerning Paterson, the current headmaster John Weeks stated that the school had changed considerably since the end of Paterson's period in the role and that Knox's Paterson Centre for Ethics and Business Studies would be renamed.

Weeks also gave evidence to the Royal Commission. During this hearing he was questioned over why he had not sacked the teacher who was arrested in 2009 despite having received allegations in 2007 that the teacher had behaved improperly with a student during the 1980s. Weeks told the media that the allegations had not been detailed or specific, and he had received advice that "it would have been difficult on industrial grounds" to have dismissed the teacher. Weeks also stated that he had reported the teacher to the police child protection unit, but the relevant police inspector gave evidence that a report had not been made.

Yeshiva, Melbourne and Yeshiva, Bondi

Testimony by victims of sexual abuse at two Chabad schools, Yeshiva in Melbourne and Yeshiva in Bondi, and school officials was given at the Commission. Witnesses included Manny Waks and his father. Several Chabad rabbis were found to have been publicly sermonizing that it was religiously forbidden to report child sex abuse to the police. The prohibition against reporting a fellow Jew to the authorities is referred to as Mesirah As of 1 September 2015, four Chabad Rabbis had resigned in relation to the controversy. As a consequence of the revelations, one Chabad institution’s Committee of Management was to be replaced and to have its Board of Trustees disbanded.

Witnesses noted that not only were victims of abuse not protected, but those who reported abuse to the rabbis were shunned as "mosers" who commit "mesirah". The schools were accused of covering up multiple claims of sexual abuse at their institutions in the 1980s and 1990s, and of retaliating against whistleblowers and victims.

Australian Defence Force

The Commission held a public hearing to inquire into the experiences of men and women who were sexually abused as children in certain divisions of the Australian Defence Force. It also examined the systems, policies, practices and procedures of the ADF and the ADF Cadets to prevent child sexual abuse, and raising and responding to concerns and complaints about child sexual abuse.

Reports

The federal government requested an initial report from the commission not later than 30 June 2014 as well as a recommendation for the date for the final report not later than 31 December 2015. On 13 November 2014 Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove amended the letters patent extending the date for submission of the final report to "not later than 15 December 2017."

An interim report was released on 30 June 2014 and included "the personal stories of 150 people who shared their experience of abuse by coming to a private session or providing a written account." At that time there were still around 3000 more sessions on a waiting list to be heard. In June 2015 the Royal Commission released a report, prepared by the Parenting Research Centre, that assessed the extent to which 288 recommendations from 67 previous, relevant inquiries have been implemented.

Following the conclusion of each public hearing, case study reports were released on findings and recommendations for each of the abovementioned cases.