NOW THEREFORE We do, by these Our Letters Patent issued in Our name by Our Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia on the advice of the Federal Executive Council and under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Royal Commissions Act 1902 and every other enabling power, appoint you to be a Commission of inquiry, and require and authorise you, to inquire into institutional responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse and related matters, and in particular, without limiting the scope of your inquiry, the following matters:
what institutions and governments should do to better protect children against child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts in the future;
what institutions and governments should do to achieve best practice in encouraging the reporting of, and responding to reports or information about, allegations, incidents or risks of child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts;
what should be done to eliminate or reduce impediments that currently exist for responding appropriately to child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts, including addressing failures in, and impediments to, reporting, investigating and responding to allegations and incidents of abuse;
what institutions and governments should do to address, or alleviate the impact of, past and future child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts, including, in particular, in ensuring justice for victims through the provision of redress by institutions, processes for referral for investigation and prosecution and support services.
AND We direct you to make any recommendations arising out of your inquiry that you consider appropriate, including recommendations about any policy, legislative, administrative or structural reforms.
AND, without limiting the scope of your inquiry or the scope of any recommendations arising out of your inquiry that you may consider appropriate, We direct you, for the purposes of your inquiry and recommendations, to have regard to the following matters:
the experience of people directly or indirectly affected by child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts, and the provision of opportunities for them to share their experiences in appropriate ways while recognising that many of them will be severely traumatised or will have special support needs;
the need to focus your inquiry and recommendations on systemic issues, recognising nevertheless that you will be informed by individual cases and may need to make referrals to appropriate authorities in individual cases;
the adequacy and appropriateness of the responses by institutions, and their officials, to reports and information about allegations, incidents or risks of child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts;
changes to laws, policies, practices and systems that have improved over time the ability of institutions and governments to better protect against and respond to child sexual abuse and related matters in institutional contexts.
AND We further declare that you are not required by these Our Letters Patent to inquire, or to continue to inquire, into a particular matter to the extent that you are satisfied that the matter has been, is being, or will be, sufficiently and appropriately dealt with by another inquiry or investigation or a criminal or civil proceeding.
AND, without limiting the scope of your inquiry or the scope of any recommendations arising out of your inquiry that you may consider appropriate, We direct you, for the purposes of your inquiry and recommendations, to consider the following matters, and We authorise you to take (or refrain from taking) any action that you consider appropriate arising out of your consideration:
the need to establish mechanisms to facilitate the timely communication of information, or the furnishing of evidence, documents or things, in accordance with section 6P of the Royal Commissions Act 1902 or any other relevant law, including, for example, for the purpose of enabling the timely investigation and prosecution of offences;
the need to establish investigation units to support your inquiry;
the need to ensure that evidence that may be received by you that identifies particular individuals as having been involved in child sexual abuse or related matters is dealt with in a way that does not prejudice current or future criminal or civil proceedings or other contemporaneous inquiries;
the need to establish appropriate arrangements in relation to current and previous inquiries, in Australia and elsewhere, for evidence and information to be shared with you in ways consistent with relevant obligations so that the work of those inquiries, including, with any necessary consents, the testimony of witnesses, can be taken into account by you in a way that avoids unnecessary duplication, improves efficiency and avoids unnecessary trauma to witnesses;
the need to ensure that institutions and other parties are given a sufficient opportunity to respond to requests and requirements for information, documents and things, including, for example, having regard to any need to obtain archived material.
AND We appoint you, the Honourable Justice Peter David McClellan AM, to be the Chair of the Commission.
AND We declare that you are a relevant Commission for the purposes of sections 4 and 5 of the Royal Commissions Act 1902.
AND We declare that you are authorised to conduct your inquiry into any matter under these Our Letters Patent in combination with any inquiry into the same matter, or a matter related to that matter, that you are directed or authorised to conduct by any Commission, or under any order or appointment, made by any of Our Governors of the States or by the Government of any of Our Territories.
AND We declare that in these Our Letters Patent:
child means a child within the meaning of the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989.
government means the Government of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, and includes any non-government institution that undertakes, or has undertaken, activities on behalf of a government.
institution means any public or private body, agency, association, club, institution, organisation or other entity or group of entities of any kind (whether incorporated or unincorporated), and however described, and:
includes, for example, an entity or group of entities (including an entity or group of entities that no longer exists) that provides, or has at any time provided, activities, facilities, programs or services of any kind that provide the means through which adults have contact with children, including through their families; and
does not include the family.
institutional context: child sexual abuse happens in an institutional context if, for example:
it happens on premises of an institution, where activities of an institution take place, or in connection with the activities of an institution; or
it is engaged in by an official of an institution in circumstances (including circumstances involving settings not directly controlled by the institution) where you consider that the institution has, or its activities have, created, facilitated, increased, or in any way contributed to, (whether by act or omission) the risk of child sexual abuse or the circumstances or conditions giving rise to that risk; or
it happens in any other circumstances where you consider that an institution is, or should be treated as being, responsible for adults having contact with children.
law means a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory.
official, of an institution, includes:
any representative (however described) of the institution or a related entity; and
any member, officer, employee, associate, contractor or volunteer (however described) of the institution or a related entity; and
any person, or any member, officer, employee, associate, contractor or volunteer (however described) of a body or other entity, who provides services to, or for, the institution or a related entity; and
any other person who you consider is, or should be treated as if the person were, an official of the institution.
related matters means any unlawful or improper treatment of children that is, either generally or in any particular instance, connected or associated with child sexual abuse.
AND We:
require you to begin your inquiry as soon as practicable, and
require you to make your inquiry as expeditiously as possible; and
require you to submit to Our Governor-General:
first and as soon as possible, and in any event not later than 30 June 2014 (or such later date as Our Prime Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, fix on your recommendation), an initial report of the results of your inquiry, the recommendations for early consideration you may consider appropriate to make in this initial report, and your recommendation for the date, not later than 31 December 2015, to be fixed for the submission of your final report; and
then and as soon as possible, and in any event not later than the date Our Prime Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, fix on your recommendation, your final report of the results of your inquiry and your recommendations; and
authorise you to submit to Our Governor-General any additional interim reports that you consider appropriate.

There has been a collective sigh of relief from victims, their families and advocates after the release of the terms of reference for the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday the appointed six eminent Australians to head the commission which will begin work next week.

The terms of reference leave it up to the commissioners to decide who gives evidence, which public and private organisations it wants to examine, and if and who should pay compensation.

The commission will have the power to set up a special investigative unit to liaise between the commission and police so criminal allegations that do arise are investigated and prosecuted quickly.

But the Government emphasises the commission's task is to provide advice to government, not to make prosecutions.

Child advocacy group Bravehearts says the terms of reference have delivered everything it had hoped for.

Its founder, Hetty Johnston, says it is a good day for victims of abuse.

"We've got absolutely everything we wanted and nothing that we feared we might get anyway," she said.

"It's almost like nirvana for us, reading through it, this is just brilliant, this is fantastic.

"This is everything that we need to happen if we're going to deliver Australia as the safest place to raise a child."

Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were victims of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, has also praised the terms of reference.

"This is a well-thought-out set of terms of reference for the royal commission," he told ABC News 24.

"It's a great day for all the victims, survivors and families, to finally see our Government taking some very strong action.

"We look forward to victims being able to get their voice out there.... certainly we hope it will give voice to an awful lot of victims who haven't been able to speak up until now."

The Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council is the church body that will coordinate with the royal commission.

The council's chief Francis Sullivan says the group will cooperate fully.

"This is an opportunity for people who have been damaged, and for other victims of the atrocities, to be given the priority that they need so that a proper process of justice and healing can occur," he told ABC News24.

"This will enable the truth to come out, and you won't get justice and healing without firstly revealing the truth.

"Everybody knows that in the past there has been mismanagement, but the best part about some of this story is that in the present time there have been massive improvements in the whole area around the protocols of child sex abuse."

Mr Sullivan says he is "ashamed" of the way child sex abuse cases have been handled by the church in the past.

"Clearly there were cover-ups and clearly there were situations where the interests of the victims weren't the number one priority," he said.

"At the same time, the Catholic Church provides a massive amount of good in the community ... and it would be a real shame if the slur of child sex abuse hung over the church for years ahead and all the good that occurs is undermined."

But while the royal commission's terms of reference have been welcomed by many, it comes too late for some.

Four decades ago, Jim Boyle's then 14-year-old brother Gavan was sexually abused by a monsignor attached to the Melbourne Cathedral.

Ashamed, Gaven waited until after his parents died to tell his story at age 49, two years before he died.

"He died from a combination of alcoholism, starvation because he neglected himself and cancer that he'd not had treated," Jim Boyle told PM.

"Although it took many, many years, I'd say his death was a direct result of the abuse he suffered."

Gavan received some compensation for his abuse, but Mr Boyle says the church badly treated not only his brother but also the family.

He says the inquiry should not overlook that.

"The terms of reference seem to be specific to survivors where sex abuse does occur," he said.

"Both my sister and I have been in shock about it. My wife is terribly traumatised by this process. This damage affects the families involved."

The commissioners, led by New South Wales Supreme Court judge Peter McClellan, will hold a phone hook-up on Monday and meet on Tuesday.

Among the first order of business will be deciding on the structure of the commission.

Ms Gillard says it is a chance for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse to feel Australia is listening.

"To those survivors of child sexual abuse, today we are able to say we want your voices to be heard," she said.

"Even if you've felt for all of your life that no-one's listened to you, that no-one has taken you seriously, that no-one has really cared, the royal commission is an opportunity for your voice to be heard."

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon emphasises the commission's task is to provide advice to government, not to make prosecutions.

"We understand, however, that many of these matters are from a long time ago. Some people have hesitations in going to the police," she said.

"And we do think that the importance of the work of the commission will mean many people will come forward to the commission and may want, and indeed need assistance in referring to the matter to the police.

"So we have asked the commissioners in the terms of reference to consider how they will carefully liaise with police forces across the country."

The details announced today have the Opposition's full support.

"We've examined the terms of reference published by the Government today," shadow attorney-general George Brandis said.

"They seem to us to be very comprehensive and that means that there is no area of child sexual abuse in an institutional context which has been withheld from the purview of the inquiry."

The commissioners have been given until the end of 2015 to deliver their final report.

In an interim report due at the 18-month mark, they will be required to say if they need the commission to go beyond three years.

Response by religious institutes
Following a 4 June 2009, meeting with the Irish government, the 18 Irish religious institutes implicated in the abuse have agreed to increase their contribution to the compensation fund for victims. The religious institutes also agreed to an independent audit of their assets, so that their ability to pay further compensation can be determined. In a joint statement following the meeting, the religious institutes said they were willing "to make financial and other contributions toward a broad range of measures, designed to alleviate the hurt caused to people who were abused in their care."[31]

In 2011, abbot of Glenstal Abbey and Benedictine monk Dom Mark Patrick Hederman, OSB, was quoted by novelist and writer Russell Shorto speaking about the Church making "this island [Ireland] into a concentration camp where [the Church] could control everything. ... And the control was really all about sex. ... It’s not difficult to understand how the whole system became riddled with what we now call a scandal but in fact was a complete culture.[32]

The Catholic Church has copped the brunt of the accusations of child sexual abuse among its ranks. For 20 years it has faced a rightfully growing cacophony of blame.

For 20 years it has faced a rightfully growing cacophony of blame.

Mostly, its handling of abuse allegations is a lesson in how not to do things.

But the problem has run much deeper than the Catholic Church.

Individuals in organisations - church, state and welfare - have stolen the innocence of countless children and teens for decades. They've lived and sometimes died with their secrets.

Now, for all these organisations the time for hiding is over. Documents must not be kept in dusty filing cabinets. Secrets held tight over the generations should be told.

Details released yesterday by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard show broad terms of reference and a sturdy six commissioner-strong Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

No budget has yet been announced. This would be good to know, but establishing the voracity of the process and the commissioners involved in the inquiry is paramount at this time.

Ms Gillard said the Royal Commission would ensure the voices of child sexual abuse victims were heard and adults no longer turn a blind eye to such shocking crimes.

This inquiry should be honoured with full disclosure and honesty so the wound can start to heal.

Church and other community leaders should not try and deflect legitimate blame or take a tactic of "we weren't the only ones".

These approaches, similar to that used by Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell when the commission was announced, worsen rather than heal pain.

Victims should be encouraged to step forward and be recognised for their courage in helping future generations.

But their suffering may well be heightened while this inquiry continues, while the sediment of rot is necessarily stirred.

An interim report is due by June 30 next year. And the terms of reference suggest the commission end in 2015 "but this could be extended". Victim groups say extension may be needed.

But in the interests of the those who need certainty for life ahead, a sense of justice and a belief that no system will ever protect abusers again, let's make sure there's not speed, but haste.

The commissioners should hit the ground, cover everything needed and produce direction and recommendations as soon as possible. Don't extend the suffering.

The head of the royal commission into child sexual abuse has vowed to use its powers to override confidentiality agreements between victims and institutions if the information is necessary to its investigation.

The six commissioners appointed by the Federal Government to investigate allegations of systemic abuse within religious and state-run institutions have held their first face-to-face meeting in Sydney today.

Justice Peter McClellan says it is too early to say when public hearings will begin, adding the task before the commission is "complex and will take significant time".

He has also sought to address public concerns about how the commission will deal with the issue of confidentiality agreements and whether it has the power to override them.

"We wish to emphasise that under the Royal Commission Act, the commission has powers to compel the production of evidence, including documents, and we will not hesitate in an appropriate case to exercise those powers," Justice McClellan told reporters in Sydney.

"We will of course be mindful of the potential sensitivity of some of those matters which may require the commission to place constraints upon the further publication of any details which it obtains by this means.

"However, the commission expects that all institutions that may have entered into confidential agreements with individuals will cooperate with the commission in relation to the disclosure of those matters."

Justice McClellan says the commission will examine individual allegations of abuse so it can understand the circumstances that allowed the behaviour to occur and what action was taken by the relevant institution.

But he says the commission does not have the power to prosecute individuals named in the inquiry, and will not be determining victims' eligibility for compensation.

"Because the commission is not a prosecuting body, it will establish links with appropriate authorities in each state and territory to whom a matter may be referred with the expectation that, where appropriate, prosecutorial proceedings may commence.

"It is also important to understand that the commission is not charged with determining whether any person may be entitled to compensation for any injury which they may have suffered."

Public hearings

Justice McClellan says wherever possible, the commission will hear evidence in public but acknowledges that many people will feel apprehensive about discussing sensitive matters in public.

He says steps will be taken to protect the interests of those people while also ensuring fairness to other people and institutions.

"This may mean that proceedings will take place in private, real names may not be used, and it may be necessary to place other constraints on the reporting of individual matters," he said.

Justice McClellan says the commission will be based in Sydney but will travel around the country to hear evidence.

He says the commission will examine institutional abuse in all areas of Australia, including those which may have provided services in Indigenous communities.

He also says arrangements will be made to hear evidence from witnesses who now live overseas.

"The issues which the commission must enquire into have been the subject of public discussion both in this country and in other countries for a number of years," he said.

"The commission is mindful of the work which has been done in various parts of Australia and will seek to draw upon the material which has already been gathered by those inquiries."

Gail Furness SC has been appointed as counsel assisting the commission, although it is likely a second counsel will need to be appointed.

Justice McClellan says a team of lawyers from the Australian Government Solicitor will assist the commission.

I was watching something the other night (I forget what) where they tried to outline paedophilia as a sexual orientation. I can see this coming up in the coming weeks.

Was it some form of religious elder? I saw a program on Foxtel where a cardinal of some sort argued the same in an attempt to dodge the whole "priests are gay" thing.

Time for hiding is over for Catholic Church

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/time-for-hiding-is-over-for-catholic-church/story-e6frfhqo-1226552296469