Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing

%asset_thumbnail_alt

Senior Deputy Crown Solicitor Tony Keyes and Principal Lawyer Ben Cramer represented the State at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last week.

The hearing (case study 51) investigated the responses of Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to the Commission’s recommendations from its previous Redress and Civil Litigation and Working With Children Checks reports, and forthcoming recommendations about reportable conduct and mandatory reporting schemes, out-of-home care data collection and child-safe standards. Evidence was given for the State by Directors-General David Mackie (Department of Justice and Attorney-General) and Michael Hogan (Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Service). The hearing was conducted by a full bench of all six royal commissioners.

The hearing was a useful opportunity to take stock of a number of nationally significant recommendations and proposals. Royal Commission Chairperson, the Honourable Peter McClellan AM, reminded governments that the recommendations represented a unique opportunity to make genuine national progress on a range of child safety measures. The Commission is established jointly by letters patent of all Australian Governments, and its final report is due to be delivered in December 2017.