Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the leadership shown by the former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, when she announced the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in November 2012. It is perhaps her finest legacy. As she said at that time:

… too many children have suffered child abuse, but have also seen other adults let them down—they've not only had their trust betrayed by the abuser but other adults who could have acted to assist them have failed to do so.

There have been too many revelations of adults who have averted their eyes from this evil.

Julia Gillard was determined that Australia could no longer avert its eyes from evil—and it is evil, with the full import of that word—and the report of the royal commission has fully vindicated the decision she took in 2012.

I don't want to name him, but I want to talk about a friend of mine. He went to one of the finest schools in Melbourne. He was a boarder there in the 1970s. He was sexually assaulted. The headmaster and the school supported the teacher, even calling the teacher a hero and someone who always acted in the best interests of the boys. These statements were made just prior to eventually paying my friend $500,000 in compensation, decades later. My friend was sexually assaulted by a teacher when he was 15 years old. When he told the headmaster what had happened, he was told that his claim was outrageous, that he had a vivid imagination, that he needed discipline and that his parents needed to consider whether he should stay at the school. The headmaster said that the teacher was an 'honourable man'. My friend's father was not a particularly physically demonstrative person, but he held my friend tight and he said, 'Son, we love you, we believe you and we'll make this right.'

My friend eventually received an apology from the school in June of this year—more than 40 years later. The only reason I know about this is that we were chatting a few weeks ago and he said, 'I'm coming up to Canberra on Monday.' This was the day the apology was given in the other place. I said: 'Oh, great! Are you coming up for work?' He said, 'No, I'm coming up for the apology.' He interpreted my silence quite correctly as my needing further elucidation. He said: 'I want to hear the apology. I think I will find it healing.' We were on the phone, but I just wanted to hug him, to hold him tight, as his father had done so many years before, because I could hear not only the voice of the adult but also the voice of the child. I didn't see him until the day after the apology. He is a lovely man, a very competent man, a very funny, intelligent and engaging man and a well-known man in Melbourne. But for the first time, when I saw him that following day, I saw the child he had been and the unnecessary journey he had had to undertake because of the betrayal, the grief, the anger, the pain and the awful, awful maelstrom of emotion. I am sorry. But my friend, not surprisingly, is a better person than the criminal who abused him. My friend said, in the only interview he has given:

My message is stand up, be heard, you're not alone.

I will stand with you.

Don't be a victim, be a survivor.

He said to me the following day that the apology will help him move on, that it is healing.

I want to acknowledge some people without whom we would not have had a royal commission. There is the former New South Wales police officer Peter Fox, whose investigation into the cover-up of child sexual abuse triggered the government's decision to appoint the royal commission. He had a great deal of difficulty in bringing his investigation into the light and he should be commended.

As a Catholic, I have found the report of the royal commission to be painful reading. It is difficult to reconcile the deep love and compassion that one knows exists within a faith with the evil that has been done to innocence. I sincerely hope—and I'm sure that this hope is shared by all Australian Catholics and all people of faith—that the church will change its attitude and its behaviour. We are starting to see some changes, including in the solemn vow: 'Never again will the safety of the child be placed behind the reputation of the church. No more cover-ups or transferring of people accused of abuse to other places.' The church was the first non-government institution to opt into the National Redress Scheme.

The Catholic Church is, however, not alone. I want to acknowledge, for example, Manny Waks, who courageously exposed the sexual abuse that he and others suffered in institutions of the orthodox Jewish community in Melbourne. There have been many others who have helped, from many religious and non-religious institutions and from government and nongovernment. They have exposed a failure to protect children and the fact that perpetrators were instead protected. It is now clear that there has been a systemic failure to protect children in institutional settings of all kinds—state and private, religious and secular—for many decades. That must now stop, for, if it doesn't, we must ask: what kind of society do we want? 'Sorry' is a word and only has power because one understands why one is sorry and the actions that therefore flow from that state of being. There is little point in saying sorry if there is no change.

The royal commission has given us a powerful set of recommendations. I thank the commissioners for their diligent carrying out of what must have been, at times, a harrowing duty. We as parliamentarians now also have a duty, and that is to put the recommendations of the royal commission into effect. I note the commitments given by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to that effect. This parliament—all of us, from all parties and the crossbench—needs to ensure that those commitments are acted upon, whoever is in government—for, if we shirk that duty, we will not be forgiven.

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this motion on the apology following the royal commission into institutionalised child abuse. The royal commission was many years coming, and it has done incredibly important yet harrowing work to really put the spotlight on the suffering and the pain of so many Australian children in the institutions that were—many of them—meant to care for, look after and love the children who they abused.

I want to start by saying that I am sorry. I want to associate my comments and heartfelt apology with those of every other member of this place and the other place—those who have stood and verbalised an apology, those who have acknowledged the moment's silence in the House of Representatives, and those who will do the same here shortly this evening. I'd also like to acknowledge the leadership of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in bringing forward this royal commission. There are many things that I wish Julia Gillard had done while she was Prime Minister, but I think it is fair to say that her strongest legacy will be this royal commission. The spotlight has exposed evil crimes done to children in institutions that are unthinkable, but it is so important to have had it happen. It should have happened many, many years ago. The evil should have been stopped many, many years ago. But, for what we have before us today, I think we need to pay strong and honest tribute to Ms Gillard for showing leadership at the time.

I also want to associate myself with the comments of, and pay my respect to the leadership shown by, my own colleague Senator Rachel Siewert in relation to this issue. Senator Siewert has been fighting hard for many, many years in this place for justice and truth for the survivors of institutionalised child abuse, and for those who, for too long, remained voiceless and whose suffering and pain remained a dark secret. I also thought that the contribution in this place earlier today from Senator Kristina Keneally was one that deserves to be acknowledged. She spoke very eloquently and, as a practising Catholic, I think her words carry incredible power.

Many of us, as we have acknowledged and reflected upon the much-needed apology to the survivors—and to those who didn't survive—think it is absolutely essential that we acknowledge that the children whose childhoods were stolen had it happen almost in plain sight. Yes, there were dark secrets that the institutions were keeping and that children—abused at the hands of those who were meant to care for them, look after them and love them—were forced to keep. But many, many people knew. And many, many people—adults; people in authority—stayed silent when they should have spoken up. That is what we are truly sorry for. As adults, too many people stayed silent and allowed these children to suffer, to be abused, to be traumatised, to be re-abused and re-traumatised, some night after night, week after week, month after month—and for years. The absolute horror of these acts is only compounded by the cover-up that was associated with them.

There have been many accounts that have been used as part of the reporting through this royal commission, and many of us in this place have referred to individual stories that reflect so devastatingly the pain and the suffering that innocent children have had to carry. Tonight I want to focus my short time speaking on this motion on what we have to do to ensure that this never, ever happens again. If we are honest about reforming the way we deal with the issue of institutional child abuse, we must accept that listening to children and believing them has to be first and foremost. We have to accept that those responsible for this evil must be well and truly held to account. There is no excuse—ever—for abusing or hurting a child. There is no confession that can make this abuse less evil. If we are to deal with this issue properly, we must accept that religious institutions themselves must change.

Out of the 180-odd recommendations from this report, a number of them stand out in a very stark way. Recommendation 7.4 goes directly to the issue of the confessional. I will read it so that we have it clearly on Hansard:

Laws concerning mandatory reporting to child protection authorities should not exempt persons in religious ministry from being required to report knowledge or suspicions formed, in whole or in part, on the basis of information disclosed in or in connection with a religious confession.

No religious institution should ever excuse the abuse and trauma inflicted on children. After years and decades of suffering, generational and intergenerational trauma, it is time that we acknowledge that the confessional is not an excuse for keeping child abuse secret or for protecting the abusers.

It is the responsibility of any religious organisation, any person in authority and any adult that when they see evil they do something to stop it. And when they see children suffering, they must do something to stop it. If they suspect that a child is being abused and is suffering emotional or physical abuse or sexual abuse, they must do something about it. Any institution that refuses to comply with laws of mandatory reporting of child abuse, using the excuse of the seal of confession, I believe, should be prosecuted. I believe that using the seal of confession to refuse to report child abuse does not warrant the protection of Australian law or funding from the Australian taxpayer. If the Catholic dioceses around this nation are not prepared to concede to the recommendation of mandatory reporting of child abuse, I don't believe they should be receiving any public money. If you're not prepared to stick to the law that is designed to protect children, you're not playing your part as a decent institution in the community.

From 1 October this year, my home state of South Australia became the first state where priests are now legally obliged to report any confessions of child sexual abuse. In response to these laws being put in place, we have the leadership within the Catholic diocese in Adelaide openly saying they will defy those laws. Despite everything that we have been through, despite all of the reporting that has gone on and the exposure of this horror and this evil, we have leadership within the Catholic Church saying that they are refusing, and will refuse, to comply with the basic necessity of mandatory reporting and that somehow their seal of confession is more sacred than the life of an innocent child. I fundamentally and strongly disagree. I hope that the public response on this issue creates pause for thought for a number of those within the leadership of the Catholic Church and the various dioceses about complying and not using the confessional as an excuse to keep secret these horrible, painful and evil acts.

The report into institutionalised child sexual abuse also dealt, in a very sensitive manner, with the other contentious issue facing religious organisations. That, of course, is mandatory celibacy. Recommendations 16.18, 16.19 and 16.20 in the royal commission's final report all go to this. I strongly support that. If we are to be honest and brave, and if we are to pay genuine tribute and apology to all those who have suffered, to those children who never made it, to the survivors who are still in pain and suffering today, and to their children, who have suffered the intergenerational trauma of this abuse, we must also deal with forced celibacy within religious institutions. Canon law should be changed so that celibacy is not mandatory, and it should be illegal to force an individual to be celibate simply for religious tradition. I understand that this is a very sensitive element. I understand that this is a very controversial and sacred part of religious practice. But, if we are to be honest with ourselves, with the community and with the children who have suffered, we must face this and not hide behind it.

There are many other good recommendations throughout this report. I am very pleased that the government, the opposition, the Greens and other members around this chamber and the other have agreed to take these on. We must also insist that religious institutions and the church leadership take them on as well. Let's not allow the pain and re-traumatisation to have happened in vain. These two issues, the seal of confession and the enforcement of celibacy, must change if we are to ensure that we are doing everything we possibly can to protect children and young people from the type of evil and horror that we know has existed for far too long in those dark corners of institutions, and adults must do their jobs to protect children and to protect the innocence of children. That is what is important here—not ancient law and practice, but the protection of the innocence of a child and their right to a childhood, to love and care, and to be believed and supported, without the cover-up and without the shame.

Tim Storer (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Little is more important in life than bringing children into this world. Nothing is more important than the responsibilities parents face, having made that fundamental decision—that is, to ensure that children can grow up in an environment where they have the best chance to prosper, to know that they are loved and, most importantly, that they are safe. Parents can and do a lot on their own, but the community has a role too. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse showed us how grievously as a community we have failed. Like those who have spoken before, today and tonight, I say sorry to the tens of thousands of children who suffered for so long at the hands of people they believed they could trust and who suffered as adults as their pleas were ignored.

Sixteen thousand individuals contacted the commission with their deeply distressing accounts of abuse. More than 8,000 accounts were heard in person. For the commissioners and those working with them, I know this was a deeply distressing experience but one they weathered for the greater good. The commissioners and all associated with them are owed a great debt of gratitude, not just from the many who suffered for so long—voices in the wilderness often ignored by the institutions responsible for their abuse or, worse, belittled as they struggled for justice. Churches moved around priests who they knew were abusers. They resisted appeals from victims and their parents. They took legal advice designed to minimise their liability.

The nation owes Julia Gillard a pat on the back and a collective hug for having the courage to establish the royal commission. As the former Prime Minister has noted, she worried at the time about the effects of an inquiry probing people's hurt. She was anxious that the inquiry would take a long time and cause frustration. Odd fears, she now notes, given the results and the recommendations of the royal commission.

The Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, deserves to be congratulated too, for promoting and leading the national apology. As the Prime Minister said three weeks ago:

Why were the cries of children and parents ignored? Why was our system of justice blind to injustice? Why has it taken so long to act? Why were other things more important than this, the care of innocent children?

These are unanswerable questions, but now the time for grief ought to be over. Now is the time for redress. How we as a parliament, and as a nation, respond to the royal commission will be the proof of what we have learnt as a community. Words are one thing, but actions are quite another. The government has not rejected a single recommendation of the royal commission. The Prime Minister says that the government is acting on 104 of the inquiry's 122 recommendations, and is consulting with the states and territories on the remaining 18. I note the four key areas of the findings and recommendations to be: child safety as a national responsibility, the need to implement child safe standards, the importance of believing children and the potential for a genuine apology to have a therapeutic benefit.

As Professor Daryl Higgins, the Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University puts it:

For the apology to be meaningful, Australians will want concrete actions to provide redress for those already harmed.

…   …   …

… organisations can adopt prevention strategies that focus on modifying risky environments (including physical structures, policies and supervision practices), so that it is harder for would-be perpetrators to behave as they did in the past. Governance, funding arrangements and accreditation should be contingent on serious progress towards a culture of safety.

A National Redress Scheme for victims of child sexual abuse in organisations, to allow psychological counselling and compensation of up to $150,000, has already been announced. But, as Professor Higgins points out, what people really need to hear is that things will change. They want to know what is happening in youth-serving organisations. How will the mistakes from the past not be repeated? They need to hear how child safe strategies will become standard practice. How will they, for example, be embedded in funding arrangements and accountability requirements? If organisations won't prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children, says Professor Higgins, then the public purse should not be open to them.

The statistics revealed by the royal commission are as grim as they are stark. Close to 60 per cent of victims who approached the inquiry reported sexual abuse in religious institutions. A central recommendation of the inquiry was the National Redress Scheme. Despite various statements, the Catholic, Anglican and Uniting churches are yet to fully formally opt into the scheme. Apologies may have been made, but, once again, it is action which counts. As the Prime Minister puts it, justice, decency and the beliefs and values we as Australians share insist that they sign on. So far, though, some key institutions have not. Time is running out. Many of the victims are old, frail and ill. They deserve recognition, justice, treatment and recompense for their suffering.

I applaud Senator Hinch, who has made chasing down child sexual abuse one of the missions of his career, both in the media and in this place. He has a motion on the Notice Paper for tomorrow calling on the government to withhold public funding and deny charity tax concessions to religious institutions that fail to opt into the National Redress Scheme by the end of 2018. It is a motion that I support, and I hope that government senators will support it, too, when it comes to a vote tomorrow. The royal commission reported in December last year. Twelve months is quite long enough for the institutions in question to sign up voluntarily.

Then there is the CREATE Foundation, the peak body for foster care children, calling for:

… a tightening of standards related to the ongoing monitoring of placements to ensure that children and young people in the out-of-home care system are provided the opportunity to have a voice in this monitoring process.

The royal commission revealed that the out-of-home care sector, commonly known as 'foster care', was the worst source of child abuse in Australia in the years before 1990. Nearly 50,000 children are currently in out-of-home care across Australia. As the CREATE Foundation puts it:

We must never again be in the position of ignoring so many children and young people who tried to tell their stories of abuse and were silenced by a flawed and non-accountable system.

The last word should belong to Julia Gillard, who appealed to governments around Australia to develop schemes for the victims that will operate with 'a culture of openness and generosity'. As a community which did not sow such qualities in the past, it is the least we can do to heal the hurt and try to ensure it never happens again.

Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every child has the right to feel safe, to be heard and to be protected by those in whom their safety is entrusted. But, for survivors of institutionalised child abuse, those rights were denied. You sought safety and were subjected to unspeakable harm. You spoke up, and those with power turned away. You named demons and were demonised. For these unforgivable acts of avoidance, for the culture of wilful ignorance, for the pain and trauma that was met with silence, for the silence that was created and in which prowled the predators that did your life such terrible damage—for all these things and so much more—your parliament tonight offer up our apologies.

There may well be those watching at home who neither trust the words we offer nor believe in the genuineness of the spirit in which they are put forward. To those I say: you have every right to be suspicious, because you placed your trust in us, you placed your trust in those who were charged with your protection, and we failed you. Our failure will cast a long shadow over this place and all places that took part in it—a shadow which we will never, nor should we ever, attempt to escape. We made you feel as though you were shameful, as though you were broken, when it was we who were broken, when it was our shame to be held.

It is for us now to offer this recognition, to offer this apology and to humbly seek your forgiveness. It is for us now to dedicate ourselves solemnly to the work of making this apology material—to dedicate ourselves to doing those things which will ensure that no child is ever again subjected to the harms, that no child is ever again turned away from when they speak up and that no demon is ever again facilitated to prowl among the young of this nation.

As we reflect upon the findings of the royal commission, as we absorb the stories that were so bravely told after being held for so long, we must reflect upon those things which caused these horrors to take place. We must recognise that our society has for too long disregarded the voices of children, treating them as mere chattels of adults and writing them off as imaginative and as liars when they come forward with their stories. We must reflect upon how we as a society can radically and urgently change this—the ways in which we can elevate and enshrine the rights of Australian children so that no child ever again is left to suffer in silence or subjected to abuse.

I thank the chamber for its time.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion of apology moved by Senator Cormann be agreed to. I will ask senators for a moment's silence to signify our assent to the motion.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.