Topic outline

  • Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

    On 12 November 2012 the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced that she would recommend to the Governor-General that a Royal Commission be appointed to inquire into institutional responses to child abuse.

    Following this announcement, the Terms of Reference were established and six Commissioners were appointed on Friday, 11 January 2013 by Her Excellency Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Hon. Justice Peter McClellan AM was the chair of the Royal Commission and worked with the five other Commissioners, Mr Bob Atkinson AO APM, Justice Jennifer Coate, Mr Robert Fitzgerald AM, Professor Helen Milroy and Mr Andrew Murray.

    On 15 December 2017 the Royal Commission presented a final report to the Governor-General, detailing the culmination of a five year inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse and related matters.

    Royal Commission Fast Facts

     

    The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse consists of 17 volumes and an executive summary. To meet the needs of readers with specific interests, each volume can be read in isolation. The volumes contain cross references to enable readers to understand individual volumes in the context of the whole report.

    • The Final Report structure

      • Recommendations Page

        The Letters Patent provided to the Royal Commission required that it ‘inquire into institutional responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse and related matters’. In carrying out this task, the Royal Commission was directed to focus on systemic issues, be informed by an understanding of individual cases, and make findings and recommendations to better protect children against sexual abuse and alleviate the impact of abuse on children when it occurs. The Royal Commission did this by conducting public hearings, private sessions and a policy and research program.

      • Preface and Executive Summary Page

        The Preface and Executive Summary summarises the entire report and provides a full list of recommendations.

      • Final information update Page

        The final information update contains statistics from the group of survivors the Royal Commission heard from in 8,013 private sessions, held between May 2013 and November 2017.

    • The inquiry

      • Volume 1: The inquiry Page

        Volume 1, Our inquiry, introduces the Final Report, describing the establishment, scope and operations of the Royal Commission. Key terms used throughout the Final Report are listed in the Glossary within this volume.

    • Understanding child sexual abuse in institutional contexts

      • Volume 2: Nature and cause Page

        This volume details the nature and cause of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts. It also describes what is known about the extent of child sexual abuse and the limitations of existing studies. It discusses factors that affect the risk of child sexual abuse in institutions and the legal and political changes that have influenced how children have interacted with institutions over time.

      • Volume 3: Impacts Page

        This volume details the impacts of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts. It discusses how impacts can extend beyond survivors, to family members, friends, and whole communities. The volume also outlines the impacts of institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

      • Volume 4: Identifying and disclosing child sexual abuse Page

        This volume describes what the Royal Commission has learned about survivors’ experiences of disclosing child sexual abuse and about the factors that affect a victim’s decision whether to disclose, when to disclose and who to tell.

      • Volume 5: Private sessions Page

        This volume provides an analysis of survivors’ experiences of child sexual abuse as told to Commissioners during private sessions, structured around four key themes: experiences of abuse; circumstances at the time of the abuse; experiences of disclosure; and impact on wellbeing. It also describes the private sessions model, including how it was adapted to meet the needs of diverse and vulnerable groups.

        The personal, de-identified, summarised accounts of many people who shared their experiences of abuse can be found by visiting the narratives webpage.

    • Child safe institutions

      • Volume 6: Making institutions child safe Page

        This volume looks at the role community prevention could play in making communities and institutions child safe, the child safe standards that will make institutions safer for children, and how regulatory oversight and practice could be improved to facilitate the implementation of these standards in institutions. It also examines how to prevent and respond to online sexual abuse in institutions in order to create child safe online environments.

      • Volume 7: Improving institutional responding and reporting Page

        This volume examines the reporting of child sexual abuse to external government authorities by institutions and their staff and volunteers, and how institutions have responded to complaints of child sexual abuse. It outlines guidance for how institutions should handle complaints, and the need for independent oversight of complaint handling by institutions.

      • Volume 8: Recordkeeping and information sharing Page

        This report examines records and recordkeeping by institutions that care for or provide services to children; and information sharing between institutions with responsibilities for children’s safety and wellbeing and between those institutions and relevant professionals. It makes recommendations to improve records and recordkeeping practices within institutions and information sharing between key agencies and institutions.

    • Support and treatment

      • Volume 9: Advocacy, support and treatment services Page

        This volume examines what the Royal Commission learned about the advocacy and support and therapeutic treatment service needs of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts, and outlines recommendations for improving service systems to better respond to those needs and assist survivors towards recovery.

      • Volume 10: Children with harmful sexual behaviours Page

        This volume examines what was learned about institutional responses to children with harmful sexual behaviours. It discusses the nature and extent of these behaviours and the factors that may contribute to children sexually abusing other children. The volume then outlines how governments and institutions should improve their responses and makes recommendations about improving prevention and increasing the range of interventions available for children with harmful sexual behaviours.

    • Particular institutions

      • Volume 11: Historical residential institutions Page

        This volume examines what was learned about survivors’ experiences of, and institutional responses to, child sexual abuse in residential institutions such as children’s homes, missions, reformatories and hospitals during the period spanning post-World War II to 1990.

      • Volume 12: Contemporary out-of-home care Page

        This volume examines what was learned about institutional responses to child sexual abuse in contemporary out-of-home care. It examines the nature and adequacy of institutional responses and draws out common failings. It makes recommendations to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in out-of-home care and, where it does occur, to help ensure effective responses.

      • Volume 13: Schools Page

        This volume examines what was learned about institutional responses to child sexual abuse in schools. It examines the nature and adequacy of institutional responses and draws out the contributing factors to child sexual abuse in schools. It makes recommendations to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in schools and, where it does occur, to help ensure effective responses to that abuse.

      • Volume 14: Sport, recreation, arts, culture, community and hobby groups Page

        This volume examines what was learned about institutional responses to child sexual abuse in sport and recreation contexts. It examines the nature and adequacy of institutional responses and draws out common failings. It makes recommendations to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in sport and recreation and, where it does occur, to help ensure effective responses.

      • Volume 15: Contemporary detention environments Page

        This volume examines what was learned about institutional responses to child sexual abuse in contemporary detention environments, focusing on youth detention and immigration detention. It recognises that children are generally safer in community settings than in closed detention. It also makes recommendations to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in detention environments and, where it does occur, to help ensure effective responses.

      • Volume 16: Religious institutions Page

        This volume examines what was learned about institutional responses to child sexual abuse in religious institutions. It discusses the nature and extent of child sexual abuse in religious institutions, the impacts of this abuse, and survivors’ experiences of disclosing it. The volume examines the nature and adequacy of institutional responses to child sexual abuse in religious institutions, and draws out common factors contributing to the abuse and common failings in institutional responses. It makes recommendations to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in religious institutions and, where it does occur, to help ensure effective responses.

    • Beyond the Royal Commission

      • Volume 17: Beyond the Royal Commission Page

        Volume 17, Beyond the Royal Commission describes the impacts and legacy of the Royal Commission and discusses monitoring and reporting on the implementation of their recommendations.

    • Fact sheets

    • Other resources