The Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings is due to deliver its final report at the end of August.
Announced in November 2020, the independent investigation was formally established on the 15th of March 2021. Over many months, the Commission collected submissions and government documents, and heard from a number of witnesses at its public hearings.
The inquiry’s focus was on the Tasmanian Government’s current responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse in government institutions – including hospitals, public schools, and youth detention centres.
It looked at:
- The role and responsibilities of the Tasmanian Government and its agencies and officials in protecting children from child sexual abuse and responding adequately and appropriately to reports and information about such abuse.
- Child sexual abuse that has happened in Tasmanian government institutions.
- Current responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse that has occurred since 2000 or was reported after 2000.
- Systemic issues and options for reform, rather than the investigation of individual cases.
The Commission’s report was initially due earlier this year, but two extensions were granted due to the complexity of information that had been provided, and its commitment to appropriately and thoroughly addressing all the issues raised.
So what happens next?
The Commission of Inquiry will deliver its report to the Governor by August 31st.
It must then be tabled in Parliament within 10 Parliamentary sitting days.
Once the report is delivered to the Governor and tabled in Parliament, the Government will arrange for it to be published. When the Commission’s report is published, it will appear on the Commission of Inquiry website.
Learn more about how the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings came to be, in this week’s episode of iHeart Tassie:
