Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull will give a formal apology on behalf of the Australian government to victims of child sex abuse, as part of the government’s response to the Royal Commission.
The apology will take place in Canberra on October 22. The government is accepting submissions from survivors to help come up with the right wording.
The prime minister on Wednesday announced the government's sweeping response to the Royal Commission on institutional responses to child sex abuse, which uncovered widespread abuse of children in Australian churches, schools and youth groups.
Mr Turnbull said the government would fully or partially accept 104 out of the Commission's 122 recommendations for the federal government.
Office for Child Safety
An Office for Child Safety will be set up on July 1 to formulate a national strategy to prevent similar abuse in the future.
“The additional 18 recommendations have been noted," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Canberra, stressing the government had not ruled any of them out.
Will priests have to reveal crimes?
Attorney-General Christian Porter said the remaining points “required more work” with state counterparts but there was no sense in delaying the government’s broader response.
One example was the recommendation to create mandatory reporting rules, so priests would have to reveal crimes they heard about during confession.
Mr Porter said the state and territory attorneys-general had agreed to standardise their laws on mandatory reporting.
Once that work was done, the federal government would consider changes to the Uniform Evidence Act, which includes some protections for confessions.
Mr Porter said the Act was never designed to protect confessions of crime.
The federal government’s response comes about a week after New South Wales announced tougher prison sentences for repeat abusers.
Mr Turnbull also revealed Western Australia had agreed to sign on to the national redress scheme, which will offer compensation payments to surviving victims of abuse.
The states and some institutions, including the Catholic Church, have agreed to contribute funding.
