The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse handed down its final report on Friday.
It made 189 new recommendations including making the vow of celibacy voluntary and a new criminal offence for adults who failed to report suspected child abuse.
Here are the key recommendations of the final report:
National
- New National Office for Child Safety within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
- Office to report to parliament, develop new national framework for child safety, and become a stand-alone body within 18 months
- States, territories to aid development of new national framework for child safety
- Regular, national studies on extent of child abuse in institutions, other settings
- New federal minister responsible for mitigating abuse risks, and keeping kids safe
For victims
- National helpline and website to support victims
- Legal advice service to help victims launch criminal and civil proceedings against abusers
- More federal, state funds to close gaps in sexual assault services
- A national memorial for victims of institutional abuse
For abusers, informants
- Better support services for adults who fear they'll become abusers and reach out for help
- Strong legal protections for informants who report alleged abuse in good faith
Legal and religious change
- Removal of any time limits on damages cases involving child institutional abuse
- New criminal offence, called failure to report, requiring all adults to report known or suspected child abuse in religious and other institutions
- Offence would cover clergy, who would have to disclose any abuse admissions made during religious confession
- Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should push the Vatican to make celibacy voluntary, publish criteria for the selection of bishops, and remove time limits for actions over abuse claims
- Conference should push the Vatican for a broad overhaul of canon law, seeking specific references to sexual crimes against children
- Conference should seek to end use of "pontifical secret" so it can no longer be applied to abuse allegations
Education
- Mandatory education programs in preschools and schools aimed at preventing abuse
- Expanded education programs for parents about abuse risks
- National curriculum for online safety education in schools
Carers
- Yearly reviews of out-of-home carers, including private interviews with children placed with them
Schools
- COAG must consider strengthening teacher registration requirements
- In particular, COAG should review minimum national requirements for assessing suitability of teachers
Youth detention
- Youth detention centres should consider using technology, like CCTV and body-worn cameras, to film child/staff interactions
- Children must be kept out of adult prisons
