The head of NSW community services and both former and current executives of Scouts Australia are to be called as witnesses at the royal commission into child sexual abuse sitting in Sydney.
The first public hearings open on Monday morning with all six commissioners hearing evidence from victims and organisations in relation to convicted pedophile and former Scouts master Steve "Skip" Larkins who is in jail for child pornography offences.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking at how organisations dealt with complaints about Larkins, who was head of a foster care service for Aboriginal children up to 2011 even though the Scouts had received complaints about him in the 1990s.
A witness list published by the commission includes former Scout commissioner Bill Metcalfe and former Scout leader and whistleblower Armand Hoitink, as well as other Scout notables including Alan Currie.
The chief executive of community services in the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, Maree Walk, as well as the The Children's Guardian, acting commissioner for children and young people Kerryn Boland are on the list of witnesses for the Sydney hearings, which could run for two weeks.
The Monday hearing will hear statements from two victims and a mother of a victim.
Former staff members of the Hunter Aboriginal Children's Service will also be called to answer questions and members of NSW Police will appear.
The chief commissioner, Justice Peter McClellan, says he believes people will be shocked at the extent of the abuse and the profound level of impact on victims and the families of victims.
