A publicly available list of child abusers should be established, a parliamentary committee has found in a report that was scathing of institutions like the Catholic Church for being “cutthroat” in their treatment of victims.
The bipartisan committee into support available to survivors of institutional abuse tabled its findings on Thursday after months of hearings, concluding that an “unholy wall of silence” was stopping victims from coming forward and that a “centralised publicly accessible list of known abusers” would be a “game changer”.
“It is plainly unconscionable that institutions hide a wealth of information about known abusers while victims suffer alone, thinking no one will believe them because they believe they are the only ones affected,” the report stated.
Committee chair and Liberal MP Dr David Honey said institutions should list the identities of known abusers on “clearly defined and easily accessible” parts of their websites, along with the State-run list.
“Institutions who know that abusers have operated in their institutions should actively reach out to publicise information about those abusers to afford other potential victims the opportunity to come forward,” he said.
The MP also told parliament that it was “very clear” abuse of children in institutions had continued since the Royal Commission concluded in late 2017 and barriers to survivors seeking justice.
“Resolution of abuse claims takes years; obtaining supporting evidence from government agencies and institutions is often torturous and time-consuming,” he said.
“Support services are overwhelmed. Professional support services from clinical psychologists and other appropriate specialists are equally overwhelmed with extremely long waiting times.”
The report found religious organisations, particularly the Catholic Church, continued to put their own interests over survivors who came forward seeking compensation.
“The impression we took from the evidence was that Church negotiations for compensation for survivors were too often like cutthroat commercial disputes, with the Churches seeking only to minimise their financial exposure rather than any attempt to deliver justice for the victims,” the inquiry’s report found.
Dr Honey said the inquiry had also found the resources allocated to support and compensate victims of abuse were “wholly inadequate”.
“Resolution of abuse claims takes years; obtaining supporting evidence from government agencies and institutions is often torturous and time-consuming,” he said.
Dr Honey said institutions, including the Christian Brothers — who employed paedophile Daniel McMahon at its WA schools in the 1960s and 1970s — claimed they were making “good efforts” but had refused to cooperate with the committee.
The Christian Brothers, an organisation within the Perth Catholic Diocese, agreed to appear before the committee last month but cancelled their appearance at the last minute — claiming the inquiry had refused to rule out asking about matters before the courts.
The inquiry found the Christian Brothers had “possibly the worst record of abuse in Australia, and one of the worst worldwide,” with the Royal Commission identifying 1135 claims of abuse against them.
The complicated structure of the Catholic Church has made it difficult for people to seek assistance, the report stated.
The committee also recommended that the State work with the Federal Government to extend participation in the National Redress Scheme — set up to allow victims to access compensation — to make those abused after July 2018 eligible.
While WA has abolished the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, the committee wants the State to also remove time limits for those physically abused.
It also recommended support for Aboriginal victims — who have been overrepresented in the Redress Scheme — be expanded.