Labor urged to take fresh approach

A LEADING support groups for victims of child abuse believes none of the recent state-based inquiries should be used as a model.

ONE of the leading support groups for victims of child abuse believes none of the recent state-based inquiries should be used as a model for the commonwealth royal commission into pedophilia.

Despite extensive efforts by those inquiries, they had been let down by an absence of long-term support for child abuse victims, said Cathy Kezelman, president of Adults Surviving Child Abuse.

"A lot of them reach good recommendations, and then have piecemeal implementation and get lost," she said.

This came as Julia Gillard indicated the federal government was still considering whether the royal commission would incorporate current state inquiries in Victoria and NSW. "I think it's about walking it through in detail and co-operatively with each jurisdiction as to how they best relate to the royal commission," the Prime Minister said in Perth.

She said Attorney-General Nicola Roxon was talking to her state counterparts about the best way of working together. Dr Kezelman said the major lesson from the earlier efforts by the states was that the battle to overcome child abuse required more than a comprehensive inquiry and a good report.

The need for entrenched support for abuse victims was one of Dr Kezelman's main criticisms of the recent inquiry into abuse at student hostels in Western Australia. The WA government accepted all five recommendations from Commissioner Peter Blaxell's report.

But Dr Kezelman said the element that had been missing was a pledge to long-term support.

Additional reporting: Nicolas Perpitch