Nicola Roxon dampens sex abuse victim expectations

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Nicola Roxon has moved to rein in expectations about the scope of the national royal commission into child sexual abuse.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Nicola Roxon has moved to rein in expectations about the scope of the national royal commission into child sexual abuse, playing down victims' hopes for compensation and warning against duplicating the work already done by state-based inquiries.

In a consultation paper released last night, Ms Roxon gives victim support groups, institutions, religious organisations, state governments and others one week to have their say on the inquiry's proposed terms of reference. The four-page paper sets out the limits of the commission's work, moving to discourage abuse victims from expectations that the commission will hear and examine every individual claim as well as ruling out specific investigative powers for the inquiry.

Ms Roxon's consultation paper says that, while the body's work is "likely to go further than any inquiry conducted in Australia before", the focus will be on "public and private institutions and organisations" and "claims of institutional and systemic failures" rather than sexual abuse of children in families.

Adults Surviving Child Abuse president Cathy Kezelman warned that if the commission was not going to investigate and respond to individual cases the government "needs to confess up front so survivors have realistic expectations".

GRAPHIC: Abuse royal commission

The inquiry will hand over information to police during the course of its hearings, but the "investigation and prosecution would ultimately be a matter for the relevant authorities to pursue".

The paper was released as West Australian Premier Colin Barnett warned the inquiry could destroy lives and institutions if the terms of reference were too "wide" and it dragged up old claims dating back 40 to 50 years.

Mr Barnett told ABC Radio yesterday that the Gillard government had to ensure through the terms of reference that the commission produced positive outcomes.

"I think you will see many people's lives destroyed and I think you will see many of Australia's institutions that may be at fault perhaps also destroyed and perhaps great division within our community," the Premier said. "I would urge careful thought on the time of reference and a limit on the timing."

The WA and Victorian governments have refused Ms Roxon's offer to take part in a joint federal-state royal commission while South Australia and Queensland have declined funding.

Bravehearts' executive director Hetty Johnston said she welcomed the consultation paper's focus on institutional responses rather than the national inquiry investigating every single individual claim. "Where they are going with this is very much what we have always called for," Ms Johnston said. "It's not going to be manageable any other way and I am very happy as long as one of the institutions they examine is the Family Court."

Dr Kezelman noted there was no mention of compensation or an apology to victims.

"It's not a comprehensive response to victims," she said. "There's going to be a lot of survivors expecting responses to their individual situations. If there aren't going to be individual outcomes, that needs to be confessed up front so survivors have realistic expectations."

Dr Kezelman said it was important to get across to victims that they would instead be able to make a meaningful contribution by sharing their stories to help in the "future protection of children".

NSW detective chief inspector Peter Fox, who claimed the Catholic Church covered up abuse by clergy in the Hunter Valley, said he was concerned the royal commission lacked teeth.

"I think it's absolutely crucial that the royal commission itself has an investigative arm that is able to investigate across borders and have the jurisdiction to prosecute any new offences that come up during their inquiries, particularly allegations of concealment and attempting to pervert the course of justice through their actions," Inspector Fox said.

Ms Roxon defended the short timeframe for consultation, saying the Prime Minister wanted to have terms of reference finalised by year end.

The consultation paper states the royal commission should provide an opportunity for child abuse victims to "share their experiences" if they want to as it was important to determining recommendations.

But it specifically notes that royal commissions are not substitutes for criminal probes, they do not have prosecutorial powers and evidence heard during the inquiry cannot be used in court.

The consultation paper says for the commission to work it will "need access to information held by state governments so that no individual, institution or organisation can avoid scrutiny" should the inquiry consider the need to be put under the microscope.

It says early advice to Labor suggests there is likely to be more than one commissioner.

On the vexed question of how long the process should take, the consultation paper says the government "appreciates that the extent of the problem and the scale of hurt caused to individuals and families will take time to examine" and therefore the inquiry's timeframe "will take years rather than months".