Commission impossible: sex probe will over-promise and under-deliver

IT was supposed to be the royal commission to end all royal commissions. It ran for five years at a cost of millions of dollars; the original commissioners had retired, exhausted. Many of the subjects were dead before it reported. It undercut existing commissions on the same subject. It opened old wounds without necessarily closing them. Worse, accused agencies had already moved on and changed their ways.

What was it? It was Prime Minister Julia Gillard's royal commission on the sexual abuse of children in institutions across Australia. It was her last act in the Labor tradition of grand gestures in the search for perfect justice. Regardless of the cost, regardless of the unintended consequences, she pressed ahead.

It was important to look to be governing, to look as though the commonwealth could use its immense powers to investigate, indeed invade every last dark place in Australian society in search of the evil in the hearts of some men. Men, allegedly hidden from the law by nasty men in authority. Men in church, in schools, in youth groups and anywhere else that fit the mould of men in authority.

This, despite inquiries announced in Victoria and NSW for the specific purpose of investigating child sexual abuse in religious institutions. It is not as if there were no outlets or powers to deal with these matters. It is not as if state governments, and oppositions were not alert to the need to be vigilant or indeed, for political advantage if nothing else, eager to create the impression that no one was reluctant to be a paedophile fighter.

It was not as if a score of bright investigative journalists, The Australian's own Caroline Overington comes to mind, had not been on the lookout for leads to chase. Which is not to argue that there is not the need for great powers and resources to investigate such crimes, but Victoria is already conducting a parliamentary inquiry into the sexual abuse of children by religious and other organisations (although I agree with critics that this is an underpowered body to undertake the inquiry). The same cannot be said of NSW, where a special commission of inquiry into child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy in the NSW Hunter region has been announced.

Indeed, it was in April this year, that the Gillard Government appointed a national children's commissioner. Queensland has a Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian. Separately, there is ainquiry into the Queensland child protection system. Victoria has an office of the Child Safety Commissioner, indeed each state has a plethora of bodies devoted to protecting children and laws that make it compulsory for all those dealing with children, doctors and teachers, to blow the whistle. It is the reason why the child protection systems are under review, because the number of leads has caused so many to be taken into care.

I hold no candle for the Catholic Church, indeed as I leave the Australian Catholic University, there will be many among the Catholic Left happy to see me go, but I cannot see that the Church currently sets out to protect paedophiles. The different Catholic dioceses and religious orders adopted a new set of procedures for handling serious complaints, Towards Healing in 1996. The bishops refer claims of crimes to the church's national professional standards office, which is staffed by professionals, not priests. If the office has cause for concern it can report them to police. Bishops can refer claims of sexual abuse, by employees working with children, to the ombudsman. Investigations are carried out with the oversight of the ombudsman.

Archbishop Pell recounts that as Archbishop in Melbourne, Premier Kennett had urged him to "cleanup" the church. The result was that, after six years of difficult investigation, 126 people were compensated and 22 were priests stood down in a process set up in consultation with the police and solicitor general.

Another royal commission comes to mind when I contemplate this one (not to ignore the five inquiries into Aboriginal child sexual abuse around Australia). The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody ran for three years at a cost of $30m and found that no death was the result of wrongdoing by an authority.The recommendations with any practical effect were easily implemented before it ended. Yet the inquiry was used by ideologues to berate authority and pursue a political agenda. The number of suicides in custody rose during the time of the Inquiry, possibly as a result of the well documented "Werther" effect, where publicity of suicide induces those contemplating suicide to do so.

Do not expect perfect justice in any institution. Make the investigation narrow and short and keep out of the way of other competent authorities. Let the practised and good state authorities get on with their work to protect children.