Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
- Recommendations reproduced
- 189
- Interim report
- Established
- Report length
- 115 pages
Summary
Generated summary: written by an AI model from the report text and checked against the cited pages.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended a national strategy to prevent child sexual abuse.
The Commission recommended that institutions put children’s interests first and implement its Child Safe Standards, including child participation, suitable staff and child-focused complaint processes.
It also recommended longer retention of abuse records and government funding for coordinated advocacy, counselling and support for survivors.
The Commission recommended five years of annual implementation reports from governments and major institutions.
In the body's own words
- Recommendation
All institutions should uphold the rights of the child.
- Recommendation
The Australian Government should establish a mechanism to oversee the development and implementation of a national strategy to prevent child sexual abuse.
Recommendations 189
A commission's findings and recommendations are not findings of criminal or civil liability.
Only some of the recommendations are reproduced here, from the official copies OPAX could read.
Recommendation 2.1
The Australian Government should conduct and publish a nationally representative prevalence study on a regular basis to establish the extent of child maltreatment in institutional and non-institutional contexts in Australia.
Recommendation 6.1
The Australian Government should establish a mechanism to oversee the development and implementation of a national strategy to prevent child sexual abuse. This work should be undertaken by the proposed National Office for Child Safety (see Recommendations 6.16 and 6.17) and be included in the National Framework for Child Safety (see Recommendation 6.15).
Recommendation 6.2
The national strategy to prevent child sexual abuse should encompass the following complementary initiatives: a. social marketing campaigns to raise general community awareness and increase knowledge of child sexual abuse, to change problematic attitudes and behaviour relating to such abuse, and to promote and direct people to related prevention initiatives, information and help-seeking services b. prevention education delivered through preschool, school and other community institutional settings that aims to increase children’s knowledge of child sexual abuse and build practical skills to assist in strengthening self-protective skills and strategies. The education should be integrated into existing school curricula and link with related areas such as respectful relationships education and sexuality education. It should be mandatory for all preschools and schools c. prevention education for parents delivered through day care, preschool, school, sport and recreational settings, and other institutional and community settings. The education should aim to increase knowledge of child sexual abuse and its impacts, and build skills to help reduce the risks of child sexual abuse d. online safety education for children, delivered via schools. Ministers for education, through the Council of Australian Governments, should establish a nationally consistent curriculum for online safety education in schools. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner should be consulted on the design of the curriculum and contribute to the development of course content and approaches to delivery (see Recommendation 6.19) e. online safety education for parents and other community members to better support children’s safety online. Building on their current work, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner should oversee the delivery of this education nationally (see Recommendation 6.20)
Recommendation 6.3
The design and implementation of these initiatives should consider: a. aligning with and linking to national strategies for preventing violence against adults and children, and strategies for addressing other forms of child maltreatment b. tailoring and targeting initiatives to reach, engage and provide access to all communities, including children, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with disability, and regional and remote communities c. involving children and young people in the strategic development, design, implementation and evaluation of initiatives d. using research and evaluation to: i. build the evidence base for using best practices to prevent child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviours in children ii. guide the development and refinement of interventions, including the piloting and testing of initiatives before they are implemented.
Recommendation 6.4
All institutions should uphold the rights of the child. Consistent with Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, all institutions should act with the best interests of the child as a primary consideration. In order to achieve this, institutions should implement the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission.
Recommendation 6.5
The Child Safe Standards are: 1. Child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture 2. Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously 3. Families and communities are informed and involved 4. Equity is upheld and diverse needs are taken into account 5. People working with children are suitable and supported 6. Processes to respond to complaints of child sexual abuse are child focused 7. Staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe through continual education and training 8. Physical and online environments minimise the opportunity for abuse to occur 9. Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is continuously reviewed and improved 10. Policies and procedures document how the institution is child safe.
Recommendation 6.6
Institutions should be guided by the following core components when implementing the Child Safe Standards: Standard 1: Child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture a. The institution publicly commits to child safety and leaders champion a child safe culture. b. Child safety is a shared responsibility at all levels of the institution. c. Risk management strategies focus on preventing, identifying and mitigating risks to children. d. Staff and volunteers comply with a code of conduct that sets clear behavioural standards towards children. e. Staff and volunteers understand their obligations on information sharing and recordkeeping. Standard 2: Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously a. Children are able to express their views and are provided opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their lives. b. The importance of friendships is recognised and support from peers is encouraged, helping children feel safe and be less isolated. c. Children can access sexual abuse prevention programs and information. d. Staff and volunteers are attuned to signs of harm and facilitate child-friendly ways for children to communicate and raise their concerns. Standard 3: Families and communities are informed and involved a. Families have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child and participate in decisions affecting their child. b. The institution engages in open, two-way communication with families and communities about its child safety approach and relevant information is accessible. c. Families and communities have a say in the institution’s policies and practices. d. Families and communities are informed about the institution’s operations and governance.
Recommendation 6.7
The national Child Safe Standards developed by the Royal Commission and listed at Recommendation 6.5 should be adopted as part of the new National Statement of Principles for Child Safe Organisations described by the Community Services Ministers’ Meeting in November 2016. The National Statement of Principles for Child Safe Organisations should be endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments.
Recommendation 6.8
State and territory governments should require all institutions in their jurisdictions that engage in child-related work to meet the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission at Recommendation 6.5.
Recommendation 6.9
Legislative requirements to comply with the Child Safe Standards should cover institutions that provide: a. accommodation and residential services for children, including overnight excursions or stays b. activities or services of any kind, under the auspices of a particular religious denomination or faith, through which adults have contact with children c. childcare or childminding services d. child protection services, including out-of-home care e. activities or services where clubs and associations have a significant membership of, or involvement by, children f. coaching or tuition services for children g. commercial services for children, including entertainment or party services, gym or play facilities, photography services, and talent or beauty competitions h. services for children with disability i. education services for children j. health services for children k. justice and detention services for children, including immigration detention facilities l. transport services for children, including school crossing services.
Recommendation 6.10
State and territory governments should ensure that: a. an independent oversight body in each state and territory is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the Child Safe Standards. Where appropriate, this should be an existing body. b. the independent oversight body is able to delegate responsibility for monitoring and enforcing the Child Safe Standards to another state or territory government body, such as a sector regulator. c. regulators take a responsive and risk-based approach when monitoring compliance with the Child Safe Standards and, where possible, utilise existing regulatory frameworks to monitor and enforce the Child Safe Standards.
Recommendation 6.11
Each independent state and territory oversight body should have the following additional functions: a. provide advice and information on the Child Safe Standards to institutions and the community b. collect, analyse and publish data on the child safe approach in that jurisdiction and provide that data to the proposed National Office for Child Safety c. partner with peak bodies, professional standards bodies and/or sector leaders to work with institutions to enhance the safety of children d. provide, promote or support education and training on the Child Safe Standards to build the capacity of institutions to be child safe e. coordinate ongoing information exchange between oversight bodies relating to institutions’ compliance with the Child Safe Standards.
Recommendation 6.12
With support from governments at the national, state and territory levels, local governments should designate child safety officer positions from existing staff profiles to carry out the following functions: a. developing child safe messages in local government venues, grounds and facilities b. assisting local institutions to access online child safe resources c. providing child safety information and support to local institutions on a needs basis d. supporting local institutions to work collaboratively with key services to ensure child safe approaches are culturally safe, disability aware and appropriate for children from diverse backgrounds.
Recommendation 6.13
The Australian Government should require all institutions that engage in child-related work for the Australian Government, including Commonwealth agencies, to meet the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission at Recommendation 6.5.
Recommendation 6.14
The Australian Government should be responsible for the following functions: a. evaluate, publicly report on, and drive the continuous improvement of the implementation of the Child Safe Standards and their outcomes b. coordinate the direct input of children and young people into the evaluation and continuous improvement of the Child Safe Standards c. coordinate national capacity building and support initiatives and opportunities for collaboration between jurisdictions and institutions d. develop and promote national strategies to raise awareness and drive cultural change in institutions and the community to support child safety.
Recommendation 6.15
The Australian Government should develop a new National Framework for Child Safety in collaboration with state and territory governments. The Framework should: a. commit governments to improving the safety of all children by implementing long term child safety initiatives, with appropriate resources, and holding them to account b. be endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments and overseen by a joint ministerial body c. commence after the expiration of the current National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children, no later than 2020 d. cover broader child safety issues, as well as specific initiatives to better prevent and respond to institutional child sexual abuse including initiatives recommended by the Royal Commission e. include links to other related policy frameworks.
Recommendation 6.16
The Australian Government should establish a National Office for Child Safety in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, to provide a response to the implementation of the Child Safe Standards nationally, and to develop and lead the proposed National Framework for Child Safety. The Australian Government should transition the National Office for Child Safety into an Australian Government statutory body within 18 months of this Royal Commission’s Final Report being tabled in the Australian Parliament.
Recommendation 6.17
The National Office for Child Safety should report to Parliament and have the following functions: a. develop and lead the coordination of the proposed National Framework for Child Safety, including national coordination of the Child Safe Standards b. collaborate with state and territory governments to lead capacity building and continuous improvement of child safe initiatives through resource development, best practice material and evaluation c. promote the participation and empowerment of children and young people in the National Framework and child safe initiatives d. perform the Australian Government’s Child Safe Standards functions as set out at Recommendation 6.15 e. lead the community prevention initiatives as set out in Recommendation 6.2.
Recommendation 6.18
The Australian Government should create a ministerial portfolio with responsibility for children’s policy issues, including the National Framework for Child Safety.
Recommendation 6.19
Ministers for education, through the Council of Australian Governments, should establish a nationally consistent curriculum for online safety education in schools. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner should be consulted on the design of the curriculum and contribute to the development of course content and approaches to delivery. The curriculum should: a. be appropriately staged from Foundation year to Year 12 and be linked with related content areas to build behavioural skills as well as technical knowledge to support a positive and safe online culture b. involve children and young people in the design, delivery and piloting of new online safety education, and update content annually to reflect evolving technologies, online behaviours and evidence of international best practice approaches c. be tailored and delivered in ways that allow all Australian children and young people to reach, access and engage with online safety education, including vulnerable groups that may not access or engage with the school system.
Recommendation 6.20
Building on its current work, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner should oversee the delivery of national online safety education aimed at parents and other community members to better support children’s safety online. These communications should aim to: a. keep the community up to date on emerging risks and opportunities for safeguarding children online b. build community understanding of responsibilities, legalities and the ethics of children’s interactions online c. encourage proactive responses from the community to make it ‘everybody’s business’ to intervene early, provide support or report issues when concerns for children’s safety online are raised d. increase public awareness of how to access advice and support when online incidents occur.
Recommendation 6.21
Pre-service education and in-service staff training should be provided to support child-related institutions in creating safe online environments. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner should advise on and contribute to program design and content. These programs should be aimed at: a. tertiary students studying university, technical and further education, and vocational education and training courses, before entering child-related occupations; and could be provided as a component of a broader program of child sexual abuse prevention education (see Recommendation 6.2) b. staff and volunteers in schools and other child-related organisations, and could build on the existing web-based learning programs of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.
Recommendation 6.22
In partnership with the proposed National Office of Child Safety (see Recommendations 6.16 and 6.17), the Office of the eSafety Commissioner should oversee the development of an online safety framework and resources to support all schools in creating child safe online environments. This work should build on existing school-based e-safety frameworks and guidelines, drawing on Australian and international models.
Recommendation 6.23
State and territory education departments should consider introducing centralised mechanisms to support government and non-government schools when online incidents occur. This should result in appropriate levels of escalation and effective engagement with all relevant entities, such as the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, technical service providers and law enforcement. Consideration should be given to: a. adopting the promising model of the Queensland Department of Education and Training’s Cyber Safety and Reputation Management Unit, which provides advice and a centralised coordination function for schools, working in partnership with relevant entities to remove offensive online content and address other issues b. strengthening or re-establishing multi-stakeholder forums and case-management for effective joint responses involving all relevant agencies, such as police, education, health and child protection.
Recommendation 6.24
In consultation with the eSafety Commissioner, police commissioners from states and territories and the Australian Federal Police should continue to ensure national capability for coordinated, best practice responses by law enforcement agencies to online child sexual abuse. This could include through: a. establishing regular meetings of the heads of cybersafety units in all Australian police departments to ensure a consistent capacity to respond to emerging incidents and share best practice approaches, tools and resources b. convening regular forums and conferences to bring together law enforcement, government, the technology industry, the community sector and other relevant stakeholders to discuss emerging issues, set agendas and identify solutions to online child sexual abuse and exploitation c. building capability across police departments, through in-service training for: i. frontline police officers to respond to public complaints relating to issues of online child sexual abuse or harmful sexual behaviours ii. police officers who liaise with young people in school and community settings.
Recommendation 7.1
State and territory governments that do not have a mandatory reporter guide should introduce one and require its use by mandatory reporters.
Recommendation 7.2
Institutions and state and territory governments should provide mandatory reporters with access to experts who can provide timely advice on child sexual abuse reporting obligations.
Recommendation 7.3
State and territory governments should amend laws concerning mandatory reporting to child protection authorities to achieve national consistency in reporter groups. At a minimum, state and territory governments should also include the following groups of individuals as mandatory reporters in every jurisdiction: a. out-of-home care workers (excluding foster and kinship/relative carers) b. youth justice workers c. early childhood workers d. registered psychologists and school counsellors e. people in religious ministry.
Recommendation 7.4
Laws concerning mandatory reporting to child protection authorities should not exempt persons in religious ministry from being required to report knowledge or suspicions formed, in whole or in part, on the basis of information disclosed in or in connection with a religious confession.
Recommendation 7.5
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should ensure that legislation provides comprehensive protection for individuals who make reports in good faith about child sexual abuse in institutional contexts. Such individuals should be protected from civil and criminal liability and from reprisals or other detrimental action as a result of making a complaint or report, including in relation to: a. mandatory and voluntary reports to child protection authorities under child protection legislation b. notifications concerning child abuse under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
Recommendation 7.6
State and territory governments should amend child protection legislation to provide adequate protection for individuals who make complaints or reports in good faith to any institution engaging in child-related work about: a. child sexual abuse within that institution or b. the response of that institution to child sexual abuse. Such individuals should be protected from civil and criminal liability and from reprisals or other detrimental action as a result of making a complaint or report.
Recommendation 7.7
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 6: Processes to respond to complaints of child sexual abuse are child focused, institutions should have a clear, accessible and child-focused complaint handling policy and procedure that sets out how the institution should respond to complaints of child sexual abuse. The complaint handling policy and procedure should cover: a. making a complaint b. responding to a complaint c. investigating a complaint d. providing support and assistance e. achieving systemic improvements following a complaint.
Recommendation 7.8
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 1: Child safety is embedded in institutional leadership, governance and culture, institutions should have a clear code of conduct that: a. outlines behaviours towards children that the institution considers unacceptable, including concerning conduct, misconduct or criminal conduct b. includes a specific requirement to report any concerns, breaches or suspected breaches of the code to a person responsible for handling complaints in the institution or to an external authority when required by law and/or the institution’s complaint handling policy c. outlines the protections available to individuals who make complaints or reports in good faith to any institution engaging in child-related work (see Recommendation 7.6 on reporter protections).
Recommendation 7.9
State and territory governments should establish nationally consistent legislative schemes (reportable conduct schemes), based on the approach adopted in New South Wales, which oblige heads of institutions to notify an oversight body of any reportable allegation, conduct or conviction involving any of the institution’s employees.
Recommendation 7.10
Reportable conduct schemes should provide for: a. an independent oversight body b. obligatory reporting by heads of institutions c. a definition of reportable conduct that covers any sexual offence, or sexual misconduct, committed against, with, or in the presence of, a child d. a definition of reportable conduct that includes the historical conduct of a current employee e. a definition of employee that covers paid employees, volunteers and contractors f. protection for persons who make reports in good faith g. oversight body powers and functions that include: i. scrutinising institutional systems for preventing reportable conduct and for handling and responding to reportable allegations, or reportable convictions ii. monitoring the progress of investigations and the handling of complaints by institutions iii. conducting, on its own motion, investigations concerning any reportable conduct of which it has been notified or otherwise becomes aware iv. power to exempt any class or kind of conduct from being reportable conduct v. capacity building and practice development, through the provision of training, education and guidance to institutions vi. public reporting, including annual reporting on the operation of the scheme and trends in reports and investigations, and the power to make special reports to parliaments.
Recommendation 7.11
State and territory governments should periodically review the operation of reportable conduct schemes, and in that review determine whether the schemes should cover additional institutions that exercise a high degree of responsibility for children and involve a heightened risk of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 7.12
Reportable conduct schemes should cover institutions that: • exercise a high degree of responsibility for children • engage in activities that involve a heightened risk of child sexual abuse, due to institutional characteristics, the nature of the activities involving children, or the additional vulnerability of the children the institution engages with. At a minimum, these should include institutions that provide: a. accommodation and residential services for children, including: i. housing or homelessness services that provide overnight beds for children and young people ii. providers of overnight camps b. activities or services of any kind, under the auspices of a particular religious denomination or faith, through which adults have contact with children c. childcare services, including: i. approved education and care services under the Education and Care Services National Law ii. approved occasional care services d. child protection services and out-of-home care, including: i. child protection authorities and agencies ii. providers of foster care, kinship or relative care iii. providers of family group homes iv. providers of residential care e. disability services and supports for children with disability, including: i. disability service providers under state and territory legislation ii. registered providers of supports under the National Disability Insurance Scheme f. education services for children, including: i. government and non-government schools ii. TAFEs and other institutions registered to provide senior secondary education or training, courses for overseas students or student exchange programs g. health services for children, including: i. government health departments and agencies, and statutory corporations ii. public and private hospitals iii. providers of mental health and drug or alcohol treatment services that have inpatient beds for children and young people h. justice and detention services for children, including: i. youth detention centres ii. immigration detention facilities.
Recommendation 8.1
To allow for delayed disclosure of abuse by victims and take account of limitation periods for civil actions for child sexual abuse, institutions that engage in child-related work should retain, for at least 45 years, records relating to child sexual abuse that has occurred or is alleged to have occurred.
Recommendation 8.2
The National Archives of Australia and state and territory public records authorities should ensure that records disposal schedules require that records relating to child sexual abuse that has occurred or is alleged to have occurred be retained for at least 45 years.
Recommendation 8.3
The National Archives of Australia and state and territory public records authorities should provide guidance to government and non-government institutions on identifying records which, it is reasonable to expect, may become relevant to an actual or alleged incident of child sexual abuse; and on the retention and disposal of such records.
Recommendation 8.4
All institutions that engage in child-related work should implement the following principles for records and recordkeeping, to a level that responds to the risk of child sexual abuse occurring within the institution. Principle 1: Creating and keeping full and accurate records relevant to child safety and wellbeing, including child sexual abuse, is in the best interests of children and should be an integral part of institutional leadership, governance and culture. Institutions that care for or provide services to children must keep the best interests of the child uppermost in all aspects of their conduct, including recordkeeping. It is in the best interest of children that institutions foster a culture in which the creation and management of accurate records are integral parts of the institution’s operations and governance.
Recommendation 8.5
State and territory governments should ensure that non-government schools operating in the state or territory are required to comply, at a minimum, with standards applicable to government schools in relation to the creation, maintenance and disposal of records relevant to child safety and wellbeing, including child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 8.6
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should make nationally consistent legislative and administrative arrangements, in each jurisdiction, for a specified range of bodies (prescribed bodies) to share information related to the safety and wellbeing of children, including information relevant to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts (relevant information). These arrangements should be made to establish an information exchange scheme to operate in and across Australian jurisdictions.
Recommendation 8.7
In establishing the information exchange scheme, the Australian Government and state and territory governments should develop a minimum of nationally consistent provisions to: a. enable direct exchange of relevant information between a range of prescribed bodies, including service providers, government and non-government agencies, law enforcement agencies, and regulatory and oversight bodies, which have responsibilities related to children’s safety and wellbeing b. permit prescribed bodies to provide relevant information to other prescribed bodies without a request, for purposes related to preventing, identifying and responding to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts c. require prescribed bodies to share relevant information on request from other prescribed bodies, for purposes related to preventing, identifying and responding to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts, subject to limited exceptions d. explicitly prioritise children’s safety and wellbeing and override laws that might otherwise prohibit or restrict disclosure of information to prevent, identify and respond to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts e. provide safeguards and other measures for oversight and accountability to prevent unauthorised sharing and improper use of information obtained under the information exchange scheme f. require prescribed bodies to provide adversely affected persons with an opportunity to respond to untested or unsubstantiated allegations, where such information is received under the information exchange scheme, prior to taking adverse action against such persons, except where to do so could place another person at risk of harm.
Recommendation 8.8
The Australian Government, state and territory governments and prescribed bodies should work together to ensure that the implementation of our recommended information exchange scheme is supported with education, training and guidelines. Education, training and guidelines should promote understanding of, and confidence in, appropriate information sharing to better prevent, identify and respond to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts, including by addressing: a. impediments to information sharing due to limited understanding of applicable laws b. unauthorised sharing and improper use of information.
Recommendation 8.9
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Education Council should consider the need for nationally consistent state and territory legislative requirements about the types of information recorded on teacher registers. Types of information that the council should consider, with respect to a person’s registration and employment as a teacher, include: a. the person’s former names and aliases b. the details of former and current employers c. where relating to allegations or incidents of child sexual abuse: i. current and past disciplinary actions, such as conditions on, suspension of, and cancellation of registration ii. grounds for current and past disciplinary actions iii. pending investigations iv. findings or outcomes of investigations where allegations have been substantiated v. resignation or dismissal from employment.
Recommendation 8.10
The COAG Education Council should consider the need for nationally consistent provisions in state and territory teacher registration laws providing that teacher registration authorities may, and/or must on request, make information on teacher registers available to: a. teacher registration authorities in other states and territories b. teachers’ employers.
Recommendation 8.11
The COAG Education Council should consider the need for nationally consistent provisions a. in state and territory teacher registration laws or b. in administrative arrangements, based on legislative authorisation for information sharing under our recommended information exchange scheme providing that teacher registration authorities may or must notify teacher registration authorities in other states and territories and teachers’ employers of information they hold or receive about the following matters where they relate to allegations or incidents of child sexual abuse: a. disciplinary actions, such as conditions or restrictions on, suspension of, and cancellation of registration, including with notification of grounds b. investigations into conduct, or into allegations or complaints c. findings or outcomes of investigations d. resignation or dismissal from employment.
Recommendation 8.12
In considering improvements to teacher registers and information sharing by registration authorities, the COAG Education Council should also consider what safeguards are necessary to protect teachers’ personal information.
Recommendation 8.13
State and territory governments should ensure that policies provide for the exchange of a student’s information when they move to another school, where: a. the student may pose risks to other children due to their harmful sexual behaviours or may have educational or support needs due to their experiences of child sexual abuse and b. the new school needs this information to address the safety and wellbeing of the student or of other students at the school. State and territory governments should give consideration to basing these policies on our recommended information exchange scheme (Recommendations 8.6 to 8.8).
Recommendation 8.14
State and territory governments should ensure that policies for the exchange of a student’s information when they move to another school: a. provide that the principal (or other authorised information sharer) at the student’s previous school is required to share information with the new school in the circumstances described in Recommendation 8.13 and b. apply to schools in government and non-government systems.
Recommendation 8.15
State and territory governments should ensure that policies about the exchange of a student’s information (as in Recommendations 8.13 and 8.14) provide the following safeguards, in addition to any safeguards attached to our recommended information exchange scheme: a. information provided to the new school should be proportionate to its need for that information to assist it in meeting the student’s safety and wellbeing needs, and those of other students at the school b. information should be exchanged between principals, or other authorised information sharers, and disseminated to other staff members on a need-to-know basis.
Recommendation 8.16
The COAG Education Council should review the Interstate Student Data Transfer Note and Protocol in the context of the implementation of our recommended information exchange scheme (Recommendations 8.6 to 8.8).
Recommendation 8.17
State and territory governments should introduce legislation to establish carers registers in their respective jurisdictions, with national consistency in relation to: a. the inclusion of the following carer types on the carers register: i. foster carers ii. relative/kinship carers iii. residential care staff b. the types of information which, at a minimum, should be recorded on the register c. the types of information which, at a minimum, must be made available to agencies or bodies with responsibility for assessing, authorising or supervising carers, or other responsibilities related to carer suitability and safety of children in out-of-home care.
Recommendation 8.18
Carers registers should be maintained by state and territory child protection agencies or bodies with regulatory or oversight responsibility for out-of-home care in that jurisdiction.
Recommendation 8.19
State and territory governments should consider the need for carers registers to include, at a minimum, the following information (register information) about, or related to, applicant or authorised carers, and persons residing on the same property as applicant/ authorised home-based carers (household members): a. lodgement or grant of applications for authorisation b. status of the minimum checks set out in Recommendation 12.6 as requirements for authorisation, indicating their outcomes as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory c. withdrawal or refusal of applications for authorisation in circumstances of concern (including in relation to child sexual abuse) d. cancellation or surrender of authorisation in circumstances of concern (including in relation to child sexual abuse) e. previous or current association with an out-of-home care agency, whether by application for authorisation, assessment, grant of authorisation, or supervision f. the date of reportable conduct allegations, and their status as either current, finalised with ongoing risk-related concerns, and/or requiring contact with the reportable conduct oversight body.
Recommendation 8.20
State and territory governments should consider the need for legislative and administrative arrangements to require responsible agencies to: a. record register information in minimal detail b. record register information as a mandatory part of carer authorisation c. update register information about authorised carers.
Recommendation 8.21
State and territory governments should consider the need for legislative and administrative arrangements to require responsible agencies: a. before they authorise or recommend authorisation of carers, to: i. undertake a check for relevant register information, and ii. seek further relevant information from another out-of-home care agency where register information indicates applicant carers, or their household members (in the case of prospective home-based carers) have a prior or current association with that other agency b. in the course of their assessment, authorisation, or supervision of carers, to: i. seek further relevant information from other agencies or bodies, where register information indicates they hold, or may hold, additional information relevant to carer suitability, including reportable conduct information. State and territory governments should give consideration to enabling agencies to seek further information for these purposes under our recommended information exchange scheme (Recommendations 8.6 to 8.8).
Recommendation 8.22
State and territory governments should consider the need for effective mechanisms to enable agencies and bodies to obtain relevant information from registers in any state or territory holding such information. Consideration should be given to legislative and administrative arrangements, and digital platforms, which will enable: a. agencies responsible for assessing, authorising or supervising carers b. other agencies, including jurisdictional child protection agencies and regulatory and oversight bodies, with responsibilities related to the suitability of persons to be carers and the safety of children in out-of-home care to obtain relevant information from their own and other jurisdictions’ registers for the purpose of exercising their responsibilities and functions.
Recommendation 8.23
In considering the legislative and administrative arrangements required for carers registers in their jurisdiction, state and territory governments should consider the need for guidelines and training to promote the proper use of carers registers for the protection of children in out-of home care. Consideration should also be given to the need for specific safeguards to prevent inappropriate use of register information.
Recommendation 9.1
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should fund dedicated community support services for victims and survivors in each jurisdiction, to provide an integrated model of advocacy and support and counselling to children and adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse in institutional contexts. Funding and related agreements should require and enable these services to: a. be trauma-informed and have an understanding of institutional child sexual abuse b. be collaborative, available, accessible, acceptable and high quality c. use case management and brokerage to coordinate and meet service needs d. support and supervise peer-led support models.
Recommendation 9.2
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should fund Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing approaches as an ongoing, integral part of advocacy and support and therapeutic treatment service system responses for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. These approaches should be evaluated in accordance with culturally appropriate methodologies, to contribute to evidence of best practice.
Recommendation 9.3
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should fund support services for people with disability who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood as an ongoing, integral part of advocacy and support and therapeutic treatment service system responses for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 9.4
The Australian Government should establish and fund a legal advice and referral service for victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. The service should provide advice about accessing, amending and annotating records from institutions, and options for initiating police, civil litigation or redress processes as required. Support should include advice, referrals to other legal services for representation and general assistance for people to navigate the legal service system.
Recommendation 9.5
The Australian Government should fund a national website and helpline as a gateway to accessible advice and information on childhood sexual abuse. This should provide information for victims and survivors, particularly victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, the general public and practitioners about supporting children and adults who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood and available services. The gateway may be operated by an existing service with appropriate experience and should: a. be trauma-informed and have an understanding of institutional child sexual abuse b. be collaborative, available, accessible, acceptable and high quality c. provide telephone and online information and initial support for victims and survivors, including independent legal information and information about reporting to police d. provide assisted referrals to advocacy and support and therapeutic treatment services.
Recommendation 9.6
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should address existing specialist sexual assault service gaps by increasing funding for adult and child sexual assault services in each jurisdiction, to provide advocacy and support and specialist therapeutic treatment for victims and survivors, particularly victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Funding agreements should require and enable services to: a. be trauma-informed and have an understanding of institutional child sexual abuse b. be collaborative, available, accessible, acceptable and high quality c. use collaborative community development approaches d. provide staff with supervision and professional development.
Recommendation 9.7
Primary Health Networks, within their role to commission joined up local primary care services, should support sexual assault services to work collaboratively with key services such as disability-specific services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services, culturally and linguistically diverse services, youth justice, aged care and child and youth services to better meet the needs of victims and survivors.
Recommendation 9.8
The Australian Government and state and territory government agencies responsible for the delivery of human services should ensure relevant policy frameworks and strategies recognise the needs of victims and survivors and the benefits of implementing trauma-informed approaches.
Recommendation 9.9
The Australian Government, in conjunction with state and territory governments, should establish and fund a national centre to raise awareness and understanding of the impacts of child sexual abuse, support help-seeking and guide best practice advocacy and support and therapeutic treatment. The national centre’s functions should be to: a. raise community awareness and promote destigmatising messages about the impacts of child sexual abuse b. increase practitioners’ knowledge and competence in responding to child and adult victims and survivors by translating knowledge about the impacts of child sexual abuse and the evidence on effective responses into practice and policy. This should include activities to: i. identify, translate and promote research in easily available and accessible formats for advocacy and support and therapeutic treatment practitioners ii. produce national training materials and best practice clinical resources iii. partner with training organisations to conduct training and workforce development programs iv. influence national tertiary curricula to incorporate child sexual abuse and trauma-informed care v. inform government policy making c. lead the development of better service models and interventions through coordinating a national research agenda and conducting high-quality program evaluation. The national centre should partner with survivors in all its work, valuing their knowledge and experience.
Recommendation 10.1
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should ensure the issue of children’s harmful sexual behaviours is included in the national strategy to prevent child sexual abuse that we have recommended (see Recommendations 6.1 to 6.3). Harmful sexual behaviours by children should be addressed through each of the following: a. primary prevention strategies to educate family, community members, carers and professionals (including mandatory reporters) about preventing harmful sexual behaviours b. secondary prevention strategies to ensure early intervention when harmful sexual behaviours are developing c. tertiary intervention strategies to address harmful sexual behaviours.
Recommendation 10.2
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should ensure timely expert assessment is available for individual children with problematic and harmful sexual behaviours, so they receive appropriate responses, including therapeutic interventions, which match their particular circumstances.
Recommendation 10.3
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should adequately fund therapeutic interventions to meet the needs of all children with harmful sexual behaviours. These should be delivered through a network of specialist and generalist therapeutic services. Specialist services should also be adequately resourced to provide expert support to generalist services.
Recommendation 10.4
State and territory governments should ensure that there are clear referral pathways for children with harmful sexual behaviours to access expert assessment and therapeutic intervention, regardless of whether the child is engaging voluntarily, on the advice of an institution or through their involvement with the child protection or criminal justice systems.
Recommendation 10.5
Therapeutic intervention for children with harmful sexual behaviours should be based on the following principles: a. a contextual and systemic approach should be used b. family and carers should be involved c. safety should be established d. there should be accountability and responsibility for the harmful sexual behaviours e. there should be a focus on behaviour change f. developmentally and cognitively appropriate interventions should be used g. the care provided should be trauma-informed h. therapeutic services and interventions should be culturally safe i. therapeutic interventions should be accessible to all children with harmful sexual behaviours.
Recommendation 10.6
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should ensure that all services funded to provide therapeutic intervention for children with harmful sexual behaviours provide professional training and clinical supervision for their staff.
Recommendation 10.7
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should fund and support evaluation of services providing therapeutic interventions for problematic and harmful sexual behaviours by children.
Recommendation 12.1
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should develop nationally agreed key terms and definitions in relation to child sexual abuse for the purpose of data collection and reporting by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the Productivity Commission.
Recommendation 12.2
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should prioritise enhancements to the Child Protection National Minimum Data Set to include: a. data identifying children with disability, children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children b. the number of children who were the subject of a substantiated report of sexual abuse while in out-of-home care c. the demographics of those children d. the type of out-of-home care placement in which the abuse occurred e. information about when the abuse occurred f. information about who perpetrated the abuse, including their age and their relationship to the victim, if known.
Recommendation 12.3
State and territory governments should agree on reporting definitions and data requirements to enable reporting in the Report on government services on outcome indicators for ‘improved health and wellbeing of the child’, ‘safe return home’ and ‘permanent care’.
Recommendation 12.4
Each state and territory government should revise existing mandatory accreditation schemes to: a. incorporate compliance with the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission b. extend accreditation requirements to both government and non-government out-of-home care service providers.
Recommendation 12.5
In each state and territory, an existing statutory body or office that is independent of the relevant child protection agency and out-of-home care service providers, for example a children’s guardian, should have responsibility for: a. receiving, assessing and processing applications for accreditation of out-of-home care service providers b. conducting audits of accredited out-of-home care service providers to ensure ongoing compliance with accreditation standards and conditions.
Recommendation 12.6
In addition to a National Police Check, Working With Children Check and referee checks, authorisation of all foster and kinship/relative carers and all residential care staff should include: a. community services checks of the prospective carer and any adult household members of home-based carers b. documented risk management plans to address any risks identified through community services checks c. at least annual review of risk management plans as part of carer reviews and more frequently as required.
Recommendation 12.7
All out-of-home care service providers should conduct annual reviews of authorised carers that include interviews with all children in the placement with the carer under review, in the absence of the carer.
Recommendation 12.8
Each state and territory government should adopt a model of assessment appropriately tailored for kinship/relative care. This type of assessment should be designed to: a. better identify the strengths as well as the support and training needs of kinship/relative carers b. ensure holistic approaches to supporting placements that are culturally safe c. include appropriately resourced support plans.
Recommendation 12.9
All state and territory governments should collaborate in the development of a sexual abuse prevention education strategy, including online safety, for children in out-of-home care that includes: a. input from children in out-of-home care and care-leavers b. comprehensive, age-appropriate and culture-appropriate education about sexuality and healthy relationships that is tailored to the needs of children in out-of-home care c. resources tailored for children in care, for foster and kinship/relative carers, for residential care staff and for caseworkers d. resources that can be adapted to the individual needs of children with disability and their carers.
Recommendation 12.10
State and territory governments, in collaboration with out-of-home care service providers and peak bodies, should develop resources to assist service providers to: a. provide appropriate support and mechanisms for children in out-of-home care to communicate, either verbally or through behaviour, their views, concerns and complaints b. provide appropriate training and support to carers and caseworkers to ensure they hear and respond to children in out-of-home care, including ensuring children are involved in decisions about their lives c. regularly consult with the children in their care as part of continuous improvement processes.
Recommendation 12.11
State and territory governments and out-of-home care service providers should ensure that training for foster and relative/kinship carers, residential care staff and child protection workers includes an understanding of trauma and abuse, the impact on children and the principles of trauma-informed care to assist them to meet the needs of children in out-of-home care, including children with harmful sexual behaviours.
Recommendation 12.12
When placing a child in out-of-home care, state and territory governments and out-of-home care service providers should take the following measures to support children with harmful sexual behaviours: a. undertake professional assessments of the child with harmful sexual behaviours, including identifying their needs and appropriate supports and interventions to ensure their safety b. establish case management and a package of support services c. undertake careful placement matching that includes: i. providing sufficient relevant information to the potential carer/s and residential care staff to ensure they are equipped to support the child, and additional training as necessary ii. rigorously assessing potential threats to the safety of other children, including the child’s siblings, in the placement.
Recommendation 12.13
State and territory governments and out-of-home care service providers should provide advice, guidelines and ongoing professional development for all foster and kinship/relative carers and residential care staff about preventing and responding to the harmful sexual behaviours of some children in out-of-home care.
Recommendation 12.14
All state and territory governments should develop and implement coordinated and multi-disciplinary strategies to protect children in residential care by: a. identifying and disrupting activities that indicate risk of sexual exploitation b. supporting agencies to engage with children in ways that encourage them to assist in the investigation and prosecution of sexual exploitation offences.
Recommendation 12.15
Child protection departments in all states and territories should adopt a nationally consistent definition for child sexual exploitation to enable the collection and reporting of data on sexual exploitation of children in out-of-home care as a form of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 12.16
All institutions that provide out-of-home care should develop strategies that increase the likelihood of safe and stable placements for children in care. Such strategies should include: a. improved processes for ‘matching’ children with carers and other children in a placement, including in residential care b. the provision of necessary information to carers about a child, prior to and during their placement, to enable carers to properly support the child c. support and training for carers to deal with the different developmental needs of children as well as managing difficult situations and challenging behaviour.
Recommendation 12.17
Each state and territory government should ensure that: a. the financial support and training provided to kinship/relative carers is equivalent to that provided to foster carers b. the need for any additional supports are identified during kinship/relative carer assessments and are funded c. additional casework support is provided to maintain birth family relationships.
Recommendation 12.18
The key focus of residential care for children should be based on an intensive therapeutic model of care framework designed to meet the complex needs of children with histories of abuse and trauma.
Recommendation 12.19
All residential care staff should be provided with regular training and professional supervision by appropriately qualified clinicians.
Recommendation 12.20
Each state and territory government, in consultation with appropriate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and community representatives, should develop and implement plans to: a. fully implement the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle b. improve community and child protection sector understanding of the intent and scope of the principle c. develop outcome measures that allow quantification and reporting on the extent of the full application of the principle, and evaluation of its impact on child safety and the reunification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with their families d. invest in community capacity building as a recognised part of kinship care, in addition to supporting individual carers, in recognition of the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in bringing up children.
Recommendation 12.21
Each state and territory government should ensure: a. the adequate assessment of all children with disability entering out-of-home care b. the availability and provision of therapeutic support c. support for disability-related needs d. the development and implementation of care plans that identify specific risk-management and safety strategies for individual children, including the identification of trusted and safe adults in the child’s life.
Recommendation 12.22
State and territory governments should ensure that the supports provided to assist all care-leavers to safely and successfully transition to independent living include: a. strategies to assist care-leavers who disclose that they were sexually abused while in out-of-home care to access general post-care supports b. the development of targeted supports to address the specific needs of sexual abuse survivors, such as help in accessing therapeutic treatment to deal with impacts of abuse, and for these supports to be accessible until at least the age of 25.
Recommendation 13.1
All schools should implement the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission.
Recommendation 13.2
State and territory independent oversight authorities responsible for implementing the Child Safe Standards (see Recommendation 6.10) should delegate to school registration authorities the responsibility for monitoring and enforcing the Child Safe Standards in government and non-government schools.
Recommendation 13.3
School registration authorities should place particular emphasis on monitoring government and non-government boarding schools to ensure they meet the Child Safe Standards. Policy guidance and practical support should be provided to all boarding schools to meet these standards, including advice on complaint handling.
Recommendation 13.4
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should ensure that needs-based funding arrangements for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boarding students are sufficient for schools and hostels to create child safe environments.
Recommendation 13.5
Boarding hostels for children and young people should implement the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission. State and territory independent oversight authorities should monitor and enforce the Child Safe Standards in these institutions.
Recommendation 13.6
Consistent with the Child Safe Standards, complaint handling policies for schools (see Recommendation 7.7) should include effective policies and procedures for managing complaints about children with harmful sexual behaviours.
Recommendation 13.7
State and territory governments should provide nationally consistent and easily accessible guidance to teachers and principals on preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in all government and non-government schools.
Recommendation 13.8
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) should consider strengthening teacher registration requirements to better protect children from sexual abuse in schools. In particular, COAG should review minimum national requirements for assessing the suitability of teachers, and conducting disciplinary investigations.
Recommendation 14.1
All sport and recreation institutions, including arts, culture, community and hobby groups, that engage with or provide services to children should implement the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission.
Recommendation 14.2
The National Office for Child Safety should establish a child safety advisory committee for the sport and recreation sector with membership from government and non-government peak bodies to advise the national office on sector-specific child safety issues.
Recommendation 14.3
The education and information website known as Play by the Rules should be expanded and funded to develop resources – in partnership with the National Office for Child Safety – that are relevant to the broader sport and recreation sector.
Recommendation 14.4
The independent state and territory oversight bodies that implement the Child Safe Standards should establish a free email subscription function for the sport and recreation sector so that all providers of these services to children can subscribe to receive relevant child safe information and links to resources.
Recommendation 15.1
All institutions engaged in child-related work, including detention institutions and those involving detention and detention-like practices, should implement the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission.
Recommendation 15.2
Given the Australian Government’s commitment to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the National Preventive Mechanism(s) should be provided with the expertise to consider and make recommendations relating to preventing and responding to child sexual abuse as part of regularly examining the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in places of detention.
Recommendation 15.3
Youth justice agencies in each state and territory should review the building and design features of youth detention to identify and address elements that may place children at risk. This should include consideration of how to most effectively use technology, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and body-worn cameras, to capture interactions between children and between staff and children without unduly infringing children’s privacy.
Recommendation 15.4
As part of efforts to mitigate risks of child sexual abuse in the physical environment of youth detention, state and territory governments should review legislation, policy and procedures to ensure: a. appropriate and safe placements of children in youth detention, including a risk assessment process before placement decisions that identifies if a child may be vulnerable to child sexual abuse or if a child is displaying harmful sexual behaviours b. children are not placed in adult prisons c. frameworks take into account the importance of children having access to trusted adults, including family, friends and community, in the prevention and disclosure of child sexual abuse and provide for maximum contact between children and trusted adults through visitation, and use of the telephone and audio-visual technology d. best practice processes are in place for strip searches and other authorised physical contact between staff and children, including sufficient safeguards to protect children such as: i. adequate communication between staff and the child before, during and after a search is conducted or other physical contact occurs ii. clear protocols detailing when such practices are permitted and how they should be performed. The key elements of these protocols should be provided to children in an accessible format iii. staff training that highlights the potential for strip searching to re-traumatise children who have been sexually abused and how the misuse of search powers can lead to sexual humiliation or abuse. State and territory governments should consider implementing strategies for detecting contraband, such as risk assessments or body scanners, to minimise the need for strip searching children.
Recommendation 15.5
State and territory governments should consider further strategies that provide for the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in youth detention including: a. recruiting and developing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff to work at all levels of the youth justice system, including in key roles in complaint handling systems b. providing access to interpreters, particularly with respect to induction and education programs, and accessing internal and external complaint handling systems c. ensuring that all youth detention facilities have culturally appropriate policies and procedures that facilitate connection with family, community and culture, and reflect an understanding of, and respect for, cultural practices in different clan groups d. employing, training and professionally developing culturally competent staff who understand the particular needs and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, including the specific barriers that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children face in disclosing sexual abuse.
Recommendation 15.6
All staff should receive appropriate training on the needs and experiences of children with disability, mental health problems, and alcohol or other drug problems, and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds that highlights the barriers these children may face in disclosing sexual abuse.
Recommendation 15.7
State and territory governments should improve access to therapeutic treatment for survivors of child sexual abuse who are in youth detention, including by assessing their advocacy, support and therapeutic treatment needs and referring them to appropriate services, and ensure they are linked to ongoing treatment when they leave detention.
Recommendation 15.8
State and territory governments should ensure that all staff in youth detention are provided with training and ongoing professional development in trauma-informed care to assist them to meet the needs of children in youth detention, including children at risk of sexual abuse and children with harmful sexual behaviours.
Recommendation 15.9
State and territory governments should review the current internal and external complaint handling systems concerning youth detention to ensure they are capable of effectively dealing with complaints of child sexual abuse, including so that: a. children can easily access child-appropriate information about internal complaint processes and external oversight bodies that may receive or refer children’s complaints, such as visitor’s schemes, ombudsmen, inspectors of custodial services, and children’s commissioners or guardians b. children have confidential and unrestricted access to external oversight bodies c. staff involved in managing complaints both internally and externally include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and professionals qualified to provide trauma-informed care d. complaint handling systems are accessible for children with literacy difficulties or who speak English as a second language e. children are regularly consulted about the effectiveness of complaint handling systems and systems are continually improved.
Recommendation 15.10
State and territory governments should ensure they have an independent oversight body with the appropriate visitation, complaint handling and reporting powers, to provide oversight of youth detention. This could include an appropriately funded and independent Inspector of Custodial Services or similar body. New and existing bodies should have expertise in child-trauma, and the prevention and identification of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 15.11
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection should publicly report within 12 months on how it has implemented the Child Protection Panel’s recommendations.
Recommendation 15.12
a. The Australian Government should establish a mechanism to regularly audit the implementation of the Child Safe Standards in immigration detention by staff, contractors and agents of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The outcomes of each audit should be publicly reported. b. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection should contractually require its service providers to comply with the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission, as applied to immigration detention.
Recommendation 15.13
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection should identify the scope and nature of the need for support services for victims in immigration detention. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection should ensure that appropriate therapeutic and other specialist and support services are funded to meet the identified needs of victims in immigration detention and ensure they are linked to ongoing treatment when they leave detention.
Recommendation 15.14
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection should designate appropriately qualified child safety officers for each place in which children are detained. These officers should assist and build the capacity of staff and service providers at the local level to implement the Child Safe Standards.
Recommendation 15.15
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection should implement an independent visitors program in immigration detention.
Recommendation 16.1
The Anglican Church of Australia should adopt a uniform episcopal standards framework that ensures that bishops and former bishops are accountable to an appropriate authority or body in relation to their response to complaints of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.2
The Anglican Church of Australia should adopt a policy relating to the management of actual or perceived conflicts of interest that may arise in relation to allegations of child sexual abuse, which expressly covers: a. members of professional standards bodies b. members of diocesan councils (otherwise known as bishop-in-council or standing committee of synod) c. members of the Standing Committee of the General Synod d. chancellors and legal advisers for dioceses.
Recommendation 16.3
The Anglican Church of Australia should amend Being together and any other statement of expectations or code of conduct for lay members of the Anglican Church to expressly refer to the importance of child safety.
Recommendation 16.4
The Anglican Church of Australia should develop a national approach to the selection, screening and training of candidates for ordination in the Anglican Church.
Recommendation 16.5
The Anglican Church of Australia should develop and each diocese should implement mandatory national standards to ensure that all people in religious or pastoral ministry (bishops, clergy, religious and lay personnel): a. undertake mandatory, regular professional development, compulsory components being professional responsibility and boundaries, ethics in ministry and child safety b. undertake mandatory professional/pastoral supervision c. undergo regular performance appraisals.
Recommendation 16.6
The bishop of each Catholic Church diocese in Australia should ensure that parish priests are not the employers of principals and teachers in Catholic schools.
Recommendation 16.7
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should conduct a national review of the governance and management structures of dioceses and parishes, including in relation to issues of transparency, accountability, consultation and the participation of lay men and women. This review should draw from the approaches to governance of Catholic health, community services and education agencies.
Recommendation 16.8
In the interests of child safety and improved institutional responses to child sexual abuse, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to: a. publish criteria for the selection of bishops, including relating to the promotion of child safety b. establish a transparent process for appointing bishops which includes the direct participation of lay people.
Recommendation 16.9
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to amend the 1983 Code of Canon Law to create a new canon or series of canons specifically relating to child sexual abuse, as follows: a. All delicts relating to child sexual abuse should be articulated as canonical crimes against the child, not as moral failings or as breaches of the ‘special obligation’ of clerics and religious to observe celibacy. b. All delicts relating to child sexual abuse should apply to any person holding a ‘dignity, office or responsibility in the Church’ regardless of whether they are ordained or not ordained. c. In relation to the acquisition, possession, or distribution of pornographic images, the delict (currently contained in Article 6 §2 1° of the revised 2010 norms attached to the motu proprio Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela) should be amended to refer to minors under the age of 18, not minors under the age of 14.
Recommendation 16.10
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to amend canon law so that the pontifical secret does not apply to any aspect of allegations or canonical disciplinary processes relating to child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.11
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to amend canon law to ensure that the ‘pastoral approach’ is not an essential precondition to the commencement of canonical action relating to child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.12
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to amend canon law to remove the time limit (prescription) for commencement of canonical actions relating to child sexual abuse. This amendment should apply retrospectively.
Recommendation 16.13
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to amend the ‘imputability’ test in canon law so that a diagnosis of paedophilia is not relevant to the prosecution of or penalty for a canonical offence relating to child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.14
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to amend canon law to give effect to Recommendations 16.55 and 16.56.
Recommendation 16.15
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia, in consultation with the Holy See, should consider establishing an Australian tribunal for trying canonical disciplinary cases against clergy, whose decisions could be appealed to the Apostolic Signatura in the usual way.
Recommendation 16.16
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to introduce measures to ensure that Vatican Congregations and canonical appeal courts always publish decisions in disciplinary matters relating to child sexual abuse, and provide written reasons for their decisions. Publication should occur in a timely manner. In some cases it may be appropriate to suppress information that might lead to the identification of a victim.
Recommendation 16.17
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to amend canon law to remove the requirement to destroy documents relating to canonical criminal cases in matters of morals, where the accused cleric has died or ten years have elapsed from the condemnatory sentence. In order to allow for delayed disclosure of abuse by victims and to take account of the limitation periods for civil actions for child sexual abuse, the minimum requirement for retention of records in the secret archives should be at least 45 years.
Recommendation 16.18
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should request the Holy See to consider introducing voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy.
Recommendation 16.19
All Catholic religious institutes in Australia, in consultation with their international leadership and the Holy See as required, should implement measures to address the risks of harm to children and the potential psychological and sexual dysfunction associated with a celibate rule of religious life. This should include consideration of whether and how existing models of religious life could be modified to facilitate alternative forms of association, shorter terms of celibate commitment, and/or voluntary celibacy (where that is consistent with the form of association that has been chosen).
Recommendation 16.20
In order to promote healthy lives for those who choose to be celibate, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and all Catholic religious institutes in Australia should further develop, regularly evaluate and continually improve, their processes for selecting, screening and training of candidates for the clergy and religious life, and their processes of ongoing formation, support and supervision of clergy and religious.
Recommendation 16.21
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia should establish a national protocol for screening candidates before and during seminary or religious formation, as well as before ordination or the profession of religious vows.
Recommendation 16.22
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia should establish a mechanism to ensure that diocesan bishops and religious superiors draw upon broad-ranging professional advice in their decision-making, including from staff from seminaries or houses of formation, psychologists, senior clergy and religious, and lay people, in relation to the admission of individuals to: a. seminaries and houses of religious formation b. ordination and/or profession of vows.
Recommendation 16.23
In relation to guideline documents for the formation of priests and religious: a. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should review and revise the Ratio nationalis institutionis sacerdotalis: Programme for priestly formation (current version December 2015), and all other guideline documents relating to the formation of priests, permanent deacons, and those in pastoral ministry, to explicitly address the issue of child sexual abuse by clergy and best practice in relation to its prevention. b. All Catholic religious institutes in Australia should review and revise their particular norms and guideline documents relating to the formation of priests, religious brothers, and religious sisters, to explicitly address the issue of child sexual abuse and best practice in relation to its prevention.
Recommendation 16.24
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia should conduct a national review of current models of initial formation to ensure that they promote pastoral effectiveness, (including in relation to child safety and pastoral responses to victims and survivors) and protect against the development of clericalist attitudes.
Recommendation 16.25
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia should develop and each diocese and religious institute should implement mandatory national standards to ensure that all people in religious or pastoral ministry (bishops, provincials, clergy, religious, and lay personnel): a. undertake mandatory, regular professional development, compulsory components being professional responsibility and boundaries, ethics in ministry, and child safety b. undertake mandatory professional/pastoral supervision c. undergo regular performance appraisals.
Recommendation 16.26
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should consult with the Holy See, and make public any advice received, in order to clarify whether: a. information received from a child during the sacrament of reconciliation that they have been sexually abused is covered by the seal of confession b. if a person confesses during the sacrament of reconciliation to perpetrating child sexual abuse, absolution can and should be withheld until they report themselves to civil authorities.
Recommendation 16.27
The Jehovah’s Witness organisation should abandon its application of the two-witness rule in cases involving complaints of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.28
The Jehovah’s Witness organisation should revise its policies so that women are involved in processes related to investigating and determining allegations of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.29
The Jehovah’s Witness organisation should no longer require its members to shun those who disassociate from the organisation in cases where the reason for disassociation is related to a person being a victim of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.30
All Jewish institutions in Australia should ensure that their complaint handling policies explicitly state that the halachic concepts of mesirah, moser and loshon horo do not apply to the communication and reporting of allegations of child sexual abuse to police and other civil authorities.
Recommendation 16.31
All institutions that provide activities or services of any kind, under the auspices of a particular religious denomination or faith, through which adults have contact with children, should implement the 10 Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission.
Recommendation 16.32
Religious organisations should adopt the Royal Commission’s 10 Child Safe Standards as nationally mandated standards for each of their affiliated institutions.
Recommendation 16.33
Religious organisations should drive a consistent approach to the implementation of the Royal Commission’s 10 Child Safe Standards in each of their affiliated institutions.
Recommendation 16.34
Religious organisations should work closely with relevant state and territory oversight bodies to support the implementation of and compliance with the Royal Commission’s 10 Child Safe Standards in each of their affiliated institutions.
Recommendation 16.35
Religious institutions in highly regulated sectors, such as schools and out-of-home care service providers, should report their compliance with the Royal Commission’s 10 Child Safe Standards, as monitored by the relevant sector regulator, to the religious organisation to which they are affiliated.
Recommendation 16.36
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 1, each religious institution in Australia should ensure that its religious leaders are provided with leadership training both pre- and post-appointment, including in relation to the promotion of child safety.
Recommendation 16.37
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 1, leaders of religious institutions should ensure that there are mechanisms through which they receive advice from individuals with relevant professional expertise on all matters relating to child sexual abuse and child safety. This should include in relation to prevention, policies and procedures and complaint handling. These mechanisms should facilitate advice from people with a variety of professional backgrounds and include lay men and women.
Recommendation 16.38
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 1, each religious institution should ensure that religious leaders are accountable to an appropriate authority or body, such as a board of management or council, for the decisions they make with respect to child safety.
Recommendation 16.39
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 1, each religious institution should have a policy relating to the management of actual or perceived conflicts of interest that may arise in relation to allegations of child sexual abuse. The policy should cover all individuals who have a role in responding to complaints of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.40
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 2, wherever a religious institution has children in its care, those children should be provided with age-appropriate prevention education that aims to increase their knowledge of child sexual abuse and build practical skills to assist in strengthening self-protective skills and strategies. Prevention education in religious institutions should specifically address the power and status of people in religious ministry and educate children that no one has a right to invade their privacy and make them feel unsafe.
Recommendation 16.41
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 3, each religious institution should make provision for family and community involvement by publishing all policies relevant to child safety on its website, providing opportunities for comment on its approach to child safety, and seeking periodic feedback about the effectiveness of its approach to child safety.
Recommendation 16.42
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 5, each religious institution should require that candidates for religious ministry undergo external psychological testing, including psychosexual assessment, for the purposes of determining their suitability to be a person in religious ministry and to undertake work involving children.
Recommendation 16.43
Each religious institution should ensure that candidates for religious ministry undertake minimum training on child safety and related matters, including training that: a. equips candidates with an understanding of the Royal Commission’s 10 Child Safe Standards b. educates candidates on: i. professional responsibility and boundaries, ethics in ministry and child safety ii. policies regarding appropriate responses to allegations or complaints of child sexual abuse, and how to implement these policies iii. how to work with children, including childhood development iv. identifying and understanding the nature, indicators and impacts of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 16.44
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 5, each religious institution should ensure that all people in religious or pastoral ministry, including religious leaders, are subject to effective management and oversight and undertake annual performance appraisals.
Recommendation 16.45
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 5, each religious institution should ensure that all people in religious or pastoral ministry, including religious leaders, have professional supervision with a trained professional or pastoral supervisor who has a degree of independence from the institution within which the person is in ministry.
Recommendation 16.46
Religious institutions which receive people from overseas to work in religious or pastoral ministry, or otherwise within their institution, should have targeted programs for the screening, initial training and professional supervision and development of those people. These programs should include material covering professional responsibility and boundaries, ethics in ministry and child safety.
Recommendation 16.47
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 7, each religious institution should require that all people in religious or pastoral ministry, including religious leaders, undertake regular training on the institution’s child safe policies and procedures. They should also be provided with opportunities for external training on best practice approaches to child safety.
Recommendation 16.48
Religious institutions which have a rite of religious confession for children should implement a policy that requires the rite only be conducted in an open space within the clear line of sight of another adult. The policy should specify that, if another adult is not available, the rite of religious confession for the child should not be performed.
Recommendation 16.49
Codes of conduct in religious institutions should explicitly and equally apply to people in religious ministry and to lay people.
Recommendation 16.50
Consistent with Child Safe Standard 7, each religious institution should require all people in religious ministry, leaders, members of boards, councils and other governing bodies, employees, relevant contractors and volunteers to undergo initial and periodic training on its code of conduct. This training should include: a. what kinds of allegations or complaints relating to child sexual abuse should be reported and to whom b. identifying inappropriate behaviour which may be a precursor to abuse, including grooming c. recognising physical and behavioural indicators of child sexual abuse d. that all complaints relating to child sexual abuse must be taken seriously, regardless of the perceived severity of the behaviour.
Recommendation 16.51
All religious institutions’ complaint handling policies should require that, upon receiving a complaint of child sexual abuse, an initial risk assessment is conducted to identify and minimise any risks to children.
Recommendation 16.52
All religious institutions’ complaint handling policies should require that, if a complaint of child sexual abuse against a person in religious ministry is plausible, and there is a risk that person may come into contact with children in the course of their ministry, the person be stood down from ministry while the complaint is investigated.
Recommendation 16.53
The standard of proof that a religious institution should apply when deciding whether a complaint of child sexual abuse has been substantiated is the balance of probabilities, having regard to the principles in Briginshaw v Briginshaw.
Recommendation 16.54
Religious institutions should apply the same standards for investigating complaints of child sexual abuse whether or not the subject of the complaint is a person in religious ministry.
Recommendation 16.55
Any person in religious ministry who is the subject of a complaint of child sexual abuse which is substantiated on the balance of probabilities, having regard to the principles in Briginshaw v Briginshaw, or who is convicted of an offence relating to child sexual abuse, should be permanently removed from ministry. Religious institutions should also take all necessary steps to effectively prohibit the person from in any way holding himself or herself out as being a person with religious authority.
Recommendation 16.56
Any person in religious ministry who is convicted of an offence relating to child sexual abuse should: a. in the case of Catholic priests and religious, be dismissed from the priesthood and/or dispensed from his or her vows as a religious b. in the case of Anglican clergy, be deposed from holy orders c. in the case of Uniting Church ministers, have his or her recognition as a minister withdrawn d. in the case of an ordained person in any other religious denomination that has a concept of ordination, holy orders and/or vows, be dismissed, deposed or otherwise effectively have their religious status removed.
Recommendation 16.57
Where a religious institution becomes aware that any person attending any of its religious services or activities is the subject of a substantiated complaint of child sexual abuse, or has been convicted of an offence relating to child sexual abuse, the religious institution should: a. assess the level of risk posed to children by that perpetrator’s ongoing involvement in the religious community b. take appropriate steps to manage that risk.
Recommendation 16.58
Each religious organisation should consider establishing a national register which records limited but sufficient information to assist affiliated institutions identify and respond to any risks to children that may be posed by people in religious or pastoral ministry.
Recommendation 17.1
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should each issue a formal response to this Final Report within six months of it being tabled, indicating whether our recommendations are accepted, accepted in principle, rejected or subject to further consideration.
Recommendation 17.2
The Australian Government and state and territory governments should, beginning 12 months after this Final Report is tabled, report on their implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations made in this Final Report and its earlier Working With Children Checks, Redress and civil litigation and Criminal justice reports, through five consecutive annual reports tabled before their respective parliaments.
Recommendation 17.3
Major institutions and peak bodies of institutions that engage in child-related work should, beginning 12 months after this Final Report is tabled, report on their implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations to the National Office for Child Safety through five consecutive annual reports. The National Office for Child Safety should make these reports publicly available. At a minimum, the institutions reporting should include those that were the subject of the Royal Commission’s institutional review hearings held from 5 December 2016 to 10 March 2017.
Recommendation 17.4
The Australian Government should initiate a review to be conducted 10 years after the tabling of this Final Report. This review should: a. establish the extent to which the Royal Commission’s recommendations have been implemented 10 years after the tabling of the Final Report b. examine the extent to which the measures taken in response to the Royal Commission have been effective in preventing child sexual abuse, improving the responses of institutions to child sexual abuse and ensuring that victims and survivors of child sexual abuse obtain justice, treatment and support c. advise on what further steps should be taken by governments and institutions to ensure continuing improvement in policy and service delivery in relation to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts.
Recommendation 17.5
The Australian Government should host and maintain the Royal Commission website for the duration of the national redress scheme for victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 17.6
A national memorial should be commissioned by the Australian Government for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts. Victims and survivors should be consulted on the memorial design and it should be located in Canberra.
About the inquiry
- Established
- In accordance with the Letters Patent issued on 11 January 2013 Interim Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, page 5
- Interim report
Official documents 2
Interim Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
Document details
- Recommendations status
- Not extracted
- Date as printed
- 30 June 2014 His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove Interim Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, page 5
- How OPAX got it
- fetched by OPAXBot
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Final Report: Recommendations
Document details
- Recommendations
- 189
- Recommendations status
- Extracted
- How OPAX got it
- manual publisher download supplied by the OPAX maintainer, 11 Nov 2026
- Rights
- The document carries no reuse notice. Its publisher's site (royalcommission.gov.au) refuses OPAXBot, so the site's copyright terms could not be read; OPAX quotes the recommendations with attribution and links to the publisher's copy.
Notes on this record
- The final report recommendations are loaded from the commission's recommendations volume (pages 3 to 62). Its pages 63 onwards restate the recommendations of the commission's earlier reports (Working With Children Checks, Redress and civil litigation, Criminal justice), which are not loaded.
Coverage
This record
- royalcommission.gov.au and the other Commonwealth royal commission hosts refuse OPAXBot, so the weekly refresh cannot re-read this document; it is a manual supplement and its record is carried forward unchanged where the PDF is absent.