Part D – Healing, support and the future

On this page

Overview

The earlier Parts of this report have explored the experiences of victim-survivors in depth, including how the experiences of child sexual abuse they shared with the Board of Inquiry affected their life at the time, and subsequently. As discussed in those earlier Parts of the report, the impacts of historical child sexual abuse extend beyond victim-survivors, to secondary victims and affected communities.

As well as sharing with the Board of Inquiry their experiences of child sexual abuse and its consequences, victim-survivors and secondary victims shared their thoughts, hopes and aspirations for support and healing. Many victim-survivors (and some secondary victims) who engaged with the Board of Inquiry had experience with support services and were willing to provide their reflections and insights about those services. Victim-survivors also spoke about their personal healing journey.

Under clause 3(d) of its Terms of Reference, the Board of Inquiry was required to inquire into ‘[a]ppropriate ways to support healing for affected victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected communities including, for example, the form of a formal apology, memorialisation or other activities’.1 Under clause 3(e) of its Terms of Reference the Board of Inquiry was also required to inquire into ‘whether there are effective support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools’, having regard to ‘other inquiries and reforms that have taken place since the historical child sexual abuse occurred’.2

Healing looks different for every person and can take many forms. Healing processes for victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected communities may include sharing experiences, receiving acknowledgement and apologies, and seeing institutions responsible for failing to guard against or enabling child sexual abuse take responsibility for what happened. Seeking justice, helping others and banding together as communities in response to historical child sexual abuse can also help individuals and communities to heal.

Engaging with and receiving support from services can also play an important role in helping people to heal; and, as Dr Joe Tucci, CEO, Australian Childhood Foundation, told the Board of Inquiry, a ‘mix of formal and informal supports is essential to meet the varying needs of victim-survivors’.3 While they are only one aspect of healing, support services may contribute to healing by delivering trauma-informed therapeutic supports, facilitating connection with victim-survivor peers, and providing practical supports to victim-survivors, such as financial assistance or help with navigating the justice system and other complex processes.4

The Board of Inquiry has listened carefully to the information and ideas people shared about their healing and support needs. While its Terms of Reference do not require the Board of Inquiry to address the full range of support needs people shared, the inquiry nevertheless acknowledges them.

This Part of the report explores what healing means for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

To address clause 3(d) of the Terms of Reference, Chapter 15, Perspectives on healing(opens in a new window), introduces the concept of healing and explores the different ways individuals and communities can heal from historical child sexual abuse. It recognises that support services are a component of this healing.

The following two chapters — Chapter 16, Where people can go for support(opens in a new window), and Chapter 17, Support needs and challenges(opens in a new window) — address clause 3(e) of the Terms of Reference. They examine existing support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools to inform the Board of Inquiry’s assessment of whether there are effective support services in place for this cohort.

Chapter 18, Looking to the future(opens in a new window) contains the Board of Inquiry’s recommendations about specific ways to support victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected communities of historical child sexual abuse in government schools to heal, including recommendations for improvements to support services for victim-survivors.

A note to readers

Experiences of victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members

Throughout this report, the Board of Inquiry shares information that reflects some of the experiences that victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members shared with the Board of Inquiry.

In this Part, the Board of Inquiry shares some of the experiences and perspectives of victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members who participated in the Lived Experience Roundtable. The perspectives of the Lived Experience Roundtable participants have informed the Board of Inquiry’s consideration of various issues relevant to this Part.

The Board of Inquiry is deeply grateful to the victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members who so courageously shared their experiences of child sexual abuse. The Board of Inquiry also acknowledges those victim-survivors who have chosen not to disclose their experiences of child sexual abuse, and may never do so, including those who are no longer with us.

The Board of Inquiry asked people who engaged with it how they wanted their information to be managed. Some wished to share their experiences publicly. Some wished to do so anonymously and others wished to do so confidentially. Where people shared their experiences anonymously, the Board of Inquiry has not included any identifying information in this report. Where people shared their experiences confidentially, the Board of Inquiry used this information to inform its work, but has not included it in this report.

In relation to those who wished to share their experiences publicly, in some cases the Board of Inquiry determined that it should anonymise the information they shared. This decision was made for legal or related reasons, including in order to avoid causing prejudice to any current or future criminal or civil proceedings.

The Board of Inquiry shares the experiences of victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members to create an important public record of their recollections. However, the Board of Inquiry has not examined or tested these accounts for accuracy or weighed whether there is enough evidence to support criminal or civil proceedings. The approach the Board of Inquiry has taken in this regard is consistent with its objectives and its Terms of Reference.5

The Board of Inquiry expresses its immense gratitude to all who contributed, in any way, to its work. Those who shared their experiences have shaped the Board of Inquiry’s general findings and recommendations and contributed to a shared understanding, among all Victorians, of the impact of child sexual abuse. The Board of Inquiry expects this report will reinforce the community’s commitment to better protect children from sexual abuse into the future.

Introduction Endnotes

  1. Order in Council, ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(d).
  2. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(e).
  3. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 12 [58].
  4. See e.g.: Submission 29, Bravehearts, 3; Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 9 [41]; Private session 19; Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  5. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023.

Chapter 15

Perspectives on healing

Introduction

Clause 3(d) of the Board of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference required it to inquire into and report on ‘[a]ppropriate ways to support healing for affected victim-survivors, secondary victims, and affected communities including, for example, the form of a formal apology, memorialisation or other activities’.1

Victim-survivors made clear to the Board of Inquiry that healing is important to them. As one participant at the Board of Inquiry’s Lived Experience Roundtable said: ‘healing really is for us as survivors — it’s about changing the narrative, about making it a comfortable space to talk about. We have to have the conversation’.2

This Chapter introduces and explores concepts of healing, including individual and collective healing. It examines how victim-survivors can heal from the impacts of historical child sexual abuse, recognising that healing is a very personal experience and takes different forms. It also explores the different ways that secondary victims and communities affected by historical child sexual abuse can heal.

Understanding what healing means for different people is an essential part of considering the range of actions required to support people and communities affected by child sexual abuse to heal. These responses are discussed in Chapter 18, Looking to the future(opens in a new window).

Healing from historical child sexual abuse

This section explores concepts of healing, and how communities and institutions can support people to heal from historical child sexual abuse.

Concepts of healing

Healing can have different meanings depending on the context, including the form of trauma involved.

At an individual level, healing has been described as an active and multidimensional process that happens within a person, rather than something that can be done to them.3 It can include ‘making things right’4 and ‘restoring balance where wrong has been done’.5

There is growing recognition in the field of healthcare that the concept of healing, which involves holistic, patient-centric care, is as important as that of curing.6 Researchers have developed an ‘Optimal Healing Environments framework’ with four domains — internal, interpersonal, behavioural and external — that recognise healing extends beyond the individual.7 The framework supports patients’ healing ‘by addressing the social, psychological, physical, spiritual, and behavioral components of healthcare’.8

Much can also be learned from concepts of healing as understood by First Nations communities, which take a holistic view of the process that incorporates the individual, families and communities.

Professor Tom Calma AO, while serving as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, described healing as ‘a necessary response to address trauma experienced by individual[s] and communities’.9 Professor Calma further described healing as a process that is personal and requires different responses for different people.10 He expressed the view that healing is not only about an individual; it also includes families and communities.11

According to the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, healing ‘embraces social, emotional, physical, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of health and wellbeing’.12 Healing approaches in Aboriginal communities can support a reduction in the impacts of trauma and abuse, increase social connection, improve social and emotional wellbeing, and reduce suicide rates.13

When working as a registered psychologist at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, Associate Professor Graham Gee told the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services:

There’s an innate capacity in us to heal. It’s all about establishing safety, security and trust, and having the opportunity to work with someone you trust and get support from. As long as we remain committed to our healing, be really true and honest with ourselves, and reach out for support, the healing does come. But often we need help, that’s the thing, and there’s no shame in reaching out and asking for help.14

The Board of Inquiry heard about the importance of relational experiences to healing, such as ‘warm’ interactions that acknowledge a victim-survivor’s experiences and to help create a safe space that is conducive to healing.15

Support networks, such as family and friends, can also be important to a victim-survivor’s healing. One victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry: ‘The support of my family and friends has been important, and I couldn’t have spoken up today without them’.16 A participant at the Board of Inquiry’s Healing Roundtable said that while child sexual abuse ‘is an interpersonal crime’, healing requires ‘interpersonal engagements. It’s a relational experience, it’s not a transactional experience’.17

The role of communities in healing

Communities are very important in supporting victim-survivors and secondary victims to heal.

Trauma and healing both happen in the context of social connections, making community connectedness critical to the process of healing from trauma.18 A participant at the Board of Inquiry’s Healing Roundtable spoke about the importance of communities acknowledging past wrongs:

[T]here’s a whole bunch of people you’re having an impact on just by validating their experiences, just by making sure they’re heard, just by connecting them to a whole community of people who want to restore what was lost in their experience.19

The participant went on to speak about communities’ collective duty to allow victim-survivors and their families to unburden themselves from their trauma:

because it’s not their burden to carry it’s everybody’s. And naming that and talking about that as often as possible … that’s what makes for healing. If someone is unburdened they’re less likely to be distressed …20

A further participant at the Healing Roundtable also spoke about this issue, saying:

[I]f … there isn’t that community or collective response around this, then the person that is left holding all this and having to deal with the impacts of abuse on their own is very much the survivor.21

Communities can come together in the face of institutional child sexual abuse to foster healing.22 The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse highlighted one example of this, in which the Ballarat community united to support victim-survivors, through the LOUD fence movement. This movement involved parishioners and community members tying ribbons to the fences of institutions where child sexual abuse had occurred to demonstrate their solidarity with victim-survivors.23 Maureen Hatcher, Founder, LOUD fence Inc, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that LOUD fence was established because many people in the Ballarat community were ‘concerned that there was nothing we could do. We were hearing all these truths being spoken from these brave voices that spoke out, and there was nothing as a community we could do to let them know that we supported them’.24

Fiona Cornforth, inaugural head of the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Research at the Australian National University and former Chief Executive Officer of The Healing Foundation, told the Board of Inquiry about the role the community can play in supporting healing:

[W]e all in the community can make it right going forward ... [i]n terms of applying those things that have always kept us safe and well in culture; for example, looking out for each other and leaving no one behind.25

A participant at the Healing Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry there is a difference between ownership of historical harm and responsibility for historical harm.26 The participant explained that while current communities are not responsible for historical harm, they must take ownership for responding to the harm that has been caused by institutional failures.27

The role of inquiries in healing

Increasingly, royal commissions and inquiries are being established with a truth-telling focus, providing people who have experienced abuse or suffered damage or injury in particular settings with an opportunity to share their experiences. These inquiries are under-pinned by principles that value the sharing of these experiences, and they provide victim-survivors with an opportunity to heal. In the context of historical child sexual abuse within institutions, inquiries with a truth-telling focus can also provide an opportunity for victim-survivors to rebuild what can often be low levels of trust in institutions, and to re-engage with those institutions if they wish to do so.28

Dr Katie Wright, Associate Professor, Department of Social Inquiry, La Trobe University, provided evidence to the Board of Inquiry that ‘victim-survivors across the world have called for public inquiries to examine abuse within institutions [—] sexual abuse and other forms of abuses as well’.29 As Dr Wright explained:

[Inquiries] provide a record of what has happened in the past. They are a mechanism that enables for the truth to come out regarding behaviour and the experiences of people in the past, and, importantly, the ways in which institutions handled particular kinds of problems.30

However, while Dr Wright’s evidence indicated that inquiries can be an important way to support healing, she noted that people will respond to inquiries in their own way, and that inquiries may be re-traumatising for some victim-survivors.31

The Board of Inquiry also heard directly from victim-survivors about the importance of its work to their healing. One victim-survivor said the Board of Inquiry could be a voice for victim survivors.32 Another victim-survivor described how the Board of Inquiry made him feel that he had finally been listened to, and that he believed other victim-survivors would benefit from hearing about other people’s experiences.33

Another victim-survivor described how the Board of Inquiry had brought some victim-survivors back together, and they were no longer frightened to talk about their experiences.34

An individual who works with victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse within institutions told the Board of Inquiry that inquiries can prompt victim-survivors to disclose their experience of abuse in order to prevent future harm to other children.35

The role of institutions in healing

The Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings called institutional betrayal ‘a particular form of harm’ related to abuse and defined it as the ‘failure of an institution to provide a safe environment for a victim-survivor, as well as an institution’s failure to act once a disclosure of abuse is made’.36

In cases of institutional child sexual abuse, institutions can play an important role in healing by acknowledging the institutional betrayal and the child sexual abuse that occurred, providing a meaningful apology and taking actions to protect other children from sexual abuse.37 Through these types of actions, institutions can also provide an opportunity for victim-survivors to reconnect with the institution, if they choose to.38 Participants at the Healing Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry that to support healing, institutional responses should engage victim-survivors in a way that makes them feel ‘seen and heard and … no longer invisible’.39

However, the Board of Inquiry heard that institutional responses to revelations about historical child sexual abuse are often poor, and miss opportunities to support healing and the rebuilding of trust.40

A participant at the Healing Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry:

I think it’s really tragic that most institutions continue to do what they’ve always done and not address [these histories of institutional betrayal], because it can be such an opportunity for healing. You know, responsibility and all that aside, [addressing these histories of institutional betrayal is] just a great opportunity for those that want to engage in that sort of process.41

Institutions can contribute to healing by accepting responsibility and being accountable for the historical harm for which they are responsible. The refusal of institutions to do so can have negative impacts on victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.42 The Board of Inquiry heard directly from victim-survivors about how it was important to their healing for the Department of Education (Department) to be accountable for the extent of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, and to understand the magnitude of its impacts.43

The Board of Inquiry heard evidence from Dr Rob Gordon OAM, Clinical Psychologist and trauma expert, that for schools where child sexual abuse occurred, the Department and local governments all have a role to play in helping communities to heal.44

There is significant scope for institutions, including the Department, to play a proactive and meaningful role in supporting people to heal from historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

Ways of healing from historical child sexual abuse

Healing is a personal journey. The Board of Inquiry heard that people’s experiences and healing pathways are different.45 Bravehearts, an organisation that works with, and advocates for, victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, told the Board of Inquiry that ‘[h]ealing may be defined differently by individual victims and survivors and their needs may vary’.46 Victim-survivors also told the Board of Inquiry that each victim-survivor’s needs are unique to the individual.47

The Board of Inquiry heard from people who work with victim-survivors and secondary victims that there is a need for responses to be led by victim-survivors,48 to maximise choice49 and to promote ‘a sense of hope’.50

This section focuses on some of the strategies and supports the Board of Inquiry was told may be helpful for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse.

Healing for victim-survivors

For many people affected by trauma and abuse, the decision to share their experience can be ‘the first step to healing’.51 In one study examining healing for adult male victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, participants described healing as a process of moving away from the effects of the child sexual abuse towards a ‘a sense of freedom, belonging, and power’.52

The initial disclosure by victim-survivors of their experience of child sexual abuse, which may take place decades after the child sexual abuse occurred, can be an important step towards healing.53 A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that opening up and telling friends about their experience of child sexual abuse has helped them deal with its impacts and stop blaming themselves for what happened.54 While studies suggest that a range of factors support recovery, victim-survivors talking about their experience is a key part of the healing process.55 In noting this, the Board of Inquiry also acknowledges that for some victim-survivors, their first disclosure was a negative experience — and, in some cases, re-traumatising.

A number of victim-survivors said that therapeutic supports had played a significant role in helping them to heal. Some described positive experiences with psychologists. For example, a victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that working with their psychologist to embrace their inner child has been very powerful:

[My psychologist] made me recognise that … I could get in touch with that nine-year-old. I had no one around me when I was being abused, and she taught me that I could be that person now … to hold [their] hand and to give [them] a cuddle and say, ‘everything is okay’ … And the best thing I can do in terms of my healing is to recognise that and be confident that [they’re] being supported.56

Other victim-survivors told the Board of Inquiry about different strategies and supports they have used to further their healing and recovery. One victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that transcendental meditation has ‘saved my life’. They also believe that a wellness centre, where people can mediate and feel peace and serenity, would be helpful for victim-survivors.57

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry about the benefits of a short-term residential retreat,58 while a secondary victim told the Board of Inquiry they would like rehabilitation and wellness centres to be available to support people to heal, with a focus on the effects of child sexual abuse.59

Participants in the Lived Experience Roundtable and the Healing Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry that peer support and connecting with people who have a shared understanding of the experience of historical child sexual abuse can support healing and provide a sense of hope.60

The Board of Inquiry also heard that some victim-survivors have been drawn to careers or volunteer work helping children, because they saw it as a way to heal from their own childhood experiences. One victim-survivor described their desire to work in a career in a profession helping children, and said: ‘looking back now, I wanted to protect others because I wasn’t protected’.61 Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that coaching sport has been an important part of his healing process. He said: ‘I love coaching sport and I love seeing young people get something out of sport. Coaching kids and seeing them enjoy sport have been part of my healing process. It has been a saviour for me and has gotten me back into sport again’.62

While giving back in this way can be helpful, it can also bring with it feelings of sadness, anger or confusion. One victim-survivor said: ‘what upsets me the most is that when I go to work, I protect kids and no one protected us’.63

The Board of Inquiry also heard that reconnecting with the institution where the historical child sexual abuse occurred (such as a school) can be healing for some victim-survivors.64 The Board of Inquiry heard that in these circumstances, reconnection can be a ‘wonderful hope-filled journey’.65

A former student of Trinity Grammar School, who has spoken publicly about his experience of sexual abuse as a child at the school, shared his experience of reconnecting with the Trinity Grammar community and engaging with the school.66 While events at Trinity Grammar are not within the scope of this Board of Inquiry, the experience of this victim-survivor are informative for the inquiry’s work. He said: ‘I feel energised and positive that the school has changed and that I have contributed to the wellbeing of the school community. After a lot of pain, it’s now finally a community that I want to be a part of’.67

Victim-survivors and secondary victims may also need to feel a sense of justice. A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that apologies were over-rated and not meaningful for her, and that an investigation into child sexual abuse in government schools was needed, saying: ‘I just don’t want it to happen to anyone else. I don’t want a system that allows child abuse to continue’. When asked what would support her healing, she replied, simply: ‘justice’.68 This perspective was shared by another victim-survivor, who told the Board of Inquiry they wanted to bring their abuser to justice.69

Some victim-survivors felt that changes were needed to hold alleged perpetrators accountable. For example, one victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that alleged perpetrators needed to be brought ‘out of the darkness’.70 Another victim-survivor said that punishments for alleged perpetrators were inadequate.71 A secondary victim told the Board of Inquiry that the ‘lack of accountability for the profound harm [alleged perpetrators] have caused is deeply devastating and continuously harms the victims’.72

As discussed above, the process of healing is different for everyone. Some victim-survivors who shared their stories with the Board of Inquiry did not feel they had any further healing to do. For others, their healing process is a very long road. The Board of Inquiry heard evidence from Professor Patrick O’Leary, Co-Lead of the Disrupting Violence Beacon and Director of the Violence Research and Prevention Program, Griffith University, that in cases of complex trauma, healing is an ongoing process that ‘is never fully complete’.73 Professor O’Leary explained that in other contexts, healing ‘is seen as a final thing and that people move [on] and never revisit the issue’.74

In relation to complex trauma, however, Professor O’Leary’s evidence was that ‘people can reach a very safe and healing space, but years later, something can trigger them … that may take them back to that trauma’.75

As one victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry:

[S]omeone might need to ask me in 10 years … what was helpful about this journey? And what wasn’t? Because the things I think are helpful now, I might look down and go, no, that wasn’t so good. And some things I think maybe weren’t going to be helpful I found and discovered, or have been brave enough to attempt … will be helpful.76

Healing for secondary victims

The need for healing extends beyond victim-survivors, to include their loved ones. Dr Joe Tucci, CEO, Australian Childhood Foundation, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that secondary victims’ role in supporting victim-survivors’ healing is under-appreciated.77 Dr Tucci’s evidence suggested that secondary victims are offered very little support in their own right, ‘despite these people often being the most significant support for the victim-survivor’.78

The Board of Inquiry heard that for some secondary victims, the inquiry’s work represented the beginning of their own process of healing. In some cases, this was because they had only learned about their loved ones’ experience of child sexual abuse in recent years.79 In other cases, it was because they felt, for the first time, that they could share their own experience as a secondary victim, and their engagement with the Board of Inquiry had made them ‘feel a lot better’.80

One secondary victim told the Board of Inquiry that they had first learned of their spouse’s experience of historical child sexual abuse less than three years before.81 This disclosure helped them understand some of their spouse’s behaviours, which included being non-responsive for days at a time and being unable to hug children in their family.82

Another secondary victim said it took time to decide whether to share their own experience with the Board of Inquiry, but that they ultimately decided to share their story as a way to ‘offload’ some of what they have been carrying, and their worry about the future.83

The healing process for secondary victims is complex.84 Research suggests that healing and recovery for secondary victims is characterised by a ‘dependence on the healing of the primary victims’.85 The healing process for victim-survivors is often ongoing, and secondary victims’ experiences of healing may be similarly protracted.86 Further, their healing may be affected by their continuing role supporting their loved one.

A secondary victim told the Board of Inquiry about their need for ‘respite’ as they supported their spouse to heal from historical child sexual abuse. They shared their hope for a better future, saying: ‘Where to from now? For me and my family, I just hope onward and upward’.87

Victim-survivors told the Board of Inquiry about their fears of burdening loved ones with their trauma.88 However, a secondary victim responded directly to this point, saying:

But really you’re not burdening anybody. [Victim-survivors’ loved ones] need to know and if they’re asking, tell them, and just be genuine. You want to reach your full potential as much as your partner and your family need to reach their full potential as well.89

Healing for affected communities

Communities can also be affected by historical child sexual abuse. The Board of Inquiry heard that ‘[s]exual abuse has long-term community and individual impact’.90 A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that healing both personally and as a community are critical.91 Another victim-survivor reflected: ‘that [Beaumaris] community, how do they cope? Because not everyone was bad’.92 Chapter 8, Enduring impacts of child sexual abuse(opens in a new window), explores the impacts of historical child sexual abuse on the community of Beaumaris and surrounding areas.

Ballarat is another example of a community deeply affected by historical child sexual abuse. John Crowley, former Principal of St Patrick’s College Ballarat, told the Board of Inquiry’s Healing Roundtable about engaging with victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse at the school, as well as some of their families, and realising that the impacts of the child sexual abuse were widespread. Mr Crowley told the Board of Inquiry: ‘in my view this was a situation where a community, a whole community was damaged, and that deep distrust and betrayal was not only embedded at the victim-survivor level, but through generational families and through the community’.93

Mr Crowley spoke about how he believed St Patrick’s College was able to help some victim-survivors move forward in their lives through its commitment to acknowledging its past openly and truthfully through action; and how the apology that the school made for the ‘deep hurt’ the child sexual abuse caused was ‘not only to the victims and survivors, it was to the broader community of Ballarat’. Mr Crowley told the Board of Inquiry that as part the school’s work to address its past failings, he and current school staff, and later board members, met regularly with victim-survivors and their supporters, as well as community members, to discuss the school’s actions, responses and apology. He said that this was important to demonstrate that the school was ‘in this … for the long run’.94

Bushfire recovery models provide an example of how communities can heal from collective trauma. Bruce Esplin AM, former Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner and former Chair of Regional Arts Victoria, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that ‘resilience and recovery build from the ground up’.95 Mr Esplin believes that successful approaches to community healing and recovery are driven at a community level, and gave evidence about how engaging in creative activities can help individuals and communities heal from collective trauma.96 Mr Esplin shared examples of how communities have used this model — called creative recovery — to heal from the Black Saturday bushfires, including by coming together to create mosaics, and to build and learn to play instruments that community members then used in local musical performances.97

Healing responses must also be trauma-informed and shaped by engagement with victim-survivors, drawing on principles of co-design.98 If communities engage with those community members who have experienced historical child sexual abuse about the responses they need, this will help victim-survivors recognise that they have a voice, and will support them to feel empowered and safe within their community.99

Finding a way forward

The Board of Inquiry understands that healing is not a uniform process. As one victim-survivor noted: ‘it’s an individual journey’.100

While no single action or approach will help all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools to heal, support services and specific healing responses can play an important role in the process.

The evidence before the Board of Inquiry strongly suggests that there are some critical actions that can contribute to the healing process. These include:

  • providing opportunities for recognition and acknowledgement of, and reflection on, historical child sexual abuse in government schools, its impacts and the strength of victim-survivors
  • ensuring people have safe spaces to share their experiences
  • ensuring the Department and Victorian Government demonstrate strong accountability for historical child sexual abuse, including being transparent about what happened, what government will do in response and how government will continue to work to protect children in school settings going forward
  • providing support services that can contribute to victim-survivors’ healing.

What victim-survivors need from support services, including the challenges they face in having these needs met, is explored in detail in the chapters that follow. Chapter 16, Where people can go for support(opens in a new window), sets out what is available to victim-survivors. Chapter 17, Support needs and challenges(opens in a new window), explores the effectiveness of support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

Recommendations about specific ways to contribute to healing are then discussed in Chapter 18(opens in a new window).

Chapter 15 Endnotes

  1. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(d).
  2. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  3. Judy A Glaister, ‘Healing: Analysis of the Concept’ (2001) 7(2) International Journal of Nursing Practice 63, 64.
  4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 2008 Social Justice Report (Report 1, 2009) 158.
  5. Gregory Phillips, ‘Healing and Public Policy’ in Jon Altman and Melinda Hinkson (eds), Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia (Arena Publications Association, 2007) 141, 149.
  6. Kimberly Firth et al, ‘Healing, a Concept Analysis’ (2015) 4(6) Global Advances in Health and Medicine 44, 44.
  7. Kimberly Firth et al, ‘Healing, a Concept Analysis’ (2015) 4(6) Global Advances in Health and Medicine 44, 44.
  8. Kimberly Firth et al, ‘Healing, a Concept Analysis’ (2015) 4(6) Global Advances in Health and Medicine 44, 44.
  9. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 2008 Social Justice Report (Report 1, 2009) 153.
  10. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 2008 Social Justice Report (Report 1, 2009) 188.
  11. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 2008 Social Justice Report (Report 1, 2009) 188.
  12. Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Balit Durn Durn: Strong Brain, Mind, Intellect and Sense of Self (Report, August 2020) 12.
  13. Department of Health and Human Services (Vic), Balit Murrup: Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing Framework 2017–2027 (Policy, 2017) 32.
  14. Personal communication from Graham Gee, Registered Psychologist, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, to Department of Health and Human Services (Vic), 1 March 2017, cited in Department of Health and Human Services (Vic), Balit Murrup: Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing Framework 2017–2027 (Policy, 2017) 32.
  15. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  16. Transcript of ‘Bernard’, 24 October 2023, P-35 [10]–[13].
  17. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  18. Katie Schultz et al, ‘Key Roles of Community Connectedness in Healing from Trauma’ (2016) 6(1) Psychology of Violence 42, 42.
  19. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  20. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  21. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  22. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 3, 224.
  23. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 3, 227.
  24. Transcript of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, P-296 [27]–[30].
  25. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  26. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  27. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  28. Jonathan Tjandra, ‘From Fact Finding to Truth-Telling: An Analysis of the Changing Functions of Commonwealth Royal Commissions’ (2022) 45(1) University of New South Wales Law Journal 341, 341–2.
  29. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-49 [7]–[9].
  30. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-49 [11]–[14].
  31. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-49 [35]–[39].
  32. Private session 3.
  33. Private session 14.
  34. Private session 33.
  35. Submission 17, 2.
  36. Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings (Report, August 2023) vol 1, 50.
  37. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 64.
  38. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  39. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  40. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  41. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  42. Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Betrayal of Trust: Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations (Report, November 2013) vol 1, xlix.
  43. See e.g.: Private session 20; Private session 24; Private session 9.
  44. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 15–16 [64].
  45. Private session 6; Private session 14.
  46. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 5.
  47. Private session 9; Private session 14.
  48. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  49. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  50. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  51. Care Leavers of Australia Network, Submission No 22 to Senate Community Affairs References Committee, Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care (July 2003) 24.
  52. Claire Burke Draucker and Kathleen Petrovic, ‘Healing of Adult Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse’ (1996) 28(4) Journal of Nursing Scholarship 325, 326.
  53. Scott D Easton et al, ‘“From That Moment on My Life Changed”: Turning Points in the Healing Process for Men Recovering from Child Sexual Abuse’ (2015) 24(2) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 152, 168.
  54. Private session 31.
  55. Maryam Kia-Keating, Lynn Sorsoli and Frances K Grossman, ‘Relational Challenges and Recovery Processes in Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse’ (2010) 25(4) Journal of Interpersonal Violence 666, 667; Kim M Anderson and Catherine Hiersteiner, ‘Recovering from Childhood Sexual Abuse: Is a “Storybook Ending” Possible?’ (2008) 36(5) American Journal of Family Therapy 413, 422; Brittany J Arias and Chad V Johnson, ‘Voices of Healing and Recovery from Childhood Sexual Abuse’ (2013) 22(7) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 822, 836.
  56. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  57. Private session 2.
  58. Private session 6.
  59. Submission 21, 2.
  60. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023; Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  61. Private session 14.
  62. Statement of ‘Bernard’, 19 October 2023, 4 [32].
  63. Private session 20.
  64. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  65. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  66. Submission 52.
  67. Submission 52, 3.
  68. Private session 3.
  69. Private session 22.
  70. Private session 2.
  71. Submission 4, 1.
  72. Submission 21, 1.
  73. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 6 [40].
  74. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-199 [46].
  75. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-199 [47], P-200 [1]–[2].
  76. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  77. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 14 [67].
  78. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 14 [65].
  79. Private session 19.
  80. Private session 30.
  81. Private session 19.
  82. Private session 19.
  83. Private session 30.
  84. Rory Remer and Robert A Ferguson, ‘Becoming a Secondary Survivor of Sexual Assault’ (1995) 73(4) Journal of Counseling and Development 407, 408.
  85. Elaine Crabtree, Charlotte Wilson and Rosaleen McElvaney, ‘Childhood Sexual Abuse: Sibling Perspectives’ (2021) 36(5–6) Journal of Interpersonal Violence 3304, 3320.
  86. Rory Remer and Robert A Ferguson, ‘Becoming a Secondary Survivor of Sexual Assault’ (1995) 73(4) Journal of Counseling and Development 407, 411.
  87. Private session 30.
  88. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  89. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  90. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  91. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  92. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  93. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  94. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  95. Transcript of Bruce Esplin, 24 November 2023, P-319 [38]–[39].
  96. Transcript of Bruce Esplin, 24 November 2023, P-312 [9]–[26], [42]–[43].
  97. Transcript of Bruce Esplin, 24 November 2023, P-315 [1]–[6].
  98. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  99. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  100. Private session 14.

Chapter 16

Where people can go for support

Introduction

Victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools often engage with several support services, rather than a single service, over the course of their lifetime.1 This is not surprising, given that child sexual abuse can have a range of impacts and those impacts can change over time.2

To understand the challenges victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools face when trying to access or use supports, it is helpful to explore the range of services available to them.

The service landscape for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools is complex. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) noted that the service response to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, including historical child sexual abuse, comprises ‘a tangle of participants, professionals, services, settings and governance arrangements across various government portfolios’.3 The Board of Inquiry heard from a variety of sources that this continues to be the case and that there is no one ‘front door’ that victim-survivors can use to access support.

This Chapter outlines the types of services and schemes that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools may engage with. This Chapter also outlines the supports available through the Department of Education (Department) for adults who were sexually abused in government schools.

Chapter 17, Support needs and challenges(opens in a new window), describes what the Board of Inquiry was told victim-survivors need from support services. It also considers the challenges that may prevent victim-survivors from having their needs met.

Support services accessed by victim-survivors

Under clause 3(e) of the Terms of Reference, the Board of Inquiry was asked to inquire into ‘whether there are effective support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools’, having regard to ‘other inquiries and reforms that have taken place since the historical child sexual abuse occurred’.4

Victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools may seek different supports from a range of services over their life course. The victim-survivors who shared their experiences with the Board of Inquiry engaged with a wide range of different supports. For example, victim-survivors described engaging with GPs,5 psychologists,6 psychiatrists,7 lawyers,8 specialist sexual assault services,9 counsellors,10 alcohol and other drug treatment services,11 community organisations,12 and residential trauma and healing retreats.13

The Board of Inquiry has defined a ‘support service’ as a service that provides advocacy, support or therapeutic treatment to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. Informed by the Royal Commission, the Board of Inquiry has defined ‘advocacy’, ‘support’ and ‘therapeutic treatment’ as follows:

  • advocacy — a wide range of activities to promote, protect and defend victim-survivors’ human rights and their rights to services and information. It may involve assisting victim-survivors to express their own needs, access information, understand their options and make informed decisions14
  • support — emotional and practical assistance to victim-survivors to reduce their feelings of isolation, and promote connections and trusted relationships to aid in healing and recovery15
  • therapeutic treatment — an overarching term covering a range of evidence-informed interventions that address the psychosocial impacts of child sexual abuse. Therapeutic treatments seek to improve victims’ physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing, and enhance quality of life.16

Support services can include:

  • services providing responses to individuals who have experienced or been affected by historical child sexual abuse (including parents, partners, siblings and other secondary victims)
  • services provided by government and non-government services (including publicly funded and private services)
  • victim-survivor-led and peer-led services.

The Board of Inquiry acknowledges that some victim-survivors may require financial support, legal advice and assistance, social services support (for example, housing or Centrelink supports) or community support designed for specific cohorts. The Board of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference limited its ability to inquire into these types of support services in detail. However, where relevant the Board of Inquiry has referred to these supports and the important role that they can play for victim-survivors throughout Part D(opens in a new window).

Types of services

In Victoria, there are multiple services that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse may access to meet their various needs (whether the child sexual abuse occurred in government schools or not). These services include the following:

  • Mainstream services — These are universal services that are designed to be available to all Victorians. They include health services, mental health services, alcohol and other drug treatment services and welfare services.
  • Community and not-for-profit services — These are offered by a wide range of non-government organisations and include place-based services (in specific regions), telephone and online helplines, and services for particular groups of people (for example, Aboriginal people). Many community organisations receive government funding to deliver services.
  • Victim support services provided through the justice system — These services support victims of crime to access and move through legal processes, including criminal proceedings and seeking compensation through civil litigation.
  • Sexual assault and family violence support services — These services offer crisis and therapeutic support, advocacy, practical assistance, and information and advice for people who have experienced any form of sexual assault (including child sexual abuse) or family violence.

These services are governed by a range of complex funding, service-delivery and regulatory arrangements. Many services are funded by either or both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments, with specific departments then being responsible for administering them. The administration of services includes allocating funding, and developing and managing service-delivery arrangements with organisations. Legislation or regulatory requirements often dictate how organisations deliver their services and acquit their obligations under their service agreements.17

Each service will deliver different types of support to victim-survivors. These may include advocacy, practical assistance navigating complex processes (such as legal proceedings or eligibility for compensation) and therapeutic support designed to support healing. Not all services deliver all forms of support, and their level of specialisation and intensiveness differs.

Victim-survivors may be engaged with multiple services at one time to meet their various needs.18 People may not identify as victim-survivors of child sexual abuse when accessing these services, even when engaging with the services to manage the impacts of the child sexual abuse they experienced.19

In some instances, victim-survivors may choose to pay to access a private service.

Diagram 8 provides an overview of where victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse may go to seek support. More information on a number of specific services is provided immediately below. Financial assistance and redress schemes, and support offered by the Department, are discussed later in this Chapter.

Diagram 8 Overview of support available to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse

Mainstream services

While mainstream services are not designed specifically to respond to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse, many victim-survivors and secondary victims engage with these services throughout their lives for assistance relating to the impacts of child sexual abuse.

Descriptions of some key mainstream services are given below.

Health services (including GPs)

Health services provide medical care and can be delivered in a range of settings, such as public and private hospitals,20 and primary and community health services.21

GPs provide primary healthcare, which is often the first point of contact a person has with health services.22 GPs can treat a range of health issues and can also refer people to a broader range of supports, including mental health services. The main way GPs facilitate access to mental health services is through developing mental health treatment plans for people, which allow them to access subsidised mental health treatment. Several victim-survivors and secondary victim survivors told the Board of Inquiry that they had consulted GPs about their mental health.23

Mental health services

Mental health services are provided by trained professionals in a range of settings, including through hospitals; residential, community and health services; and private and non-government organisations.

At present, victim-survivors may access up to 10 individual and 10 group sessions with certain mental health professionals (such as psychologists), subsidised under Medicare, with a mental health treatment plan developed by a GP.24 Because psychologists can set their own fees, Medicare may cover only some of the cost.25

In Victoria, victim-survivors who require more intensive support or who have complex mental health needs may receive mental health support from state-funded specialist mental health services, which may provide support in hospital settings or through community support services.26

Victoria is also rolling out new Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals (Locals), which provide treatment, care and support for people aged 26 years and over who are experiencing mental health concerns, including those with co-occurring alcohol and other drug treatment needs.27 The Locals provide a range of services — including therapies, wellbeing supports, education, peer support and self-help information — close to where people live and free of charge. A referral from a GP or other health professional is not required.28

Many victim-survivors who spoke to the Board of Inquiry had seen a mental health professional at some stage of their life, including through private practice and in hospitals.29

Alcohol and other drug treatment services

The Victorian Government funds a range of organisations to deliver alcohol and other drug treatment services through ‘treatment streams’. These treatment streams are counselling, withdrawal services (non-residential and residential), therapeutic day rehabilitation, residential rehabilitation, care and recovery coordination and pharmacotherapy. There are also population-specific services.30 Access to Victoria’s state-funded alcohol and other drug treatment system is generally free, though some services have a small cost.31

The Commonwealth Government also funds a National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline that provides ‘confidential support for people struggling with addiction’.32

Further, victim-survivors can pay for private alcohol and other drug treatment services, or engage with peer groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

Welfare services

‘Welfare services’ is an over-arching term referring to a wide range of services that ‘aim to encourage participation and independence and can help enhance a person’s wellbeing’.33 Welfare services are provided to people across a range of different ages and social and economic circumstances.

Examples of welfare services include:

  • employment services to help people secure and maintain stable employment
  • disability services to help people with disability and their carers participate in society
  • aged care services to help older people with their living arrangements
  • homelessness services to support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to access accommodation.34

Community and not-for-profit services

Community and not-for-profit organisations provide a range of services to the community. Some provide services in specific regions (place-based services), and some provide services to specific cohorts or communities, including children and families, Aboriginal people, LGBTIQA+ communities, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

The extent to which community organisations provide support that is suitable to meet the needs of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse varies. Some provide broad wellbeing, counselling and information support that victim-survivors may access along with other members of the community. Others are funded by the Victorian or Commonwealth governments to provide services more tailored to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse or victims of crime more broadly, such as support to make an application to the National Redress Scheme (discussed later in this Chapter).

Descriptions of some services provided by community and not-for-profit organisations are given below.

Telephone and online helplines

Victim-survivors can access a range of telephone and online helplines operated by not-for-profit organisations for advice and support.

While most of these are generalist mental health helplines, they can act as a gateway to other services and can offer advice about managing the mental health impacts of child sexual abuse. Telephone and online helplines include the following:

  • Lifeline — This is a national charity providing crisis support and suicide prevention services via phone or online.35 Lifeline receives funding from the Commonwealth and Victorian governments, as well as other state and territory governments.36
  • MensLine (delivered by Lifeline) — This is a free, nationwide service providing telephone and online counselling support for Australian men.37
  • Suicide Call Back Service (delivered by Lifeline) — This is a free, nationwide service providing telephone and online counselling to people affected by suicide.38
  • Beyond Blue — This is a not-for-profit organisation providing free telephone and online counselling.39 Beyond Blue receives funding from the Commonwealth and Victorian governments, as well as other state and territory governments.40

The above helplines all operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Services for Pre-1990 Care Leavers

Some community organisations are funded by the Commonwealth and Victorian governments to provide support to people who spent time in institutional or other forms of out-of-home care as children prior to 1990 — otherwise known as ‘Pre-1990 Care Leavers’ or ‘Forgotten Australians’.41 This includes services that provide advocacy, case management, referrals and counselling, as well as assistance to access people’s records and ward files.

For the purposes of the Board of Inquiry’s work, the definition of ‘government school’ in the Terms of Reference ‘excludes schools that were historically attached to orphanages or group homes’.42

Victim support services provided through the justice system

Victoria has several services for victims of crime and people engaging (or seeking to engage) in the justice system. Some of these services provide general support and referrals, while others are designed to support victims through specific processes, such as a criminal proceeding or seeking financial assistance.

Victims of Crime Helpline

The Department of Justice and Community Safety delivers a Victims of Crime Helpline, which is available between 8am and 11pm, seven days a week.43

The Victims of Crime Helpline offers free information, support and referrals for victims of reported and unreported crime.44 This can include information about victim entitlements, the criminal justice system and legal processes, and support to connect to other services.45 The Victims of Crime Helpline can also provide information and advice about reporting a crime, court processes and applying for financial assistance.46

The Victims of Crime Helpline also acts as a central intake point for the Victims Assistance Program (discussed below), referring eligible people who require more intensive support.47

The Department of Justice and Community Safety told the Board of Inquiry that the Victims of Crime Helpline receives:

  • referrals from Victoria Police on behalf of victims of crime, where the crime involved physical or mental harm to a person (often referred to as ‘crimes against the person’)
  • referrals from Victoria Police on behalf of male victim-survivors of family violence
  • referrals from community organisations
  • calls from victims of crime and the general public seeking information and support (self-referral).48

The Commonwealth Government provides funding to the Victims of Crime Helpline to provide family violence specialists as part of the service.49

Victims Assistance Program

The Department of Justice and Community Safety told the Board of Inquiry that the Victim Assistance Program (VAP), funded by the Victorian Government, provides flexible services that aim to meet the practical, emotional and psychological needs of victims of crime.50 The support that the VAP provides is tailored to the individual, and can include:

  • assistance with day-to-day needs
  • support to communicate with police
  • organising counselling, transport and medical services
  • assistance to get ready for court or prepare a Victim Impact Statement
  • support to apply for financial assistance.51

The VAP is available to primary, secondary and/or related victims of crimes against the person perpetrated in Victoria.52 Crimes against the person include sexual assault (including historical child sexual abuse), family violence, physical assault and homicide.53

The VAP is delivered by a network of six community organisations.54 VAP workers are also co-located in 39 police stations across the state, in both metropolitan and regional locations.55

The Board of Inquiry was told that, in order to determine client eligibility, organisations undertake an assessment process to reasonably establish that a victim-survivor has been a victim of crime against the person. There is no requirement for the victim-survivor to have reported the crime to police.56

The VAP receives most of its referrals through the Victims of Crime Helpline and from other justice agencies, such as the Office of Public Prosecutions, although victim-survivors can also self-refer.57

Victims Legal Service

The Victorian Government funds the Victims Legal Service, which is delivered by Victoria Legal Aid, community legal centres and Aboriginal legal services.

The Victims Legal Service provides free legal advice and support to victim-survivors who need help to seek financial assistance through the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal or compensation from the person who committed the crime.58 The Victims Legal Service Helpline, run by Victoria Legal Aid, is the primary entry point into the service.59

The Department of Justice and Community Safety told the Board of Inquiry that the Commonwealth Government has funded a pilot program that will expand the Victims Legal Service to support victim-survivors to prevent their confidential communications and health information from being used in criminal proceedings, and to support Aboriginal women to report sexual offences to police.60 The program will run over a period of three years, until 2025–26.61

Other criminal justice services

Other services available for victim-survivors who have been involved in criminal proceedings include the following:

  • Intermediary Program — This assists certain vulnerable witnesses to give evidence to the best of their ability through support from trained communication specialists, known as intermediaries.62 The program is available for eligible witnesses — children and young people aged under 18, and adults with a cognitive impairment — who are the complainants in sexual offence matters, or witnesses to homicide.63 The program is available in several court and police locations across Victoria.64
  • Victims and Witness Assistance Service — Operated by the Office of Public Prosecutions, this service provides adult victims and witnesses with information about court processes, and support them to give evidence.65
  • Victims Register — This provides information to eligible victims of crimes against the person (including sexual offences) about an offender’s sentence, including when the offender is due to be released from prison.66

Sexual assault and family violence support services

Sexual assault support services seek to address the impacts of sexual assault, including historical child sexual abuse, and provide a range of advocacy, support and therapeutic services.

Family violence services provide a range of supports for people experiencing family violence, including those who are in crisis and need immediate support.67 Previous research has demonstrated that women who have experienced child sexual abuse are more likely to experience family violence than other women,68 and thus may need support in this area.69

Specialist sexual assault services

Specialist sexual assault services are available across Victoria for people who have experienced recent or historical sexual assault (including historical child sexual abuse).70 These services are also available for non-offending family members and support people.71 Many of these services are called Centres Against Sexual Assault. Specialist sexual assault services are funded by the Victorian Government.72

Victoria’s specialist sexual assault services provide free and confidential services to people who have experienced sexual assault, including:

  • counselling and advocacy for victim-survivors and others affected by sexual assault. Approaches can include psychoeducation, cognitive behavioural therapy and group therapies.73 They can also include eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing74
  • assistance in managing the practical consequences of sexual assault (including support to access emergency housing or compensation), and support and information for non-offending family members and support people75
  • brokerage funding, which is flexible funding that can be used to meet a victim-survivor’s basic material needs (including clothing and food), or to pay for services such as legal fees, and transport or childcare costs.76

Specialist sexual assault services also provide:

  • immediate crisis response for people who have experienced a recent sexual assault, including crisis intervention, counselling, advocacy and liaison; for example, coordination of support and contact with child protection, police, and forensic and other medical personnel77
  • support and services for children and young people exhibiting harmful sexual behaviours.78

In addition, specialist sexual assault services offer prevention activities, including community education, advocacy, and training and support for other professionals.79

Victim-survivors can self-refer to a specialist sexual assault service or may be referred to the service through a number of different agencies, including police.80

Multidisciplinary centres

Some specialist sexual assault services are located within multidisciplinary centres. Multidisciplinary centres co-locate a range of agencies in one building to provide a victim-centred response to sexual assault and child sexual abuse.81 Staff at multidisciplinary centres can include police, child protection staff, community health nurses and forensic medical officers.82 Some multidisciplinary centres also provide a response to family violence.83

Aboriginal sexual assault support services

The Victorian Government also funds four Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to deliver ‘culturally safe support to Aboriginal Victorians who are victim-survivors of sexual violence or harm’.84

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), provided evidence to the Board of Inquiry that these ‘cultural models of support … focus on safety, healing and wellbeing of Aboriginal people’.85 The DFFH evidence also indicates that ‘Aboriginal people who have experienced sexual violence and harm’ can self-refer or may be directed to this support from other programs within the same Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation.86

Sexual Assault Crisis Line

The Sexual Assault Crisis Line is Victoria’s statewide, after-hours telephone line providing crisis counselling support, information, advocacy and referrals to anyone living in Victoria who has experienced past or recent sexual assault.87 The Sexual Assault Crisis Line is also the central after-hours coordination centre for all recent sexual assaults.88

The Sexual Assault Crisis Line operates between 5pm weeknights through to 9am the next day, and across weekends and public holidays. Calls outside of those hours are directed to the relevant specialist sexual assault service.89

The Sexual Assault Crisis Line is funded by the Victorian Government.

1800RESPECT

1800RESPECT is a national information, counselling and support service for people affected by domestic, family or sexual violence. 1800RESPECT is a confidential service, and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.90

1800RESPECT can provide information on domestic, family and sexual violence, as well as phone counselling and referrals to other agencies.91

1800RESPECT is funded by the Commonwealth Government.92

Family violence support services

The Victorian Government also funds family violence support services, including the following:

  • Specialist family violence services — These services are available across Victoria and provide a range of supports for victim-survivors of family violence. These can include case management activities, family violence risk assessment and management processes, safety planning, counselling and advocacy. Victim-survivors can self-refer to these services or they can be referred from an intake point such as The Orange Door or Safe Steps.93
  • The Orange Door — The Orange Doors are located throughout Victoria and act as entry points into a range of services that victim-survivors may need.94 Services available at The Orange Doors are directed to victim-survivors of family violence and families needing extra support to care for children, and include risk and needs assessment, safety planning and crisis support.95
  • Safe Steps — Safe Steps is Victoria’s 24/7 family violence response centre.96 It is staffed by family violence crisis specialists and provides victim-survivors with a range of supports.97

Redress and financial assistance schemes

Victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse (and other forms of sexual assault) may be able to seek redress or access financial assistance. Two schemes that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse may engage with are the:

  • National Redress Scheme
  • Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (VOCAT).

Some of the services previously mentioned are involved in supporting victim-survivors engaging with these schemes.

National Redress Scheme

The National Redress Scheme was established by the Commonwealth Government in 2018 in response to recommendations made by the Royal Commission. The National Redress Scheme provides support to people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse through three components:

  • a monetary payment of up to $150,000
  • a ‘Direct Personal Response’ (DPR) from the responsible institution or institutions under the DPR Program
  • therapeutic support through the Counselling and Psychological Care Service (CPC Service).98

Victim-survivors can receive support before or during the application process, or as an element of redress. Table 5 summarises the primary supports victim-survivors can receive through the National Redress Scheme.

Table 5 Support through the national redress scheme

Type of supportDescription
Redress Support Services

The Commonwealth Government funds Redress Support Services across the country.

Redress Support Services provide free, practical and emotional support to those making, or considering making, an application for redress.99 This can include referrals to knowmore for free legal advice and assistance, as well as to other community services.100

There are nine Redress Support Service providers in Victoria, and additional Redress Support Service providers that operate nationally.101

The Victorian Government also contributes funding to some of the Redress Support Services operating in Victoria, including the CPC Service and services for Pre-1990 Care Leavers.

Legal advice and assistanceThe Commonwealth Government funds knowmore, a national legal service that provides free legal support for people considering applying for redress under the National Redress Scheme. knowmore can provide advice on how accepting an offer of redress may affect any future claims a victim-survivor may make.102
Counselling and Psychological Care Service

Victim-survivors who receive an offer of redress are eligible to receive support through the CPC Service. The DFFH administers the CPC Service on behalf of all participating Victorian institutions.103

People who are family, extended family or close friends of, or have a family-like relationship with, a victim-survivor can also receive assistance under the CPC Service.104

The DFFH provides intake, assessment and navigation to services based on a person’s request.105

Counselling and psychological care provided under the CPC Service are delivered by practitioners in private and non-government organisations. Support that victim-survivors can access includes:

  • counselling support from a psychologist, specialist community service organisation or other mental health professional
  • supportive group work
  • alternative supports, such as therapeutic case management, animal assisted therapy,
    mind–body somatic therapy, and art, music and dance therapy
  • cultural healing for First Nations people.106
Direct Personal Response Program

The DFFH leads the Victorian Government’s DPR Program.

The DPR Program aims to provide recipients of redress with an opportunity to engage with the institution or institutions responsible for the child sexual abuse they experienced.

This engagement ‘can include sharing experiences of the abuse and its impacts, institutional acknowledgement, apology, and demonstration of accountability for the child sexual abuse, and an opportunity to hear what the institution is doing to prevent and improve responses to child sexual abuse’.107

A DPR can be delivered face-to-face, as a written response, or by any other agreed method.108

While the DPR Program is not a therapeutic service, it can support people’s healing.

Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal

Victims of violent crime, including sexual offences, may apply to VOCAT for financial assistance related to expenses actually incurred, or reasonably likely to be incurred, as a direct result of the crime. This includes financial assistance to access counselling and psychological treatment services.109

People eligible to apply to VOCAT are ‘primary victims’ (persons injured as a result of a violent crime), ‘secondary victims’ (persons injured as a result of being present at or witnessing the violent crime) and ‘related victims’ (family members, dependants or intimate partners of a primary victim who died as a result of the violent crime).110

The Victims Legal Service is available to assist victim-survivors seeking to make an application to VOCAT.

VOCAT is being replaced by a new Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme, which is expected to commence in 2024.111

The Department

The Department does not provide services directly to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. However, it does support victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse by:

  • providing reimbursement for counselling and psychological services through Counselling Assistance Payments (as discussed further below)112
  • providing information and advice to victim-survivors who have reported historical child sexual abuse to it (as discussed further below).113 It has recently established a Sexual Harm Response Unit that receives these reports114
  • being a ‘participating State institution’ under the National Redress Scheme. State institutions that participate in this Scheme will be liable for providing redress to a person eligible for redress.115

Counselling Assistance Payments

The Board of Inquiry heard evidence from the Department that current and former students who have been sexually abused at a Victorian government school are able to receive limited financial assistance from the Department for counselling through Counselling Assistance Payments.116 Counselling Assistance Payments were established in 2006, prior to the introduction of the National Redress Scheme in 2018.117

The Department’s evidence to the Board of Inquiry was that Counselling Assistance Payments enable victim-survivors to receive reimbursement or payment on invoice for sessions with private counselling or psychological services.118 Victim-survivors identify the services they wish to access; the Department does not make referrals or recommend services to victim-survivors.119

The Department’s evidence was that applicants are eligible for reimbursement for up to 10 sessions, and may then apply for further assistance.120

In order to access Counselling Assistance Payments, victim-survivors must meet certain minimum evidentiary requirements. Victim-survivors need to provide supporting material from a treating medical practitioner, and there needs to be ‘some form of credible evidence to indicate that the applicant was sexually abused while at a government school’.121

The Board of Inquiry was told that ‘credible evidence’ can include ‘a statement from the victim-survivor indicating that the abuse occurred, and evidence that the teacher taught at the victim-survivor’s school at the same time the victim-survivor attended the school’.122 The Department advised that it obtains this evidence through checking enrolment records to confirm that the person was enrolled at the relevant government school at the same time the alleged perpetrator was working there.123

Accepting a Counselling Assistance Payment offer does not prevent a victim-survivor from seeking compensation from or bringing a legal claim against the Department.124

At the Board of Inquiry’s public hearings, the Department noted that eligibility to access Counselling Assistance Payments had recently been expanded to include family members of victim-survivors as secondary victims.125 At the time of writing this report, the Department was still developing internal guidelines and eligibility criteria for these secondary victims.126

The Department described Counselling Assistance Payments as a ‘stopgap measure’ because of the strengthening of services available since the introduction of the National Redress Scheme.127 Since Counselling Assistance Payments were introduced in 2006, uptake has been low, with only 18 confirmed people accessing these payments.128 The Department believes this could be due to a range of factors, including lack of awareness of Counselling Assistance Payments, and low trust in, and willingness of victim-survivors to engage with, the Department.129

Sexual Harm Response Unit

The Department told the Board of Inquiry that in early 2023, it established the Sexual Harm Response Unit to support schools to respond to incidents of child sexual abuse.130

The primary role of the Sexual Harm Response Unit is to provide central oversight and coordination of existing functions within the Department involved in responding to allegations of recent child sexual abuse.131 However, the Department told the Board of Inquiry that the Sexual Harm Response Unit also receives and responds to reports from victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.132

Since 30 June 2023, contact information for the Sexual Harm Response Unit has been available on the Victorian Government website.133 As of 31 December 2023, 10 victim-survivors had contacted the Sexual Harm Response Unit to report historical child sexual abuse in a government school.134

In describing the Sexual Harm Response Unit’s response to reports from victim-survivors, the Department said that it takes ‘an individualised approach to each report’ and is guided by the victim-survivor’s needs.135

As part of its response to victim-survivors, the Sexual Harm Response Unit seeks to ensure the victim-survivor is aware of relevant support services.136 The Department gave evidence that, given the small number of reports the Sexual Harm Response Unit has received to date, the unit has not yet provided ‘warm’ referrals to other agencies on behalf of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse, but that it has done so for cases of non-historical child sexual abuse.137 A warm referral involves contacting a service on behalf of, or with, a person, rather than providing the person with contact information so they can contact the service directly.

The Department’s evidence was that the Sexual Harm Response Unit works collaboratively with the victim-survivor on any engagement with police; although at the time the Department made its statement to the Board of Inquiry, the Sexual Harm Response Unit had only received one report, where a report that had not been previously made to police.138

The evidence of the Department was that the Sexual Harm Response Unit’s involvement with historical cases is currently quite limited,139 and the Sexual Harm Response Unit does not currently support victim-survivors who have lawyers representing them in civil claims or who are seeking redress under the National Redress Scheme.140

Chapter 16 Endnotes

  1. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-75 [38]–[44].
  2. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 16 [82].
  3. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 101.
  4. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(e).
  5. See e.g.: Private session 18.
  6. See e.g.: Private session 4.
  7. See e.g.: Private session 24.
  8. See e.g.: Private session 9.
  9. See e.g.: Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-16 [18]–[45].
  10. See e.g.: Private session 23; Private session 14.
  11. See e.g.: Private session 23.
  12. See e.g.: Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-23 [25]–[30].
  13. See e.g.: Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-18 [18]–[41].
  14. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 22.
  15. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 24.
  16. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 24.
  17. These complexities were noted in Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) vol 4, 65–7.
  18. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 7 [34].
  19. Antonia Quadara et al, Pathways to Support Services for Victim/Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Their Families (Report, 2016) 30.
  20. ‘Hospitals & Health Services’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/hospitals-health-services>(opens in a new window).
  21. ‘Primary & Community Health’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/primary-community-health>(opens in a new window).
  22. ‘Primary Healthcare Explained’, Better Health Channel (Web Page) <https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/primary-healthcare-explained#primary-healthcare-providers>(opens in a new window).
  23. See e.g.: Private session 10; Private session 18; Private session 22; Private session 30.
  24. ‘Mental Health Treatment Plan’, Health Direct (Web Page) <https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/mental-health-treatment-plan>(opens in a new window).
  25. ‘Mental Health Treatment Plan’, Health Direct (Web Page) <https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/mental-health-treatment-plan>(opens in a new window).
  26. ‘Adult Specialist Mental Health Services’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/mental-health-services/adult-specialist-mental-health-services>(opens in a new window).
  27. ‘Local Adult and Older Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Services’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/mental-health-reform/local-adult-and-older-adult-mental-health-and-wellbeing-services>(opens in a new window).
  28. ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals & Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs Factsheet’ (Fact Sheet, July 2023), Department of Health 2 <https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-07/mental-health-and-wellbeing-locals-mental-health-and-wellbeing-hubs-factsheet.pdf>(opens in a new window).
  29. See e.g.: Private session 24; Private session 10; Private session 9.
  30. ‘Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/alcohol-and-drugs/alcohol-and-other-drug-treatment-services>(opens in a new window).
  31. ‘Overview of Victoria’s Alcohol and Drug Treatment System’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/aod-treatment-services/overview-of-victorias-alcohol-and-drug-treatment-system>(opens in a new window).
  32. ‘National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline’, Department of Health and Aged Care (Web Page) <https://www.health.gov.au/contacts/national-alcohol-and-other-drug-hotline>(opens in a new window).
  33. ‘Understanding Welfare and Wellbeing’, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Web Page) <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/understanding-welfare-and-wellbeing>(opens in a new window).
  34. ‘Understanding Welfare and Wellbeing’, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Web Page) <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/understanding-welfare-and-wellbeing>(opens in a new window).
  35. ‘Who We Are’, Lifeline (Web Page) <https://www.lifeline.org.au/about/who-we-are>(opens in a new window).
  36. ‘Government Supporters’, Lifeline (Web Page) <https://www.lifeline.org.au/about/government-supporters>(opens in a new window).
  37. ‘MensLine Australia: Free Help, Referrals & Counselling for Men’, MensLine Australia (Web Page) <https://mensline.org.au>(opens in a new window).
  38. ‘Suicide Call Back Service: Mental Health Counselling’, Suicide Call Back Service (Web Page) <https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au>(opens in a new window).
  39. ‘Talk to a Counsellor’, Beyond Blue (Web Page) <https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/talk-to-a-counsellor>(opens in a new window).
  40. ‘Our Funding’, Beyond Blue (Web Page) <https://www.beyondblue.org.au/about-us/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/our-funding>(opens in a new window).
  41. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 7 [28], 8 [31].
  42. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3.3.
  43. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 18 [120].
  44. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 18 [120].
  45. State Government of Victoria, ‘Get Help’, Victims of Crime (Web Page) <https://www.victimsofcrime.vic.gov.au/get-help>(opens in a new window).
  46. State Government of Victoria, ‘Contact Victims of Crime’, Victims of Crime (Web Page) <https://www.victimsofcrime.vic.gov.au/contact-victims-crime>(opens in a new window).
  47. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 19 [134], [135(b)].
  48. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 18 [120].
  49. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 19 [126].
  50. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 4 [5].
  51. State Government of Victoria, ‘Get Help’, Victims of Crime (Web Page) <https://www.victimsofcrime.vic.gov.au/get-help>(opens in a new window).
  52. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 5 [13].
  53. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 5 [13].
  54. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 4 [8].
  55. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 7 [34].
  56. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 5 [14].
  57. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 6 [25].
  58. State Government of Victoria, ‘Victims Legal Service’, Victims of Crime (Web Page, 27 November 2023) <https://www.victimsofcrime.vic.gov.au/victims-legal-service>(opens in a new window).
  59. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 95 [15].
  60. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 15 [100]–[101].
  61. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 15 [100]–[101].
  62. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 11 [63]–[68].
  63. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 11 [64].
  64. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 11 [65].
  65. ‘How We Can Support You’, Office of Public Prosecutions (Web Page) <https://www.opp.vic.gov.au/victims-witnesses/how-we-can-support-you(opens in a new window)>.
  66. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 8 [40].
  67. ‘Family Violence Statewide Support Services’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/family-violence-statewide-support-services>(opens in a new window).
  68. Peta Cox, ‘Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in the Context of Co-occurrence and Re-victimisations: State of Knowledge Paper(opens in a new window)’ (ANROWS, October 2015) 24–5.
  69. Submission 46, In Good Faith Foundation, 9.
  70. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 1–2.
  71. ‘Sexual Assault Support Services — 38016(opens in a new window)’, 1 (Fact Sheet, December 2020), Department of Families, Fairness and Housing <https://providers.dffh.vic.gov.au/sexual-assault-support-services-38016>(opens in a new window).
  72. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 5 [15].
  73. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 4–5 [13].
  74. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 1, 3.
  75. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 4–5 [13].
  76. Family Safety Victoria, ‘Sexual Assault Support Brokerage Program Guidelines’ (December 2021); Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 4–5 [13].
  77. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 4–5 [13], 14 [50]; Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 1.
  78. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 1.
  79. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 1.
  80. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 15–16 [52].
  81. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 6–7 [23]–[25].
  82. ‘Reporting in Person at Multidisciplinary Centres’, Victoria Police (Web Page) <https://www.police.vic.gov.au/options-guide-victim-survivors-victoria-police-perpetrated-family-violence-or-sexual-offences/reporting-in-person-at-mdcs>(opens in a new window).
  83. ‘Reporting in Person at Multidisciplinary Centres’, Victoria Police (Web Page) <https://www.police.vic.gov.au/options-guide-victim-survivors-victoria-police-perpetrated-family-violence-or-sexual-offences/reporting-in-person-at-mdcs>(opens in a new window).
  84. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 7 [27].
  85. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 7 [28].
  86. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 16 [54].
  87. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 6 [19], [21]; ‘Sexual Assault Crisis Line’, Sexual Assault Crisis Line (Web Page) <https://www.sacl.com.au>(opens in a new window).
  88. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 6 [20].
  89. ‘Welcome to Sexual Assault Services Victoria’, Sexual Assault Services Victoria (Web Page) <https://www.sasvic.org.au>(opens in a new window).
  90. ‘About Us’, 1800Respect (Web Page) <https://www.1800respect.org.au/about-us(opens in a new window)>.
  91. ‘About Us’, 1800Respect (Web Page) <https://www.1800respect.org.au/about-us(opens in a new window)>.
  92. ‘About Us’, 1800Respect (Web Page) <https://www.1800respect.org.au/about-us(opens in a new window)>.
  93. ‘Specialist Family Violence Services’, Safe and Equal (Web Page) <https://safeandequal.org.au/working-in-family-violence/service-responses/specialist-family-violence-services>(opens in a new window).
  94. State Government of Victoria, ‘What is the Orange Door?’, The Orange Door (Web Page) <https://www.orangedoor.vic.gov.au/what-is-the-orange-door>(opens in a new window); State Government of Victoria, ‘The Orange Door and Family Services’, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Web Page) <https://services.dffh.vic.gov.au/orange-door-and-family-services#:~:text=The%20Orange%20Door%20is%20the,to%20be%20safe%20and%20supported>. 
  95. ‘About the Orange Door’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/about-the-orange-door>(opens in a new window).
  96. ‘Family Violence Statewide Support Services’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/family-violence-statewide-support-services>(opens in a new window).
  97. ‘24/7 Family and Domestic Violence Response Services’, Safe Steps (Web Page) <https://www.safesteps.org.au/our-services/24-7-family-and-domestic-violence-response-services>(opens in a new window).
  98. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 11 November 2023, 4 [10].
  99. See e.g.: Submission 46, In Good Faith Foundation, 2–3.
  100. ‘Victoria Redress Support Services’, National Redress Scheme (Web Page) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/support/explore/vic-redress-support-services>.
  101. ‘Victoria Redress Support Services’, National Redress Scheme (Web Page) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/support/explore/vic-redress-support-services>(opens in a new window).
  102. ‘knowmore Legal Support’, National Redress Scheme (Web Page) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/support/knowmore-legal-support>(opens in a new window).
  103. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 11 November 2023, 4 [11].
  104. ‘National Redress Counselling and Psychological Care Service — Victoria’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/national-redress-counselling-psychological-care>(opens in a new window).
  105. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 11 November 2023, 5 [14].
  106. ‘National Redress Counselling and Psychological Care Service — Victoria’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/national-redress-counselling-psychological-care>(opens in a new window).
  107. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 5 [15].
  108. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 5 [16].
  109. Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Vic) ss 8(2)(a), 8(2)(b).
  110. Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Vic) ss 7, 9, 11.
  111. ‘Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/victims-crime-financial-assistance-scheme>(opens in a new window).
  112. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 3 [7].
  113. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-248 [12]–[37].
  114. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 8 [22].
  115. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 3–4 [8].
  116. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 3 [7].
  117. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-243 [19].
  118. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 3 [7]; Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-243 [25].
  119. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 3 [7].
  120. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 6 [16(c)].
  121. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 6 [16(a)].
  122. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 6 [16(a)].
  123. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-244 [20].
  124. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 3 [7].
  125. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-246 [38]–[45].
  126. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 6 [16(b)].
  127. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-243 [19]–[26].
  128. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-246 [11]; Email letter from State of Victoria to the Board of Inquiry, 8 February 2024.
  129. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-245 [1]–[8]; Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 6 [16].
  130. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 2 [8].
  131. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-247 [10]–[21].
  132. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 2–3 [8].
  133. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 6 [20].
  134. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 7 [23]; Email from State of Victoria to the Board of Inquiry, 29 January 2024.
  135. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 7 [23].
  136. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 7 [23].
  137. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 18 [60].
  138. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 17 [58].
  139. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 3 [8].
  140. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, 8 [23].

Chapter 17

Support needs and challenges

Introduction

Support services can help victim-survivors and secondary victims of historical child sexual abuse in government schools to cope with and manage the impacts of the child sexual abuse. These services can also help with the healing process.

Clause 3(e) of the Board of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference required it to inquire into, report on and make any recommendations about ‘whether there are effective support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools’, while having regard to ‘other inquiries and reforms that have taken place since the historical child sexual abuse occurred’.1

Pursuant to its Terms of Reference, the Board of Inquiry spoke to experts, government representatives, service providers, victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members about the effectiveness of support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. The Board of Inquiry heard that victim-survivors have a range of support needs. It also heard that, despite there being a range of services in place, victim-survivors are experiencing barriers and challenges when trying to have their support needs met.

While some of the information received was specific to the cohort within the scope of the Terms of Reference, much of what the Board of Inquiry was told related to broader systemic issues that also affect multiple cohorts outside the scope of the Terms of Reference. These systemic issues have already been well canvassed in several reviews and inquiries over the past decade, including in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission), the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s report Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences.

This Chapter sets out the outcomes of the Board of Inquiry’s examination of the effectiveness of support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. In doing so, the Chapter traverses many of the systemic issues raised through the lenses and experiences of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

Prevalence of child sexual abuse in institutional settings

Child sexual abuse is alarmingly widespread. In 2023, the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS), Australia’s first nationally representative study measuring the prevalence of child maltreatment, released its findings.2 This landmark study indicated that 28.5 per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and older has experienced child sexual abuse.3 The ACMS stemmed from the Royal Commission, which found there was a lack of relevant national data, and recommended a study on the prevalence of child maltreatment in both institutional and non-institutional settings in Australia over time.4

The ACMS findings show that the experience of child sexual abuse is more prevalent among girls, with 37.3 per cent of girls and 18.8 per cent of boys experiencing child sexual abuse.5 The ACMS also reported that 78 per cent of people who were sexually abused as children said the abuse happened more than once.6

Further analysis of the ACMS findings indicated that 2 per cent of the population aged 16 years and older have experienced child sexual abuse in an institutional setting by a caregiver.7 The ACMS identified four classes of adult perpetrators, including ‘institutional caregivers’. This class comprised 16 types of caregivers, including school teachers and sporting coaches.8 The study did not include more detailed findings about the percentage of institutional child sexual abuse that occurred in a school or was perpetrated by a school teacher.

The prevalence of institutional child sexual abuse in Australia appears to be decreasing over time This is consonant with increasing social awareness of child sexual abuse since the mid-1990s. The decrease in child sexual abuse is particularly discernible in institutional settings.9 ACMS data illustrates this decrease. It shows that 0.5 per cent of people aged 16–24 have experienced child sexual abuse in an institution, compared to 1.2 per cent of people aged 25–44 and 2.8 per cent of people aged 45 years and older.10

Girls are more likely to experience child sexual abuse in all settings other than institutional settings. Non-institutional settings include child sexual abuse committed in the home by a parent, caregiver or sibling, by a known adult or by an unknown adult.11

Research suggests that boys are twice as likely to experience child sexual abuse in institutional settings than girls (2.7 per cent of boys compared to 1.3 per cent of girls).12 Men are also more likely to have experienced child sexual abuse in institutional settings across all age cohorts, with 0.6 per cent of men aged 16–24, 1.5 per cent of men aged 25–44, and 4.2 per cent of men aged 45 years and older having experienced child sexual abuse.13 This is compared to 0.5 per cent of women aged 16–24, 0.9 per cent of women aged 25–44, and 1.7 per cent of women aged 45 years and older having experienced child sexual abuse.14

This data suggests that there is a significant population group aged 45 years and older who reported having experienced institutional child sexual abuse.15 Within that group, there are more men than women.16

Responding to institutional child sexual abuse requires trauma-informed approaches that address the common impacts of child sexual abuse more broadly, as well as the unique aspects of experiencing such child sexual abuse in an institutional setting.

Impacts of historical institutional child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse of any kind is a devasting experience. Child sexual abuse in all its forms involves a breach of trust, and can profoundly change a person’s life course.17 It can result in lasting feelings of shame and vulnerability.18 Child sexual abuse can also affect a person’s ‘psychological and physical well-being, family and intimate relationships, faith, education and career’.19

Historical child sexual abuse in an institutional setting adds further dimensions to a victim-survivor’s experiences and the impacts the child sexual abuse may have.20 There are specific aspects of this type of sexual abuse that mean victim-survivors may experience unique impacts on their lives.21

Child sexual abuse in an institutional setting is a different type of breach of trust to other types of child sexual abuse.22 Most institutions are places of authority, and children are meant to be safe within these settings and protected by those who embody the authority of the institution. This is especially the case in schools, where communities expect that children are being cared for,23 and the very essence of the school institution is to help children to learn, grow and develop.24

Moreover, for most children, attending primary school is a matter over which they have little control. In Victoria, education is compulsory for all children.25 Most parents and carers choose to send their children to school, and the selection of primary school is ordinarily a matter for the parents or carers. Accordingly, a child who is sexually abused by a teacher would ordinarily have had little choice about being at school in the first place, and, once sexually abused, would usually have very limited options for avoiding school as a way to prevent further abuse.

Each of these different aspects of child sexual abuse in an institutional setting contributes to the different nature and impact of such child sexual abuse.

When the institutions in which child sexual abuse occurs are primary schools, victim-survivors are — at the time the child sexual abuse takes place — of an age and developmental stage that puts them at high risk of experiencing neuro-biological impacts that can have life-long consequences. Research indicates that:

young children who experience trauma are at particular risk because their rapidly developing brains are very vulnerable. Early childhood trauma has been associated with reduced size of the brain cortex. This area is responsible for many complex functions including memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thinking, language, and consciousness.26

The trauma experienced can also be compounded when the child sexual abuse is physically invasive, the child is threatened, or the child sexual abuse becomes persistent and recurs over a period of time. Developmental trauma, which occurs as a result of complex and pervasive exposure to life-threatening events during childhood development, can disrupt interpersonal attachments, compromise a person’s safety, and alter their capacity for cognitive, behavioural and emotional control.27 It also contributes to complex issues experienced in adulthood.28

As previously outlined in Chapter 7, Experiences of sexual abuse and its impact in childhood(opens in a new window) and Chapter 8, Enduring impacts of child sexual abuse(opens in a new window), victim-survivors who spoke to the Board of Inquiry shared experiences of child sexual abuse that reflected these features and impacts. Their stories mirror those told by victim-survivors of child sexual abuse to other inquiries. The Board of Inquiry heard that because of their young age, many victim-survivors were often confused by the sexual abuse that was allegedly being perpetrated against them.29 While often aware that something was wrong, most victim-survivors lacked the knowledge and language to understand and verbalise what was happening to them.30

Many victim-survivors told the Board of Inquiry that this meant they struggled to process their experiences at the time. Often, they were also trying to comprehend what had happened to them in isolation.31 While some victim-survivors were aware that other children may have gone through something similar, they did not know how to raise their own experiences or make sense of them.32 Others thought that they were the only ones who experienced child sexual abuse.33

As children, the victim-survivors had no power to change anything themselves. This was particularly the case given how children were viewed in the 1960s and 1970s, as explored in Chapter 6, Time and place(opens in a new window). The Board of Inquiry heard from some victim-survivors that when they tried to tell an adult about their experiences of child sexual abuse, they were not believed and no action was taken to protect them.34 Instead, they were left to fend for themselves.

The impact of institutional child sexual abuse often results in deep trauma. Dr Rob Gordon OAM, Clinical Psychologist and trauma expert, gave evidence that when child sexual abuse is perpetrated by a teacher, it can create a ‘deep sense of distrust for adults in positions of authority. And, of course, that’s going to undermine relationships right through the rest of their educational life’.35 This shattering of a child’s trust in their school — a place that was meant to keep them safe — has left many victim-survivors with a deep fear of other institutions and of governmental systems. This, in turn, can prevent a victim-survivor from engaging fully in the world around them, and can deter them from obtaining the help they need over their life course.

Further, where an institution does not respond appropriately to the disclosure of child sexual abuse, there can be fresh trauma or re-traumatisation. This can give rise to feelings of betrayal.36 The Board of Inquiry heard evidence from experts that the impacts of child sexual abuse in school settings can be profound and life-long, and can adversely affect many aspects of a person’s life.37 Research indicates that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in institutions experience impacts such as ‘psychological distress, trauma symptoms … post-traumatic distress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, personality disorders, suicidality and self-harm, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and mood disorders’.38 The experience of child sexual abuse can affect a victim-survivor’s capacity to trust people and to develop and maintain relationships, including relationships with partners, children and friends.39 Relationships may break down as a consequence of the child sexual abuse, which can lead to social isolation.40 These experiences and impacts are being increasingly acknowledged and understood over time.41

Victim-survivors and secondary victims who shared experiences of child sexual abuse with the Board of Inquiry described impacts that are consistent with this research. They included mental health struggles, experiences of complex trauma and alcohol and drug use, education and employment challenges, relationship and intimacy challenges, and feelings of shame, guilt, fear and isolation.42 Most victim-survivors who engaged with the Board of Inquiry spoke of carrying the experience of the child sexual abuse with them in silence for many decades, further compounding their trauma and their ability to seek help.43

As a result, victim-survivors may need to engage with several different types of supports to manage the impacts of historical child sexual abuse over their life course. They may require specific supports to address their needs at a particular time, and different supports at another time. Of course, a victim-survivor may also need multiple supports at once.

Insufficiently adequate support services

The Board of Inquiry found that, while there are some effective support services for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools in Victoria, the needs of this cohort are not always being met. Put another way, existing support services (looked at as a whole) are not sufficiently adequate to meet the needs of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

The Board of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference used the language of ‘effective support services’.44 However, this language was not defined. The Board of Inquiry has found it helpful to assess the effectiveness of support services by considering the following matters:

  • Ease of navigation — Can victim-survivors easily identify what services would best meet their needs? Are victim-survivors supported to navigate the range of services and systems they may need to engage with?
  • Availability — Are there are enough services to meet demand? Do the right services exist to meet the specific needs of victim-survivors?
  • Accessibility — What are the criteria or personal circumstances necessary for victim-survivors to access services? What are the costs of services for victim-survivors? Can victim-survivors easily re-engage with services when needed and can they receive the right amount of support over time?
  • Responsiveness to diverse needs — Do services understand and respond to the specific and diverse needs of victim-survivors?
  • Trauma-informed and appropriately skilled — Are services appropriately trauma-informed? Do they have the appropriate knowledge and capabilities to support victim-survivors?

The Board of Inquiry learned that there are a range of existing services and schemes in place that offer various supports to victim-survivors. Many victim-survivors spoke of having positive experiences with support services, and the Board of Inquiry received information about a number of services that undoubtedly provide important assistance to victim-survivors.

Overall, the Board of Inquiry considers that existing support services in Victoria are not always adequate to meet the needs of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. This is so for the following key reasons:

  • lack of support to understand and navigate complex systems — which means victim-survivors may struggle to identify and access relevant supports and to navigate support services and systems
  • poor collaboration between services — which can result in victim-survivors struggling to receive coordinated support
  • limited service capacity — which can result in support being delayed, not being of sufficient duration for some victim-survivors, and being difficult to re-engage with over a person’s life course
  • system inequity — which means that some victim-survivors are not able to access help when needed, or are pushed into private services that can be unaffordable, due to limited capacity in public services
  • need for greater inclusivity — including for male victim-survivors who may have particular needs due to the gendered impact of their abuse
  • peer support service gaps — which means victim-survivors may miss out on valuable peer connection
  • limited social and relational support and support for secondary victims — which means victim-survivors’ main support networks may miss out on support
  • inadequate number of professionals skilled in responding to trauma — which means support services are not always equipped to offer the right trauma-informed support to victim-survivors.

The Board of Inquiry notes that some of the evidence about support services received from victim-survivors relates to a period of time when little support existed. As part of its analysis and findings, the Board of Inquiry has considered the reforms that have since occurred and the introduction of a range of support services.

Lack of support to understand and navigate complex systems

As outlined in Chapter 16, Where people can go for support(opens in a new window), there are a range of services that victim-survivors may seek to access in order to manage the varied impacts of child sexual abuse. These services are part of broader, intersecting systems, including the justice system, healthcare system and sexual assault support service system. Victim-survivors may also engage in a range of processes, including the National Redress Scheme, civil litigation or criminal justice pathways.

Victim-survivors often need support to understand and manage this complex landscape. For some, information about services or one-off advice may be sufficient for them to be able to identify and access what they need. Others may need more support to navigate services and systems. For those with the most complex needs, this may involve case management approaches.

Lack of clear and comprehensive information and advice

One victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that being able to access information and advice about available supports is important because engaging with the service systems can be ‘overwhelming for most people’.45 They noted that there is a need for ‘someone that knows what your rights are, [including] counselling [and] other forms of therapy’.46 Service providers similarly shared that it is important to give victim-survivors access to information and advice about their legal rights and processes they may wish to engage in, including around redress, civil and criminal proceedings.47 The Board of Inquiry understands that accessible and easy-to-find information is important because, while services exist, ‘the capacity to go and find these is diminished by the effects of the abuse’.48

Due to the complexity of the system, with many diverse services offering different types of support, there are numerous sources of information that victim-survivors may seek to access. A range of government and service-specific websites provide information about the various support service offerings.49 The many different sources of information can create complexity and sometimes confusion for victim-survivors.

LOUD fence Inc described how challenging it can be to try to assist victim-survivors and help them wade through the many information sources:

[I]n Victoria it is difficult to navigate the many pages on different government department websites that are set up to guide people with their many different needs when it comes to seeking support, seeking redress, reporting child sexual abuse and legal advice.50

The complexity is compounded by the fact that websites do not always provide clear guidance about what a service delivers and for whom.51 A psychologist specialising in responding to trauma and child sexual abuse told the Board of Inquiry that there is a ‘lack of transparency’ in relation to justice pathways and support options.52 They told the Board of Inquiry that this can mean both victim-survivors and professionals struggle to understand what is available, ‘making the process feel daunting and confusing for victim-survivors’.53

There are several websites and advisory services available that aim to help people to identify support services and reduce this confusion. For example, the Victims of Crime Helpline offers free information, support and referrals for victims of reported and unreported crime.54 Blue Knot, a community organisation that specialises in complex trauma, also operates a helpline for adult victim-survivors of childhood trauma, including child sexual abuse.55

In addition, the Sexual Assault Crisis Line Victoria can provide statewide, after-hours, telephone counselling support, information, case work and referral services for people who have experienced sexual assault.56

While beneficial, these websites and advisory supports do not provide specific and tailored advice for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools in one easy-to-access location.

A participant in a Services Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry that ‘[t]here’s no … authoritative information in one place’.57 A victim-survivor echoed this point in their evidence, stating there was a need for ‘a single place to go to [where] you can … seek some advice on your rights and … [there is] someone that can triage you … in respect to where you can go and people you can talk to and seek some help’.58 They noted that ‘to my knowledge, there’s nowhere you can go’.59 A participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry there is a need for ‘a much clearer direction or an opportunity to call on those services that are available without [victim-survivors] having to search for them themselves’.60

The Board of Inquiry notes that the Department of Education (Department) has recently made updates to the Victorian Government ‘Report abuse if you’re a current or former student’ web page to provide further information about support services and schemes that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools may wish to access.61

While an important improvement, the Board of Inquiry considers that there are several issues preventing the web page from fully meeting the needs of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

Previous reviews and inquiries have highlighted that help-seeking websites should be trauma-informed62 and user-friendly.63 It is the Board of Inquiry’s view that the current web page does not sufficiently meet these requirements. It is also not clear whether victim-survivors were consulted on its design.

The web page is not focused on or tailored to the specific needs of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. While it contains information relevant to this cohort, the page is designed to provide information to current as well as former students, who will have different needs. It also contains information concerning the wellbeing of staff. As a result, an adult victim-survivor of child sexual abuse in a government school who reviews the web page needs to read information that is not relevant to them and may be confusing.

The web page also focuses on ‘reporting’ rather than presenting itself as a resource designed to more fully address the needs of adult victim-survivors who might turn to it for information. The Board of Inquiry is of the view that the current framing of the web page as a pathway to reporting the sexual abuse to the police or the Department means that victim-survivors who do not want to engage with a justice process may not consider the web page to be of relevance to them.

Further, the web page is not highly visible. At the time of writing, the web page was not accessible through other key government online resources that victim-survivors may access, including the Victims of Crime website,64 the Victorian Government web page on the National Redress Scheme,65 or the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’s (DFFH’s) web pages on sexual assault.66

In addition, while the Department has established the Sexual Harm Response Unit, which recently began providing assistance to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools about services and referrals, the capacity of this function is currently quite limited and there remains no one organisation, service or entity that is able to provide comprehensive information and advice to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

Previous reviews and inquiries have identified a system gap in the provision of information and advice to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse and service users more generally. The Royal Commission found that the lack of accessible information about available supports was a barrier to victim-survivors and their families accessing the help they needed.67 This can result in victim-survivors and their families feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, being unable to access the right service at the right time, or disengaging with services.68 The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System found that people living with mental illness were having difficulty accessing and navigating suitable services, and lacked access to information about treatment, care and support.69 The Victorian Law Reform Commission’s report Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences found that existing sources of information about justice pathways and support services for victim-survivors of sexual assault and abuse were ‘limited’ and ‘difficult to navigate’.70

Little navigation or case management support

While information and occasional advice can empower victim-survivors and secondary victims to identify supports and understand how to access them, some victim-survivors may need more active, ongoing or intensive support to navigate services and systems, as evidenced below.

A participant in a Services Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse may struggle to identify and engage with appropriate service systems due to diminished help-seeking capabilities.71 A participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable explained how challenging it can be to try to navigate service systems while grappling with trauma:

There are so many different aspects to try and find your way through. It’s almost like walking through a trench and not knowing which corridor to go down, whilst dealing with incredible trauma and mental health challenges that you don’t know how to handle either.72

The Board of Inquiry heard that some victim-survivors would benefit from a single point of contact that can provide practical support, including assistance to identify and access the services they need.73 A participant in a Services Roundtable commented:

[S]ometimes what people also really benefit from is the really practical support of sitting with them and going through and getting an understanding for what their needs might be, and helping people navigate the service system …74

The Board of Inquiry also understands that victim-survivors with more complex needs, who need to access a range of services simultaneously, can benefit from case management approaches, whereby a single point of contact actively engages with other services on the victim-survivor’s behalf to ensure their needs are met and care is coordinated.75

There are some existing options that support victim-survivors to navigate systems or provide case management; however, the Board of Inquiry understands that these options may not be able to meet the needs of all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

The DFFH gave evidence that specialist sexual assault services play a critical role in advocating for victim-survivors to access the support that they need, noting that the professionals working in these services ‘are typically called counsellor advocates’ in recognition of this advocacy.76 These specialist services help victim-survivors to identify their needs and put strategies in place to meet them, including through advocacy and assisting them to connect with other services.77 Dr Gordon similarly gave evidence about the role that specialist sexual assault services can play in supporting victim-survivors using case management approaches.78

However, it can be challenging for specialist sexual assault services to manage this work. For example, the Board of Inquiry heard that these services are under considerable strain and can only spend a limited amount of time with each victim-survivor.79 Because of this, their ability to provide the level of support victim-survivors need to navigate a range of services and systems may be limited.80

Similarly, while the In Good Faith Foundation offers navigation and case management support to a broad cohort of victim-survivors of historical institutional abuse, funding constraints limit the services it is able to provide.81 The In Good Faith Foundation said that ‘there are no specialist-funded service streams that provide holistic case management services to people impacted by institutional abuse and sexual assault’.82 It told the Board of Inquiry that provision of such services is needed because otherwise ‘this often defaults to the mental health practitioner an impacted person may be seeing. Consequently, rather than exclusively focusing on the delivery of much needed mental [health support], sessions are instead spent responding to other matters such as housing that are more appropriate for a case management setting’.83

Some victim-survivors may also be able to receive practical navigation support from Redress Support Services through the National Redress Scheme.84 While support through the National Redress Scheme is likely to be helpful, it is the Board of Inquiry’s understanding that Redress Support Services are only available to victim-survivors who are participating in or seeking to participate in the scheme. This reduces choice and control for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse if they do not wish to use the Redress pathway.

The Board of Inquiry understands that the Victims Assistance Program (VAP) can support victim-survivors to navigate different services and provide case management support.85 The Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) gave evidence that it recently made changes to the VAP service model to allow for more ‘flexibility in the way [the VAP] provide[s] case management and case coordination’, in recognition that there are ‘some people that need a light touch and some people that have more complex needs over a longer period of time’.86

While eligibility for the VAP is not dependent on whether a victim formally reports a crime to the police, in reality most referrals are made through the Victims of Crime Helpline and received from justice agencies such as Victoria Police and the Office of Public Prosecutions.87 The fact that victim-survivors only receive this support after contact with the justice system means that they may not have support when they need it most, such as when deciding whether to report to the police or when preparing to make a report. A participant in a Services Roundtable explained:

[S]ome of these systems are sort of doing it … back to front … We’re asking someone to describe what’s happened to them, et cetera, go through potentially horrendous processes like mandatory reporting, police reporting … before they’ve had the ability to seek mental health care or support …88

Previous reviews have called for more navigation support for all victims of sexual assault and abuse to address this support gap in the system.89

Poor service coordination and collaboration

The Royal Commission found that ‘[n]o single service or service system has the capacity to respond to all the needs of every victim and survivor of child sexual abuse in institutions’, and that many victim-survivors may have to engage with a range of services, often simultaneously.90

While the Board of Inquiry understands that, as noted above, it is important that victim-survivors are supported to navigate the range of services they need, the Board of Inquiry has also been told that victim-survivors receive optimal support when the various services they access are well connected and work collaboratively.91 Collaboration would also mean that if a victim-survivor makes contact with a service that is not right for them, the service would put them in touch with an appropriate service rather than turning them away. The Board of Inquiry was told that there should be ‘no wrong door’ to receiving support.92

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has identified cross-sector collaboration as a key domain for services implementing a trauma-informed approach because of the wide range of needs that victim-survivors may have.93 Previous research with victim-survivors of child sexual abuse who have complex needs relating to their mental health and alcohol or other drug issues found that, when services are siloed and do not work together, victim-survivors are likely to ‘[fall] through the cracks in service delivery’.94

Coordination and collaboration between services and systems can take many forms. These can include initiatives such as co-location, the development of protocols between key agencies, and ensuring there are clear referral pathways between services.95

The Board of Inquiry heard from a participant in a Services Roundtable that ‘crossover’ collaboration between services helps to better support victim-survivors and their needs.96 The participant explained that collaboration between services enables victim-survivors to better understand the information they are receiving from multiple organisations, and discuss it from various perspectives, to ensure that ‘everyone’s operating as a team promoting the wellbeing of that individual’.97 Good collaboration can also minimise the need for victim-survivors to ‘re-tell their story multiple times’.98 One secondary victim told the Board of Inquiry that, for the victim-survivors they know, having to repeat their story to different services had acted as a barrier to accessing support.99

In addition, the Board of Inquiry heard that good service connectivity may assist victim-survivors to build the confidence to access some services, such as specialist sexual assault services. Sexual Assault Services Victoria explained that offering referrals for victim-survivors to specialist sexual assault services at multiple points in time (rather than only once) is important because it can take time for victim-survivors to feel sufficiently confident to reach out to such services, or because some victim-survivors may not feel deserving of support.100

The Board of Inquiry understands that changes have been made over the past several decades, and reforms have been introduced to improve service collaboration and coordination. For example, the first multidisciplinary centres were established in Victoria in 2007 and have continued to be established across Victoria. As described in Chapter 16(opens in a new window), these centres co-locate a range of agencies to provide coordinated responses to sexual assault.101

However, as demonstrated below, the Board of Inquiry understands there continues to be room for improvement in how services work together to ensure the whole range of victim-survivor needs are met.

Participants across two Services Roundtables reflected that a key challenge is the lack of coordination and collaboration across services,102 with one participant stating:

I think we can do better in terms of having a more joined-up systemic response to people … because we’re not going to be able to meet all their needs as one part of the response.103

Participants suggested there are issues with referral practices between various services, including across the justice, sexual assault support and health service systems.104 For example, a participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable reflected that they did not think GPs know where to refer victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse.105

The Board of Inquiry also understands that even when a referral is made, lack of communication between services may see victim-survivors needing to re-tell their story.106

Such issues may mean that victim-survivors struggle to move seamlessly between services, and may have to make repeated, often re-traumatising disclosures in order to commence a relationship with the next service provider.

Even when victim-survivors are connected with the range of supports they need, the Board of Inquiry understands that coordination and collaboration challenges affect the level of ‘wrap-around’ care that would constitute a trauma-informed way of working with victim-survivors.107

Dr Gordon gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that victim-survivors are often ‘referred to a number of different service providers for different aspects … (e.g. educational, emotional, social) and it is then challenging to achieve coordination of services to effectively provide the required treatment’.108

Dr Joe Tucci, CEO, Australian Childhood Foundation, gave evidence that while ‘[v]ictim-survivors may need to engage with a number of services to manage the impacts of child sexual abuse … often psychological support is the only support that victim-survivors are offered’.282 He told the Board of Inquiry that even when victim-survivors are receiving broader support, this support might not be well integrated with psychological support.109

In contrast, the DFFH gave evidence that specialist sexual assault services do provide coordinated and integrated care,110 stating that ‘[t]here are really clear referral pathways in and out of sexual assault support services’111 and specialist sexual assault services work ‘closely with the range of services to make sure the victim-survivor gets what they need’.112

The DJCS also stated that ‘the referral systems work well’, but noted that ‘coordination and integration … can always be improved’.113

Limited service capacity

Demand pressures reducing service capacity to provide timely support to people

Seeking help can take great courage for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse. One participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry: ‘the bravest thing to do is make that first contact’.114

As outlined below, there is no doubt that service responses need to be timely. Research indicates that a victim-survivor’s help-seeking is often precipitated by a personal crisis; for example, in their relationship or with their mental health.115 Victim-survivors often require urgent support when they do reach out. Help-seeking and disclosure may also compound a sense of crisis for victim-survivors. They can make victim-survivors feel vulnerable, undermine feelings of safety and trigger memories of child sexual abuse.116

If victim-survivors do not receive a timely response, they may disengage from support services.117 This risk was recognised by a participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable:

[W]e were sent to one location and that location gave a number for another location … [which] was only available in two weeks’ time … by that stage you might have lost them.118

A participant in a Services Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry of the damaging effect that a lack of available services can have on victim-survivors, noting that ‘we need to give them an access point into an unsaturated service system because otherwise we are running the risk of re-traumatising’.119

While the Board of Inquiry was unable to explore mainstream service availability in depth, it understands that people can experience lengthy wait times for some mainstream services, including for therapeutic supports. For example:

  • The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System found that people living with mental illness or psychological distress face long wait times to access public mental health services.120 As a result, they are increasingly required to exhibit signs of major distress or crisis before treatment, care and support are provided.121
  • In relation to private psychological services, Dr Tucci and Professor Daryl Higgins, Director, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University, highlighted that there may be waitlists for these services.122 A participant in a Services Roundtable explained that the service they work for provides referral pathways to private practice counselling practitioners to ensure clients have access to therapeutic support. However, they indicated that these practitioners now have waitlists.123 In a 2023 Australian Psychological Society survey, 77 per cent of Australian Psychological Society members reported that wait times at their practice had increased or stayed the same compared to 2022.124
  • There is evidence that some Australians, including those from disadvantaged cohorts, face long wait times to see a GP.125 This may present challenges for victim-survivors trying to set up a mental health treatment plan or seek treatment for other health problems.

The Board of Inquiry did not seek detailed information about wait times in the community sector, noting the diversity of services it includes. However, the Board of Inquiry did hear from one community organisation that it has recently had to implement a waitlist for the first time due to increased demand.126

Waitlists for specialist sexual assault services are also extensive. From January 2022 to September 2023, the average wait time to access specialist sexual assault services for adults was 72 days.127 However, the Board of Inquiry was told that some victim-survivors can be on a specialist sexual assault service’s waitlist for up to 12 months.128

Professor Leah Bromfield, Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection and Chair of Child Protection, University of South Australia, told the Board of Inquiry that ‘demand outstrips capacity consistently and victim-survivors, particularly survivors of historical child sexual abuse, can face long waitlists to access specialist services’.129

One secondary victim described how their partner, a victim-survivor, reached out to a specialist sexual assault service and was told there was a 14-month waitlist.130 The secondary victim described how this was a significant issue given that reaching out to the service in the first place was confronting and the victim-survivor had had to make himself vulnerable to do so.131

The Board of Inquiry also heard differing views about whether specialist sexual assault services prioritise victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse. The DFFH advised that victim-survivors facing crisis or with high needs are prioritised regardless of whether the case is recent or historic, as informed by the National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence: Standards of Practice Manual for Sexual Violence Services.132 The DFFH also gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that, while a victim-survivor is on the waitlist for a specialist sexual assault service, the service ‘will make contact with that person, [and] look at what immediate supports can be put in place whilst they are waiting for some of those deeper services’.133 Professor Patrick O’Leary, Co-Lead of the Disrupting Violence Beacon and Director of the Violence Research and Prevention Program, Griffith University, told the Board of Inquiry that, in practice, a specialist sexual assault service will select victim-survivors of recent sexual assaults first ‘because of [the] service’s competing priorities and the practice of triage which places emergency, current or recent victims before historical ones’.134

Participants in a Services Roundtable discussed the reasons for capacity challenges across the community and specialist sexual assault services sectors. One participant noted that there is a ‘sheer lack of funding’ and that ‘we will never meet demand with[in] the current service systems that we have in Australia with the current funding, compared to the prevalence of child sexual abuse’.135 Another participant identified that their waitlist is an indicator that ‘the system … is becoming overwhelmed at the moment, simply by the level of demand’.136 A third participant similarly reflected that ‘we don’t have the funding to employ the counsellors that we need to meet that demand, which means that we will never get through our waitlist’.137

In its submission to the Board of Inquiry, Sexual Assault Services Victoria described how:

[r]eforms arising from the national Royal Commission, growing community understanding about both the impact of child sexual assault and the existence of recovery support, combined with the historic underfunding of the specialist sexual assault sector, mean that service capacity is significantly outstripped by demand. At present, there are waitlists of up to six months for some member services.138

The Board of Inquiry also heard evidence from the DFFH that one of reasons for long waitlists for specialist sexual assault services is that funding constraints, meaning service demand is outstripping supply.139

In addition, the Board of Inquiry notes that workforce challenges are contributing to demand pressures. These are explored further later in this Chapter.

Service duration often inadequate

It is well recognised that victim-survivors of child sexual abuse and other people who have experienced trauma should have access to long-term support if it is needed to support their recovery.140

Dr Gordon gave evidence that in a therapeutic setting, ‘it’s very important that there’s an open timeframe in which … treatment can be offered’.141 He explained that this is important because a trusted relationship where victim-survivors feel safe and are stabilised needs to be established before much important therapeutic work can begin.142 Research also demonstrates that timeframes need to factor in the time it takes for practitioners to build trust with the victim-survivor, which can be considerable.143 In addition, research with victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse has confirmed the importance of ‘sustained and stable’ support.144

Some support and advocacy services told the Board of Inquiry that victim-survivors must be able to receive support for periods of time that are long enough to support their healing and recovery.145 As one victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry, many victim-survivors ‘are not going to be better in six sessions’.146

As outlined below, the Board of Inquiry received some information that suggests that the duration of support that some services — particularly specialist sexual assault services — are able to provide might not adequately meet the needs of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

Dr Tucci told the Board of Inquiry that most services are time-limited.147 Dr Gordon’s evidence was that publicly funded services may only be able to provide a limited number of sessions and this may not allow victim-survivors to get to the ‘core of the experience’.148 This can impact the long-term ability of victim-survivors to heal.149 The Royal Commission also found that victim-survivors and service providers often feel that time-limited support is inadequate and that this can act as a barrier to victim-survivors seeking assistance.150

The DFFH gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that specialist sexual assault services do not have limits on the amount of support they provide to victim-survivors.151 However, Sexual Assault Services Victoria stated that the duration of support that these services can practically provide under the existing funding model is limited.152 Western Region Centre Against Sexual Assault (WestCASA), a specialist sexual assault service, told the Board of Inquiry:

[A] lot of our victim-survivors who have experienced childhood sexual assault are needing years worth of counselling and therapy ongoing, and that’s not something that we can offer.153

The Board of Inquiry also heard that funding arrangements and demand pressures can impact the ability of these services to provide group therapies for the amount of time that victim-survivors have reported they want.154

More broadly, the Board of Inquiry understands that the duration of subsidised support through the private sector may not meet the needs of victim-survivors. Australians currently have access to 10 Medicare-subsidised individual mental health sessions per year under a mental health treatment plan.155 During COVID-19, the Commonwealth Government increased this to 20 sessions annually, but decreased it back to 10 from 31 December 2022.156 Dr Gordon emphasised to the Board of Inquiry that, while 20 sessions allow for victim-survivors to receive fortnightly sessions consistently throughout the year, 10 sessions make it difficult to ‘obtain the continuity of service that is ideal to effectively treat a patient’.157

Support over the life course not widely available

The concept of ‘life-course impacts’ provides a lens through which to examine how sexual abuse affects a child not only at the time of the sexual abuse (taking into account their development stage at that time), but also how it continues to affect how a person functions through adolescence and into adulthood.158

While the nature of healing is different for all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, many victim-survivors may experience impacts that abate, only to re-emerge or manifest at a later point (or points) in time in response to triggers or certain life events.159 This means that victim-survivors will often need to re-engage with multiple support services at different times and in different ways over their life course, depending on how their impacts and trauma manifest.160

The life stages at which support is required will differ between individuals.161 However, the Board of Inquiry heard evidence that victim-survivors often need to re-engage or seek additional support when the following life events occur:

  • They have a child.162
  • A child starts school.163
  • A significant relationship begins or a marriage takes place.164
  • A traumatic experience occurs, such as the death of a relative.165

In his evidence, Professor O’Leary told the Board of Inquiry that support service systems should have the ‘dexterity’ to allow for this re-engagement to occur quickly, easily and in a high-quality way.166

The Royal Commission also found that impacts of child sexual abuse can be experienced over a victim-survivor’s life course, and that support services should be responsive to victim-survivors’ multiple needs.167

As outlined below, the Board of Inquiry understands that the service system does not allow for easy re-engagement. Dr Tucci told the Board of Inquiry:

We have learnt from other experiences of trauma that we need a service system that provides victim-survivors with support over the course of their lives. This does not mean that they are always involved in counselling, but it means that the service is always available and actively checking in with them over the course of their lives.168

However, he noted that ‘[w]e are very far away from being able to offer this’.169

Professor O’Leary gave evidence that because victim-survivors can be triggered throughout their life at different stages due to the impacts of complex trauma:

it’s therefore really important … that we are actually taking [a person’s] complex trauma and their needs across that whole span, and the current service system doesn’t really meet those requirements …170

He also told the Board of Inquiry about the ‘continuity’ issue in the current system, observing that it does not readily allow for victim-survivors to re-engage with support as required.171

As mentioned above, many services are time-limited.172 While some may allow the victim-survivor to ‘rejoin’ a service at the end of the original allotted sessions, the victim-survivor may then face a long waitlist, meaning they ‘don’t get consistency of care and continuity in their trauma healing journey which often means that it’s a stop-start process’.173

The Board of Inquiry understands that under current service arrangements, victim-survivors may face this issue at each life stage when they need support. The Board of Inquiry further understands that victim-survivors may disengage from support altogether if the barriers they experience when trying to re-engage are too high.174

Inequity in accessing therapeutic services

As discussed in Chapter 16(opens in a new window), there are a number of free services that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools may access, such as specialist sexual assault services. However, as outlined above there is considerable strain on public services. This may see victim-survivors seeking to engage private services for support,175 unfortunately leading to inequities in service access.

The Board of Inquiry received evidence from Dr Gordon that the cost of private therapeutic services can create a ‘heavy financial burden for most victim-survivors’.176 One victim-survivor described their experience in seeking support as ‘incredibly hard and incredibly expensive’.177 A secondary victim described how the high cost of treatment for their partner, a victim-survivor, created financial hardship for the family, meaning the secondary victim could not afford their own support.178 They described how they cancelled an appointment to see a psychologist because of the high out-of-pocket cost, stating: ‘I couldn’t justify that because the money isn’t there’.179 A participant in a Services Roundtable reflected that ‘it’s all well and good to have services available but if people can’t afford to get them … what’s the use then of that service?’.180

A 2016 research study also identified that victim-survivors of child sexual abuse want to attend more counselling sessions, but costs are prohibitive.181

Some victim-survivors who spoke to the Board of Inquiry noted that they have had the financial means to engage private therapeutic services, but they recognised that not all victim-survivors are able to do so.182 This was a concern for these victim-survivors.183 One victim-survivor described the high cost of private practitioners as ‘problematic’, given that victim-survivors of child sexual abuse may not have sufficient financial resources as a result of the ongoing effects of trauma on their lives.184 The Royal Commission also found that some victim-survivors may experience financial hardship as an impact of child sexual abuse.185

As noted earlier, Medicare-subsidised psychological support is available to victim-survivors through a mental health treatment plan. However, there is often a ‘gap fee’ for services that victim-survivors may not be able to afford. A participant in a Services Roundtable observed that ‘a lot of our clients simply can’t afford that. They can’t afford the gap fee even if they can get Medicare … That could be upward of $100, $150 [per session]. It’s significant’.186

Victim-survivors may be able to access free therapeutic support services through the National Redress Scheme.187 They may also be able to receive financial assistance for therapeutic support services through the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal.188 However, access to these supports requires victim-survivors to be eligible for and willing to engage in such schemes. As noted earlier, this reduces choice and control for victim-survivors.

The Board of Inquiry learned that victim-survivors of historical sexual abuse in government schools are able to receive reimbursement for sessions with private counselling or psychological services from the Department, as part of its Counselling Assistance Payment scheme, although the Department described this as a ‘stop-gap’ measure, with uptake of this option being very low.189

Need for greater inclusivity and support for men

Victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools are not a homogenous group. They are diverse, and their differences may affect how they experience institutional child sexual abuse and its impacts.

The Board of Inquiry considers it is important that support services be inclusive of and accessible for all victim-survivors. Inclusive services adopt an approach that acknowledges ‘multidimensional aspects of identity that are key to inclusivity and account for historical, structural and cultural factors’.190 They also adopt person-centred practices tailored to individual needs.191 This requires them to ‘have the skills and capacity to respond effectively to diverse needs or collaborate with other agencies to meet those needs’.192

However, the Board of Inquiry has heard expert evidence that some victim-survivors can face particular barriers to help-seeking, and may struggle to find and access services that meet their needs.193

As discussed earlier in this Chapter, research reveals that more men report experiencing institutional child sexual abuse than women. In keeping with this research, while the Board of Inquiry did hear from some women, the vast majority of victim-survivors who came forward to share their experiences with the Board of Inquiry were men.194 Therefore, the Board of Inquiry heard about the responsiveness of the services primarily through the experiences of men.

The Board of Inquiry heard evidence and received information highlighting that victim-survivors need gender-sensitive responses.195 Proponents of gender-sensitive responses contend that trauma can impact people in gender-specific ways and that gender can also impact the service responses that people find meaningful or effective.196

In his evidence, Professor O’Leary told the Board of Inquiry that because ‘[m]ost sexual abuse [against males] is committed by other males … this can leave male victim-survivors questioning their identity as [a] man as well as their sexuality’.197 Other gendered impacts for men can include an increase in risk-taking behaviours and fears they may go on to perpetrate sexual abuse.198 The Board of Inquiry heard that men face particular barriers to disclosure and help-seeking, and may rely more heavily on their informal support networks.199 Professor O’Leary also explained that gender identity can play a role in behaviours a therapist may need to address; for example, where a male victim-survivor is a perpetrator of family violence.200

The Board of Inquiry received some evidence suggesting that men may have difficulties engaging with existing specialist sexual assault services. In Victoria, specialist sexual assault services originated in the feminist movement, and were aimed at providing women with a place to seek help and support.201 As a far greater proportion of women are sexually assaulted than men, specialist sexual assault services see more women than men as clients. Against this background, it is not surprising that the Board of Inquiry was told that men may not ‘feel welcome as clients’.202 Professor O’Leary gave evidence that male victim-survivors may be disadvantaged by services that have, for good reasons, been ‘primarily geared for women’.203 Bravehearts, an organisation that works with, and advocates for, victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, recognised that across the service system more broadly, there has been a lack of ‘focus’ on the provision of support to male victim-survivors.204

The DFFH, however, gave evidence that specialist sexual assault services are able to provide gender-sensitive responses to male victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, stating that these services:

bring clinical and practice expertise around the differential impacts of child sexual abuse for men and women. They will, from time to time, run men’s groups or other services that are targeted at the particular experience of males that have experienced child sexual abuse. But all of their services, whether that’s counselling or group work programs, are attuned to those different impacts for the different genders.205

A participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable reflected on the positive experience they had when taking part in a formal group program for men run by a specialist sexual assault service.206

However, a secondary victim, supporting their male partner who is a victim-survivor, suggested to the Board of Inquiry that some men may not consider specialist sexual assault services to be suitable for them, noting that ‘a 60+ year old man doesn’t want to be presenting himself to this type of service, with their big sign out front’.207

WestCASA highlighted that more men have been accessing its services since it made a deliberate move to position itself as being responsive to people of all genders:

[W]hat we’ve seen at CASA especially in the west is that we’re seeing more men ... And I think that is with a change in the language that we have been using. So over the past kind of five-plus years we’ve shifted from being a women’s organisation to being a sexual assault organisation that works with anybody who has experienced sexual violence within their life.208

The Board of Inquiry also understands that a range of communities may experience barriers to help-seeking and effective service responses, though the Board of Inquiry’s scope meant it did not receive information to examine these issues in detail.

For example, Dr Gordon gave evidence that many victim-survivors who identify as LGBTIQA+ have often experienced ‘judgement, rejection and criticism’, including through their engagements with the health system.209 These experiences make it difficult for LGBTIQA+ victim-survivors to ‘seek out and accept support’ from professionals in the health system.210

The Royal Commission identified that a responsive service system is ‘inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healing approaches’.211 This need is underpinned by the historical context of collective trauma and the importance of culturally informed healing methodologies, ‘beyond Western, clinical forms of therapy’.212 However, the Board of Inquiry heard from Bravehearts that ‘[t]here are very few services that meet the needs of First Nations … victims and survivors’.213 The Board of Inquiry received evidence that the Victorian Government funds four Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to provide culturally safe sexual assault support services to Aboriginal people, which focus on safety, healing and wellbeing, and take a whole of community approach.214

The Board of Inquiry also heard expert evidence that victim-survivors from culturally diverse communities need access to culturally relevant and culturally safe services.215 For some victim-survivors, the Board of Inquiry was told, this may mean receiving support from a person with a shared cultural background,216 or from services that are based on the cultural values of the relevant group.217 However, the Board of Inquiry heard there is a need for greater cultural competency across services.218

The Royal Commission found that disability services often do not have the skills and expertise to respond to experiences of sexual violence, and that therapeutic services for child sexual abuse are often not inclusive of or accessible to people with disability.219 Consequently, victim-survivors with disability can be ‘caught between services without receiving support’.220

Victim-survivors of all ages, including older people, should have access to services that meet their needs; for example, through ensuring responses are sensitive to how trauma manifests differently for people of different ages.221 However, the Board of Inquiry was told that ageism can contribute to family members and professionals not believing victim-survivor disclosures.222 The Board of Inquiry also heard from Professor Bromfield about a lack of specialised supports for older victim-survivors.223

Peer support service gaps

Peer support involves a range of activities between people with similar lived experiences. Such a reciprocal relationship ‘promotes connection and inspires hope’.224 As outlined below, the Board of Inquiry heard that creating spaces where victim-survivors can connect with one another is an important form of support for victim-survivors.

Professor O’Leary gave evidence of his opinion that there is ‘immense power in having connection between individuals who have experienced child sexual abuse’.225

Peer support can provide vital opportunities for victim-survivors to feel understood in a way they may not experience when engaging with professionals who have not lived through similar trauma.226 As explained in Dr Tucci’s evidence:

The feeling that you are not the only one when you have felt like this your whole life can be very liberating for victim-survivors. Being able to share and be validated by people who have shared your experience can be positive and create real strength for victim-survivors.227

Dr Gordon similarly gave evidence about the importance of peer support networks in providing victim-survivors with a space where they will be understood.228

A participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable said:

[T]here … is a different voice that comes from the survivors than … from the non-survivors.229

Reflecting during the Healing Roundtable on his experience in providing support to male victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, Craig Hughes-Cashmore, CEO, Survivors & Mates Support Network, stated: ‘the amount of times when I said “Look, I’m not a counsellor, I’m certainly not a lawyer, but I am a survivor”. And you can hear them breathe out and just go, “Oh, so you get it”. And I’m like, “Yeah, I get it”’.230

Dr Katie Wright, Associate Professor, Department of Social Inquiry, La Trobe University, gave evidence of her opinion that connection between peers is important because it can allow victim-survivors to make sense of their own experiences.231

Peer spaces can also make victim-survivors feel safe.232 A victim-survivor who has participated in peer support groups for people experiencing suicidal ideation commented:

I think survivor spaces are really good for acknowledging and allowing people to be themselves and to feel heard. And when you’re feeling heard by another person … you feel your words have meaning, you feel connected with other people, you feel there is more safety in those spaces than in some of the other spaces controlled by the mental health system.233

A Healing Roundtable participant explained that the value of peer support for many victim-survivors is in creating a sense that the victim-survivor is no longer alone.234

Peer support has been described as acting as a ‘protective factor’, providing space for victim-survivors to know they are believed, and that their experiences cannot be denied.235 The Board of Inquiry heard during the Lived Experience Roundtable how peer support is particularly important when victim-survivors are first beginning to disclose their experiences, because the support they receive from peers may be more compassionate than the support they receive from other sources.236 Through peer support, victim-survivors may be encouraged to seek professional help.237

The Board of Inquiry heard about positive experiences that victim-survivors have had while connecting with other victim-survivors within the Beaumaris community, although this is not a formal peer support group.238

The Board of Inquiry also heard that connection to peers can be particularly important for some groups of victim-survivors, including LGBTIQA+ people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, who may not feel comfortable talking to professionals.239

Professor O’Leary gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that when male victim-survivors are able to speak to people with similar experiences, it ‘can break that sense of isolation and shame, to know that the abuse isn’t about them, it’s all about the perpetrator’.240 A participant in the Healing Roundtable reflected that peer support is particularly important for men who ‘just don’t feel comfortable going to a sexual assault service’.241 Another participant in the Healing Roundtable highlighted that men can particularly benefit from the ‘collaborative process’ of peer support because men are more likely to ‘accept support if they’re also … part of providing support’.242

In addition, connection to peers has been identified as important for secondary victims.243 Peer support models enable secondary victims to have space for open discussion — where they can give and receive support from people with similar experiences,244 and have their own experience acknowledged and validated.245

While the evidence base about the effectiveness of peer support for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse is currently limited, some research has found positive results for participants.246 Positive psychological impacts include increased ability to accept and voice their experiences, with a reduction in self-blame.247 Positive interpersonal impacts include reduced isolation, ‘shifts in relating to self and others’ and improved personal relationships.248

The Board of Inquiry was told that peer support should be available to victim-survivors in addition to therapeutic services.249 However, despite the importance of peer support, Dr Tucci gave evidence that currently ‘the onus is on victim-survivors to generate these groups themselves’.250 He told the Board of Inquiry that ‘[t]here is something very powerful about these groups coming from victim-survivors, but they could be better resourced’.251

One individual told the Board of Inquiry about her challenges in accessing peer support for women:

I was made aware of a support group of survivors from Beaumaris Primary School, and when I contacted them to see if I could join, I was told, ‘We are all men and there isn’t really a place for women in our group’. So I have been alone in this.252

Maureen Hatcher, Founder, LOUD fence Inc, told the Board of Inquiry that LOUD fence Inc, a grassroots organisation, arranges peer support groups for victim-survivors of historical institutional child sexual abuse.253 LOUD fence Inc has collaborated with The Survivor Hub, a Sydney-based organisation, to host peer support groups in Ballarat, known as ‘MeetUps’.254 The Survivor Hub also runs independent MeetUps in Melbourne.255

In addition, LOUD fence Inc facilitates other opportunities for peer connection through arranging creative workshops for victim-survivors and their supporters.256 In its submission to the Board of Inquiry, LOUD fence Inc noted that it would ‘like to see improvement in … access for victim-survivor and community-led support’.257

Open Place operates monthly Social Support Groups for ‘Pre-1990 Care Leavers’ (also known as ‘Forgotten Australians’), meaning people who spent time in institutional or other forms of out-of-home care as children prior to 1990.258 These groups provide opportunities for socialisation and group activities.259 However, the Board of Inquiry notes that, for the purposes of its’ work, the definition of ‘government school’ in the Terms of Reference ‘excludes schools that were historically attached to orphanages or group homes’.260

The In Good Faith Foundation facilitates the Victorian Survivors’ Collective. This is not a peer support group, but a community action group focused on victim-survivor empowerment, ‘with the capacity to function as an education forum’.261

Lack of social and relational support, and support for secondary victims

While clause 3(e) of the Board of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference did not require it to consider the effectiveness of support services for secondary victims, clause 3(d) required it to consider ‘[a]ppropriate ways to support healing for affected victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected communities’.262 The Board of Inquiry considers that ensuring secondary victims are able to access supports is important to their healing.

The Board of Inquiry heard expert evidence that a victim-survivor’s family, including adult partners, can be their most significant type of support.263 The Board of Inquiry heard that it is often a family member, partner or other supporter who first reaches out for support on the victim-survivor’s behalf.264 Research has shown that disclosures of child sexual abuse in adulthood are mostly made to partners.265

Research has shown that secondary victims support victim-survivors with mental health and drug and alcohol challenges that arise from their experiences of child sexual abuse, and engaging with the criminal and civil justice systems.266 The Board of Inquiry heard examples of secondary victims providing victim-survivors with emotional support, as well as practical support; for example, driving victim-survivors to appointments.267 In his evidence to the Board of Inquiry, Professor O’Leary explained that victim-survivors’ supporters need support themselves.268

In addition, the Board of Inquiry understands that secondary victims may be managing the relationship impacts caused by the victim-survivor’s experience of abuse. The Board of Inquiry heard that relationships may experience strain due to anger issues, difficulties with intimacy, or financial or other challenges.269 Secondary victims’ own wellbeing, including their mental and physical health, may also be affected.270

The Board of Inquiry heard that providing support to the whole family unit can improve outcomes for victim-survivors. A participant in a Services Roundtable explained: ‘It’s certainly better for the welfare of the primary survivor … if we’re able to work together with a family group rather than divide them up’.271 Dr Tucci gave evidence on the importance of supporting secondary victims to respond to disclosures from victim-survivors, noting that positive responses can ‘provide a significant opportunity for healing and transformation’.272

A participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry of the importance of a service response that ‘understands that we are all affected by the social environment in which we exist … [and] supports the whole family’.273

Despite the important role that family and friends play in supporting victim-survivors, the Board of Inquiry heard that they are not always recognised as secondary victims by services. This is explored below.

Dr Tucci gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that ‘there is little being offered to secondary victims’.274 Dr Gordon agreed that secondary victims may miss out on support.275 One secondary victim told the Board of Inquiry:

As secondary victims we too have been exposed to trauma, yet [the] reality is, we have NO voice in this mess. NO support and NO help.276

Secondary victims currently need to go through the same services as adult victim-survivors.277 This means they face the same availability and accessibility challenges as victim-survivors.

Furthermore, secondary victims may find it difficult to receive support under existing support service models.278

While providing support to non-offending family members and support people of victim-survivors is within the scope of service delivery arrangements for specialist sexual assault services,279 the Board of Inquiry heard that, in practice, these services have to limit the amount of support they can give to secondary victims because of competing priorities.280

In its submission to the Board of Inquiry, Sexual Assault Services Victoria noted:

Secondary victims of institutional child sexual abuse, such as parents and family members, may also need support … Victoria’s specialist sexual assault services work both with victim survivors and non-offending family members and are well placed to provide information and support to secondary victims to support their relationship with the victim survivor, as well as ways to manage their own wellbeing. However, service demand pressures, including long waiting lists, mean that secondary victims often cannot access support services.281

WestCASA confirmed that its service is only able to offer up to three sessions to secondary victims, and the focus of those sessions is on education.282 WestCASA noted that, while education is important, ‘a lot of the time secondary victim-survivors are also experiencing trauma’, and its service does not have the capacity to address this.283

For some services, secondary victims may not meet eligibility criteria at all. A participant in a Services Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry that their service’s government funding does not extend to secondary victims, but they try to find funding elsewhere to provide support for secondary victims.284

In contrast, a participant in a Services Roundtable from a VAP provider reflected that their service has ‘no barriers to supporting secondary or related victims to the primary victim’, including no limits in terms of timeframes for support.285

The Board of Inquiry understands that the Victorian Government’s changes to the Counselling and Psychological Care Service that took effect from 1 November 2023 now enable direct provision of counselling and psychological care services to a victim-survivor’s family members (including by birth or choice).286

Prior to these changes, secondary victims could only receive these services indirectly, throug family therapy.287 While beneficial, these offerings are only available to secondary victims if the victim-survivor is eligible for, and has accepted an offer of, redress under the National Redress Scheme.288

In addition, a victim-survivor’s family members are able to receive reimbursement for sessions with private counselling or psychological services from the Department as part of its Counselling Assistance Payments.289

Limited number of professionals skilled in trauma-informed responses

Victim-survivors need access to support services that make them feel safe, believed and understood.290 Dr Gordon gave evidence that the establishment of a safe place and a trusted relationship is central to a best-practice response to child sexual abuse, by means of which victim-survivors can unpack their memories.291 A participant in the Lived Experience Roundtable explained how important these types of responses can be:

If you get the right person at the beginning, whether it’s your GP, whether it’s a social worker, if it’s the right person who takes on board what you’re there for, you’re on the road.292

Dr Gordon explained that best practice for professionals who are providing support services to victim-survivors is to have a sound education in trauma.293 In addition, Professor Bromfield gave evidence that the way in which services engage with clients must not be traumatising for victim-survivors.294 There is an increasing expectation that professionals working in social sector workforces and services have a baseline knowledge of trauma. In 2023, the National Office for Child Safety released new Minimum Practice Standards for specialist and community services responding to child sexual abuse.295 These Minimum Practice Standards recognise that trauma-informed service delivery should be embedded in the practice of services responding to current and historical child sexual abuse.296

A trauma-informed approach means that all people in an organisation have a basic realisation about trauma and its effects, are able to recognise the signs and symptoms of trauma, can respond by applying trauma-informed principles, and actively seek to resist the re-traumatisation of clients.297

While trauma-informed responses from all support services are beneficial, different services will require different levels of organisational ability and workforce knowledge, capability and expertise, depending on the type of support they provide.298

Experts provided evidence to the Board of Inquiry that all support services should be able to work with trauma generally;299 for example, by incorporating knowledge of trauma into ways of working, and ensuring links with services that provide trauma-specific services when needed.300 Professor Bromfield provided evidence that this is important because victim-survivors are over-represented as users of a range of services.301 Research confirms that victim-survivors of child maltreatment (including child sexual abuse) have a higher number of consultations with healthcare professionals of various types, including GPs.302

The Board of Inquiry also understands that knowledge and training in health services on sensitive ways of working with people who have experienced historical child sexual abuse is important, in light of the ‘impact of childhood abuse on health and the healthcare experience’.303 Similarly, research indicates that there is a need for professionals in aged care facilities to have education and training in trauma-informed care.304 This is particularly so for professionals providing support to victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, who may fear entering such settings because of their previous traumatic experiences and feelings of powerlessness in institutions.305 Needing to rely on an institution can trigger memories for these victim-survivors, increasing levels of anxiety and other mental health concerns.306

Professor Higgins gave evidence about the critical need for victim-survivors to have access to therapeutic support from ‘experienced practitioners who understand, and are experienced in working with, victim-survivors’.307 Services also indicated that responding to historical institutional child sexual abuse requires specialised knowledge.308 In addition, research shows that support services working with victim-survivors of crimes such as historical child sexual abuse require ‘a level of specialisation and a sophisticated understanding of trauma and its practice implications’.309

Workforce supply and capability challenges

Unfortunately, some victim-survivors shared with the Board of Inquiry instances where they tried to disclose or seek help, but were met with inadequate responses.310 Professor Bromfield gave evidence about the effect a lack of trauma-informed capability can have on a victim-survivor’s experiences with services:

I’ve been devastated when I read survivor accounts who talk about themselves as untreatable. ‘I’ve been to multiple services and I’m untreatable’. That is not on the survivor. That, to me, is a sign that that survivor has repeatedly experienced ineffective treatments that didn’t adapt to the way that their complex trauma was manifesting at that time.311

Others noted that finding these appropriate, trauma-informed professionals has been difficult.312 Some experts told the Board of Inquiry that there are few services focusing specifically on historical child sexual abuse.313 For example, Professor O’Leary gave evidence about the lack of therapeutic services that have a specialisation in historical child sexual abuse and experiences with complex trauma.314 He said that while there are services that respond to sexual violence or child abuse more broadly, historical child sexual abuse in institutions may not be their primary focus.315 Professor Bromfield also gave evidence that more capability is required across services to respond to complex, childhood trauma.316 Dr Tucci acknowledged that progress is being made, but observed that ‘[a]ll services need to understand more about the impact of trauma on the capacities of victim-survivors’.317 The Board of Inquiry was told that this lack of specific focus in services can make it difficult for victim-survivors to receive the support they need.318

However, the Board of Inquiry heard from others that Victoria has relatively good support services for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse compared to some other states and the territories.319 Sexual Assault Services Victoria told the Board of Inquiry that specialist sexual assault services can ‘provide best-practice, evidence-informed approaches to providing effective support for adults who have experienced child sexual abuse at government schools’.320 However, it outlined that constraints such as funding ‘limit full access to services’.321 The DFFH gave evidence that specialist sexual assault services have ‘deep clinical and practice expertise in relation to … trauma’, but acknowledged that ‘there is always further work to do to build the capability of the workforce around complex trauma’.322 As described previously in this Chapter, these services are experiencing resource capacity challenges (with regard to funding and workforce supply) that limit people’s ability to access and receive timely support.

The Board of Inquiry received evidence that simply increasing funding for existing services, or introducing more support services, will not solve the problem.323 There are issues with both the number of qualified workers available, and the capability of the existing workforce to respond to trauma.324

Workforce supply challenges

The Victorian Skills Authority estimates that almost 4,000 additional welfare support and social workers will be required by 2025.325 Victorian Government representatives told the Board of Inquiry at its public hearings that the social services sector has undergone a period of increased demand and expansion.326 They commented on the workforce challenges associated with this expansion.327 The DJCS acknowledged during its evidence that ‘the workforce is not always there’.328

There is increased demand for nursing, aged care, disability and mental health services, but these services draw on a similar pool of people and qualifications, and are all experiencing shortages.329 This means they compete for workers.330 At the same time, workforce attrition has increased. While in previous decades people would stay in the same profession for 20–30 years, this is no longer the case. Replacing professionals who leave a service with appropriately skilled staff can be a challenge.331

Workforce capability challenges

The Board of Inquiry understands that workforce supply is not the only challenge affecting services. Capability challenges are also having a significant effect on workforces, both current and future.

In relation to the future workforce, the Board of Inquiry heard mixed views about the degree to which the impacts of child sexual abuse and working with trauma are taught in key courses. The DFFH gave evidence that ‘pre-service education, through social work and psychology’, has a focus on trauma-informed care.332 In contrast, a participant in a Services Roundtable said that that there is a lack of focus on trauma and the impacts of child sexual abuse in relevant university courses, including in social work, psychology and counselling degrees, which is contributing to low workforce capability.333 Participants in the same Services Roundtable noted that services may find that the pool of applicants do not have the requisite skills in working with trauma and victim-survivors of child sexual abuse.334

In relation to the existing workforce, the Board of Inquiry heard that there is a need for ‘training and support for practitioners across a range of different systems about how to … hear and hold these stories of trauma’.335 The Board of Inquiry understands that ongoing professional development is important because the evidence base in relation to complex trauma continues to evolve.336 The Board of Inquiry was told that professionals across key services, such as in specialist sexual assault services and the VAP, do receive opportunities for professional development.337 However, demand pressures mean that workers do not always have the opportunity to engage in suitable levels of professional development that would continue to build their capability to provide trauma-informed responses.338

Bravehearts told the Board of Inquiry that the funding for services does not adequately cover professional development.339 This sentiment was reflected by multiple participants in a Services Roundtable. One participant reflected that, across community and specialist services, there are:

not enough supports or funding for services to deliver things like therapeutic supervision … [and other] appropriate tools to do the job; [such as] ongoing training and development to make sure they keep up with evidence-based practices.340

Another participant said that their service is experiencing:

contractual arrangements that are getting tighter and tighter and tighter, with very little capacity for … therapeutic supervision, [and] capability development. All of those investments are required to be made out of increasingly constrained management and admin funding that is provided to services.341

A third participant observed that, while new professionals in their service do receive training, this is run infrequently and only provides a ‘very brief overview’ of working with victim-survivors.342

Professor O’Leary also gave evidence on the need to ‘educate the broader health system about these specialist issues’, including how to ask a victim-survivor about a history of abuse in a way that does not traumatise them.343 He noted that ‘there is much work to do in this space to ensure quality of service’.344

On the way to healing

This Chapter has canvassed what the Board of Inquiry has learned about the support needs of victim-survivors and secondary victims of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

It is clear that support services are an integral part of helping victim-survivors and secondary victims to understand and manage the impacts of historical child sexual abuse. The Board of Inquiry has learned that there are many service offerings that can help victim-survivors and secondary victims with these impacts.

However, a number of challenges are resulting in inconsistent and sometimes poor experiences across these services.

Many of these challenges are systemic in nature and affect not only victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, but may also affect victim-survivors of child sexual abuse and other types of sexual assault, as well as service users more broadly. This is seen in the reports of other inquiries and reviews, which, after significant and expansive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, have found similar systemic challenges affecting other cohorts.345

The next Chapter, Chapter 18, Looking to the future(opens in a new window), sets out the recommendations that the Board of Inquiry believes need to be implemented to help contribute to victim-survivor healing, including (but not limited to) recommendations to improve support services.

Chapter 17 Endnotes

  1. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(e).
  2. Ben Mathews (ed), ‘The Australian Child Maltreatment Study: National Prevalence and Associated Health Outcomes of Child Abuse and Neglect’ (2023) 218(6) The Medical Journey of Australia..
  3. Ben Mathews et al, The Prevalence and Impact of Child Maltreatment in Australia: Findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (Brief Report, Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2023) 14.
  4. James G Scott and Ben Mathews, ‘The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS), a National Survey of the Prevalence of Child Maltreatment and its Correlates: Methodology’ (2023) 218(6) The Medical Journey of Australia S5, S5; Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 2,19, 24.
  5. Ben Mathews et al, The Prevalence and Impact of Child Maltreatment in Australia: Findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (Brief Report, Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2023) 17.
  6. Ben Mathews et al, The Prevalence and Impact of Child Maltreatment in Australia: Findings from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (Brief Report, Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2023) 19.
  7. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 2.
  8. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 4.
  9. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 10–11.
  10. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 6.
  11. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 5–6.
  12. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 5.
  13. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 9.
  14. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 8.
  15. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 5–6.
  16. Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 5–6.
  17. Tamara Blakemore et al, Impacts of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on Victims/Survivors: A Rapid Review of Research Findings (Report, December 2017) 45, 55; Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 5 [24].
  18. Tamara Blakemore et al, Impacts of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on Victims/Survivors: A Rapid Review of Research Findings (Report, December 2017) 56.
  19. Alexis Jay et al, Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (Interim Report, April 2018) 22.
  20. James Herbert et al, ‘Impacts of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse: What We Have Learned from Research and the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Private Sessions’ in India Bryce and Wayne Petherick (eds), Child Sexual Abuse: Forensic Issues in Evidence, Impact and Management (Elsevier Science & Technology, 2020) 227–9.
  21. Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Betrayal of Trust: Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations (Report, November 2013) vol 1, 63; Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 3, 73.
  22. Tamara Blakemore et al, Impacts of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on Victims/Survivors: A Rapid Review of Research Findings (Report, 2017) 43.
  23. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 13, 9; Statement of Lisa Featherstone, 5 December 2023, 7 [35].
  24. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 6 [28]–[31].
  25. Victoria, White Paper on Strategies and Structures for Education in Victorian Government Schools (FD Atkinson Government Printer, 1980) 7 [2.1].
  26. ‘Effects: How Early Childhood Trauma is Unique’, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (Web Page, 10 January 2024) <https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/early-childhood-trauma/effects>(opens in a new window).
  27. Daniel Cruz et al, ‘Developmental Trauma: Conceptual Framework, Associated Risks and Comorbidities, and Evaluation and Treatment’ (2022) 13 Front Psychiatry 800687, 1–14, 3–4; Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-282 [34]–[46], P-283 [42]–[46], P-284 [1]–[21].
  28. Daniel Cruz et al, ‘Developmental Trauma: Conceptual Framework, Associated Risks and Comorbidities, and Evaluation and Treatment’ (2022) 13 Front Psychiatry 800687, 1–14, 1; ‘The Long Shadow of Childhood Trauma’, Nine to Noon (RNZ, 9 February 2022); Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-283 [7]–[46].
  29. See e.g.: Private session 29; Private session 26.
  30. See e.g.: Private session 23; Private session 14.
  31. See e.g.: Private session 15; Private session 20.
  32. See e.g.: Submission 34, 1.
  33. See e.g.: Private session 23.
  34. See e.g.: Private session 2; Submission 43, 1.
  35. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-282 [42]–[44].
  36. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 14 [70].
  37. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 8 [38]; Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-199 [43]–[45]; Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 12 [65].
  38. Tamara Blakemore et al, ‘The Impacts of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse: A Rapid Review of the Evidence’ (2017) 74 Child Abuse & Neglect 35, 39; Shoshanah Lyons et al, ‘Developmental Trauma Close Up’ (Beacon House Therapeutic Services & Trauma Team, January 2020) 7.
  39. Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Betrayal of Trust: Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations (Report, November 2013) vol 1, 72; Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 5 [22].
  40. Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Betrayal of Trust: Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations (Report, November 2013) vol 1, 72.
  41. Eden Thain et al, Conceptualising Child Abuse and Neglect Related Complex Trauma in Children and Young People: An Exploratory Pilot Study (Report, December 2022) 5.
  42. See e.g.: Private session 15; Private session 24; Private session 2; Private session 4; Private session 23; Private session 9; Private session 36.
  43. See e.g.: Submission 4, 1; Private session 3; Private session 11; Private session 15; Private session 31.
  44. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(e).
  45. Private session 9.
  46. Private session 9.
  47. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [15]–[20]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-6 [36]–[44]; Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 7.
  48. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 24 October 2023, P-22 [5]–[6].
  49. See e.g.: ‘Support Services’, Respect.gov.au (Web Page) <https://www.respect.gov.au/services>(opens in a new window); ‘Mental Health Services Directory’, Victorian Agency for Health Information (Web Page) <https://vahi.vic.gov.au/mental-health-services>(opens in a new window); ‘Sexual assault support services’, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Web Page) <https://services.dffh.vic.gov.au/sexual-assault-support-services>(opens in a new window); ‘Report Abuse If You’re a Current or Former Student’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/report-abuse-if-youre-current-or-former-student>(opens in a new window); ‘Victims of Crime’, Victims of Crime (Web Page) <https://www.victimsofcrime.vic.gov.au>(opens in a new window).
  50. Submission 47, LOUD fence Inc, 4.
  51. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-23 [28]–[36]; Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 7.
  52. Submission 17, 1.
  53. Submission 17, 1.
  54. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 18 [120].
  55. ‘Blue Knot Helpline and Redress Support Service’, Blue Knot (Web Page) <https://blueknot.org.au/survivors/blue-knot-helpline-redress-support-service>(opens in a new window).>.
  56. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 3 November 2023, 6 [21].
  57. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-23 [13]–[14].
  58. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 24 October 2023, P-21 [5]–[8].
  59. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 24 October 2023, P-21 [14].
  60. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-8 [5]–[7].
  61. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 6 [20]–[21].
  62. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 179; Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 148 [7.32].
  63. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 149; Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) vol 1, 489.
  64. See e.g.: State Government of Victoria, ‘Sexual Assault’, Victims of Crime (Web Page, 27 November 2023) <https://www.victimsofcrime.vic.gov.au/sexual-assault>(opens in a new window).
  65. See e.g.: ‘National Redress Scheme’, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/national-redress-scheme>(opens in a new window).
  66. See e.g.: ‘Sexual Assault’, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Web Page) <https://services.dffh.vic.gov.au/sexual-assault>.(opens in a new window)
  67. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 123.
  68. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 123.
  69. Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) Summary and Recommendations, 8, 11.
  70. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 144 [7.14] – 145 [7.17].
  71. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-16 [10]–[13].
  72. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-8 [15]–[18].
  73. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 11 [51].
  74. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-28 [15]–[18].
  75. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 9 [42], 10 [45]–[46]; Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 66–8.
  76. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-254 [20]–[21].
  77. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 1; Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 4 [13(b)].
  78. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 10–11 [46].
  79. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [39]–[47]; Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 10 [45].
  80. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-29 [18] – P-30 [38].
  81. Services Roundtable, Transcript of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-14 [31]–[41]; Submission 46, In Good Faith Foundation, 3.
  82. Submission 46, In Good Faith Foundation, 9.
  83. Submission 46, In Good Faith Foundation, 9.
  84. ‘Victoria Redress Support Services’, National Redress Scheme (Web Page) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/support/explore/vic-redress-support-services>(opens in a new window).
  85. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-Survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 4 [5].
  86. Transcript of Government Panel (Wendy Sanderson), 23 November 2023, P-266 [1]–[9].
  87. Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-Survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 5 [14], 6 [25].
  88. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-11 [27]–[31].
  89. See e.g.: Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) xxv [44].
  90. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 65, 101.
  91. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-24 [30]–[40]; Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-9 [25]–[45].
  92. Private session 12.
  93. SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative, SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (Report, July 2014) 13.
  94. Jan Breckenridge, Michael Salter and Elisabeth Shaw, Use and Abuse: Understanding the Intersections of Childhood Abuse, Alcohol and Drug Use and Mental Health (Report, January 2010) 38.
  95. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017)
    vol 9, 66–7.
  96. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-24 [30]–[40].
  97. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-24 [37]–[38].
  98. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 61.
  99. Private session 32.
  100. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 5.
  101. Victoria Police, Multidisciplinary Centres (MDCs) (Information Sheet) 1 <https://msau-mdvs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MDC_Information_Sheet.pdf>(opens in a new window).
  102. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-7 [40]–[45].
  103. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-27 [30]–[34]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-7 [40]–[45].
  104. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-7 [40]–[45]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-27 [24]–[30].
  105. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-7 [30].
  106. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 147.
  107. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, Attachment LB-3, Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia, Minimum Practice Standards: Specialist and Community Support Services Responding to Child Sexual Abuse (Report, June 2023) 10.
  108. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 10 [44].
  109. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 7 [34].
  110. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-255 [2]–[3].
  111. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-270 [31].
  112. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-270 [32]–[33].
  113. Transcript of Government Panel (Bill Kyriakopoulos), 23 November 2023, P-275 [15]–[17].
  114. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-11 [36]–[37].
  115. Antonia Quadara et al, Family Relationships and the Disclosure of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Report, December 2017) 75.
  116. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-23 [32]–[34]; Submission 33, 2.
  117. Antonia Quadara et al, Pathways to Support Services for Victim/Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Their Families (Report, December 2017) 94.
  118. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Transcript of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-11 [34]–[36].
  119. Services Roundtable, Transcript of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-15 [28]–[29].
  120. Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) vol 4, 107.
  121. Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) Summary and Recommendations, 8.
  122. Statement of Daryl Higgins, 28 November 2023, 8 [43]; Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 8 [39].
  123. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-20 [28]–[32].
  124. ‘National Survey Sounds Alarm for Patients and Psychologists after Mental Health Funding Cuts’, Australian Psychological Society (Media Release, 1 March 2023) <https://psychology.org.au/about-us/news-and-media/media-releases/2023/national-survey-sounds-alarm-for-patients-and-psyc>(opens in a new window).
  125. ‘Patient Experiences, 2022– 23’, Australian Bureau of Statistics (21 November 2023) <https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-services/patient-experiences/latest-release>(opens in a new window).
  126. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-14 [36]–[41].
  127. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 11 [44].
  128. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-10 [1]–[5].
  129. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 15 [79].
  130. Submission 33, 2.
  131. Submission 33, 2.
  132. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-251 [5]–[14]; Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 11 [44]; National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence, Standards of Practice Manual for Services Against Sexual Violence (3rd ed, 2021) 81.
  133. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-253 [12]–[16].
  134. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 7 [44].
  135. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-15 [40]–[45].
  136. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-14 [39]–[41].
  137. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-18 [22]–[24].
  138. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 4.
  139. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 14 [47(d)].
  140. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 69; Claire Grealy et al, Capturing Practice Knowledge from the Royal Commission Support Model: Final Report (Report, December 2017) 17; Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) vol 2, 371; Victorian Law Reform Commission, Review of the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Report, July 2018) 309 [13.210], 310.
  141. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 December 2023, P-286 [28]–[29].
  142. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 December 2023, P-286 [34]–[39].
  143. Louise O’Brien, Corinne Henderson and Jenna Bateman, ‘Finding a Place for Healing: Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Their Experience of Accessing Services’ (2007) 6(2) Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health 1446-7984, 1–10, 5; Transcript of Rob Gordon, 16 December 2023, P-286 [12]–[15].
  144. Louise O’Brien, Corinne Henderson and Jenna Bateman, ‘Finding a Place for Healing: Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Their Experience of Accessing Services’ (2007) 6(2) Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health 1446-7984, 1–10, 5; Patrick O’Leary and Nick Gould, ‘Exploring Coping Factors amongst Men Who Were Sexually Abused in Childhood’ (2010) 40 British Journal of Social Work 2669, 2683.
  145. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 4; Submission 47, LOUD fence Inc, 3.
  146. Private session 11.
  147. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 8 [38].
  148. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-287 [8]–[19].
  149. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-287 [14]–[16].
  150. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017)
    vol 9, 69–70.
  151. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-252 [31]–[39].
  152. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 4.
  153. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [37]–[44].
  154. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-14 [30]–[35], P-16 [30]–[35].
  155. ‘Mental Health Care and Medicare’, Services Australia (Web Page) <https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/mental-health-care-and-medicare?context=60092>(opens in a new window).
  156. ‘Additional 10 MBS Mental Health Sessions during COVID-19’, Department of Health and Aged Care (Fact Sheet) <https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-06/additional-10-mbs-mental-health-sessions-during-covid-19-faqs-for-consumers.pdf>(opens in a new window).
  157. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 10 [45].
  158. Linda M Williams, ‘Understanding Child Abuse and Violence against Women: A Life Course Perspective’ (2003) 18(4) Journal of Interpersonal Violence 441, 442–3.
  159. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 3, 9.
  160. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-78 [6]–[10].
  161. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 10 [49].
  162. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 10 [67]; Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 4 [20]; Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 December 2023, P-236 [15]–[19].
  163. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 10 [67].
  164. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 4 [19]; Transcript of Rob Gordon, 16 December 2023, P-274 [30].
  165. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 10 [67]; Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 4 [19].
  166. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 10 [67].
  167. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 34.
  168. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 9 [44].
  169. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 9 [46].
  170. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-199 [45] – P-200 [5].
  171. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-201 [10]–[20].
  172. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 8 [38].
  173. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-10 [5]–[10].
  174. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-17 [34]–[35].
  175. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 10 [45].
  176. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 10 [45].
  177. Private session 18.
  178. Private session 30.
  179. Private session 30.
  180. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-27 [40]–[41].
  181. Antonia Quadara et al, Pathways to Support Services for Victim/Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Their Families (Report, 2016) 95–6.
  182. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-9 [17]–[21]; Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-23 [4]–[10].
  183. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-9 [4]–[10], [17]–[21]; Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-23 [4]–[10].
  184. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-23 [4]–[10].
  185. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 73; Submission 47, LOUD fence Inc, 3.
  186. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-20 [39]–[45].
  187. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, Attachment KR-2; ‘Report Abuse If You’re a Current or Former Student’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/report-abuse-if-youre-current-or-former-student#specialist-support-services>(opens in a new window).
  188. Statement of Kate Rattigan, 3 November 2023, Attachment KR-2; ‘Report Abuse If You’re a Current or Former Student’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/report-abuse-if-youre-current-or-former-student#specialist-support-services>(opens in a new window).
  189. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-243 [19]–[26].
  190. Brahmaputra Marjadi et al, ‘Twelve Tips for Inclusive Practice in Healthcare Settings’ (2023) 20(5) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 4657, 1–11, 2.
  191. Brahmaputra Marjadi et al, ‘Twelve Tips for Inclusive Practice in Healthcare Settings’ (2023) 20(5) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 4657, 1–11, 2.
  192. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 73.
  193. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 15–16 [80].
  194. Chapter 7, Experiences of sexual abuse and its impact on childhood. See also: Ben Mathews et al, ‘Child Sexual Abuse by Different Classes and Types of Perpetrator: Prevalence and Trends from an Australian National Survey’ (2024) 147 Child Abuse & Neglect 106562, 1–15, 5.
  195. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-200 [18]–[46].
  196. Patrick O’Leary, Scott Easton and Nick Gould, ‘The Effect of Child Sexual Abuse on Men: Toward a Male Sensitive Measure’ (2017) 32(3) Journal of Interpersonal Violence 423, 423; Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 8 [55]; Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December) vol 9, 140; Healing Roundtable, 29 November 2023, P-8 [16]–[26].
  197. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 6 [41].
  198. Patrick O’Leary, Scott Easton and Nick Gould, ‘The Effect of Child Sexual Abuse on Men: Toward a Male Sensitive Measure’ (2017) 32(3) Journal of Interpersonal Violence 423, 425.
  199. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 6 [41]; Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-200 [35]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-23 [38]–[46]; Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [16]–[26].
  200. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 8 [56].
  201. ‘Our History’, Centre against Sexual Assault: Central Victoria (Web Page) ; Michelle Arrow and Angela Woollacott, ‘Revolutionising the Everyday: The Transformative Impact of the Sexual and Feminist Movements on Australian Society and Culture’ in Michelle Arrow and Angela Woollacott (eds), Everyday Revolutions: Remaking Gender, Sexuality and Culture in 1970s Australia (ANU Press, 2019) 1, 3.
  202. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-75 [13]–[15].
  203. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 7 [46].
  204. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 1, 4.
  205. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-256 [40]–[45].
  206. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-16 [37]–[44].
  207. Submission 33, 2.
  208. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-23 [20]–[25].
  209. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 13 [52].
  210. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 13 [52].
  211. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 61.
  212. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 77–8.
  213. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 4.
  214. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 7 [27]–[28].
  215. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 8 [40].
  216. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 13 [53].
  217. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 4.
  218. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 8 [40]; Submission 29, Bravehearts, 4.
  219. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 136.
  220. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 136.
  221. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-78 [8]–[10].
  222. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria.
  223. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-78 [10]–[14].
  224. ‘Peer Support’, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Infographic) <https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/programs_campaigns/brss_tacs/peer-support-2017.pdf>(opens in a new window).
  225. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 7 [50].
  226. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-18 [43] – P-19 [7].
  227. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 13 [60].
  228. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-287 [38]–[43].
  229. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-14 [15].
  230. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-18 [6]–[9].
  231. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-47 [37]–[40].
  232. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2024, P-13 [19]–[29].
  233. Private session 24.
  234. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [35]–[45].
  235. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-19 [24]–[29].
  236. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-14 [33].
  237. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, 13 [53]; Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-288 [1]–[2].
  238. See e.g.: Private session 19; Private session 23.
  239. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, 12 [52] – 13 [53].
  240. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2021, P-201 [37]–[39].
  241. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-18 [2]–[3].
  242. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-26 [10]–[15].
  243. See e.g.: Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-22 [10]–[15]; Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-18 [38]–[46]; Antonia Quadara, Mary Stathopoulos and Rachel Carson, Family Relationships and the Disclosure of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Report, July 2016) 94.
  244. Antonia Quadara, Mary Stathopoulos and Rachel Carson, Family Relationships and the Disclosure of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Report, July 2016) 94.
  245. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 14 [68].
  246. Judit Konya et al, ‘Peer-Led Groups for Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Assault: A Systematic Review’ (2020) Journal of Mental Health 32529864, 1–13, 10.
  247. Judit Konya et al, ‘Peer-Led Groups for Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Assault: A Systematic Review’ (2020) Journal of Mental Health 32529864, 1–13, 6–7.
  248. Judit Konya et al, ‘Peer-Led Groups for Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Assault: A Systematic Review’ (2020) Journal of Mental Health 32529864, 1–13, 7–8.
  249. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-288 [1]–[3]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [2]–[25].
  250. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 13 [62].
  251. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 13 [62].
  252. Submission 22, 2.
  253. Statement of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, 3 [12].
  254. Statement of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, 5 [24].
  255. Statement of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, 5 [24].
  256. Statement of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, 4 [22].
  257. Submission 47, LOUD fence Inc, 2.
  258. ‘About Forgotten Australians’, Open Place (Web Page) <https://www.openplace.org.au/our-story/about-forgotten-australians/>(opens in a new window).
  259. ‘Social Support Groups’, Open Place (Web Page) <https://www.openplace.org.au/social-support-groups>(opens in a new window).
  260. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(3).
  261. ‘Community Action and Support Groups’, In Good Faith Foundation (Web Page) <https://igff.org.au/community-action-groups>(opens in a new window).
  262. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 3(d).
  263. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 14 [65].
  264. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-200 [33]–[35].
  265. Antonia Quadara, Mary Stathopoulos and Rachel Carson, Family Relationships and the Disclosure of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Report, July 2016) 210.
  266. Antonia Quadara, Mary Stathopoulos and Rachel Carson, Family Relationships and the Disclosure of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Report, July 2016) 61.
  267. See e.g.: Private session 19; Private session 30.
  268. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-201 [19]–[20].
  269. See e.g.: Private session 19.
  270. Antonia Quadara, Mary Stathopoulos and Rachel Carson, Family Relationships and the Disclosure of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (Report, July 2016) 11.
  271. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-7 [1]–[5].
  272. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 14 [67].
  273. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-5 [24]–[28].
  274. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 14 [65].
  275. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-289 [12]–[25].
  276. Submission 33, 1.
  277. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 13 [63].
  278. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 13 [63].
  279. Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, ‘Sexual Assault Support Services: 38016’ (Document, December 2020).
  280. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2024, P-22 [16]–[22].
  281. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 7.
  282. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-9 [4]–[5].
  283. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-9 [6]–[9].
  284. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-6 [40]–[45].
  285. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-7 [34]–[35].
  286. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 6 [19]; ‘National Redress Counselling and Psychological Care Service: Victoria’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page, 31 October 2023) <https://www.vic.gov.au/national-redress-counselling-psychological-care>.(opens in a new window)
  287. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 4 [13], 6 [19].
  288. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 5–6 [18]–[19].
  289. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 6 [19].
  290. See e.g.: Submission 29, Bravehearts, 2; Donna S Martsolf et al, ‘A Meta-Summary of Qualitative Findings about Professional Services for Survivors of Sexual Violence’ (2010) 15(3) The Qualitative Report 489, 494; Louise O’Brien, Corinne Henderson and Jenna Bateman, ‘Finding a Place for Healing: Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Their Experience of Accessing Services’ (2007) 6(2) Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health 1446-7984, 1–10, 5; Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-11 [27]–[33], P-14 [30]–[34]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-9 [36]–[40]; Statement of Daryl Higgins, 28 November 2023, 8 [43].
  291. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-286 [8]–[16].
  292. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-7 [17]–[19].
  293. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 9 [41].
  294. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-76 [2]–[7].
  295. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, Attachment LB-3; Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia, Minimum Practice Standards: Specialist and Community Support Services Responding to Child Sexual Abuse (Report, June 2023) 15.
  296. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, Attachment LB-3; Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia, Minimum Practice Standards: Specialist and Community Support Services Responding to Child Sexual Abuse (Report, June 2023) 8.
  297. SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative, SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (Report, July 2014) 9.
  298. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 60.
  299. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 16 [84]; Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 7 [36].
  300. Antonia Quadara and Cathryn Hunter, ‘Principles of Trauma-Informed Approaches to Child Sexual Abuse’ (Discussion Paper, 2016) 19.
  301. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-75 [40].
  302. Rosana Pacella et al, ’Child Maltreatment and Health Service Use: Findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study’ (2023) 218(6 suppl) The Medical Journey of Australia S40, S41–2.
  303. Kristen Havig, ‘The Health Care Experiences of Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review of Evidence on Sensitive Practice’ (2008) 9(1) Trauma, Violence and Abuse 19, 20, 32; Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 10–11 [68].
  304. Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Report, 2021) vol 3A, 155; Ann MacRae et al, ‘Trauma-Informed Care within Residential Aged Care Settings: A Systematic Scoping Review’ (2023) 38(12) International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 10.1002/gps.6028, 1–16, 6; Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 10 [48].
  305. Kathryn Browne-Yung et al, ‘“I’d Rather Die in the Middle of a Street”: Perceptions and Expectations of Aged Care among Forgotten Australians’ (2021) 40(2) Australasian Journal on Ageing 168, 170–1; Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 13 [65].
  306. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 10 [48].
  307. Statement of Daryl Higgins, 28 November 2023, 8 [39]–[43].
  308. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-21 [39]–[40].
  309. Centre for Innovative Justice, Strengthening Victoria’s Victim Support System: Victim Services Review (Final Report, November 2020) 117.
  310. See e.g.: Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-12 [5]–[6], P-29 [45]; Private session 22; Private session 23; Private session 29.
  311. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-76 [25]–[29].
  312. See e.g.: Private session 24; Private session 12; Private session 34; Private session 11; Statement of Daryl Higgins, 28 November 2023, 8 [43].
  313. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-74 [35]–[40].
  314. Transcript of Patrick O’Leary, 16 November 2023, P-201 [5]–[11].
  315. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 6 [42] – 7 [44].
  316. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-76 [34]–[38].
  317. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 7 [36], 12 [55].
  318. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-74 [35]–[40].
  319. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 15 [79]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-15 [29]–[34].
  320. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 3.
  321. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 4.
  322. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-258 [8]–[11].
  323. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, 76 [34]–[38].
  324. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, 76 [34]–[38].
  325. Victorian Skills Authority, Victorian Skills Authority: Health and Community Services Industry Insight (Report, October 2022) 5–6.
  326. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-270 [43]–[46], P-271 [14]–[16].
  327. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-270 [40]–[45].
  328. Transcript of Government Panel (Bill Kyriakopoulos), 23 November 2023, P-271 [14]–[16].
  329. Response to invitation for additional information, Government Roundtable, 14 December 2023, received 29 December 2023, 2.
  330. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 5.
  331. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 5.
  332. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-257 [38]–[41].
  333. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-16 [10]–[15].
  334. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-16 [6]–[10], P-18 [29]–[35].
  335. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-31 [26]–[28].
  336. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-77 [9]–[15].
  337. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-257 [41]–[45]; Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 3; Document prepared by the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety in response to a Notice to Produce, ‘Support Services for Victim-Survivors of Historical Child Sexual Abuse’, 4 October 2023, 5 [17].
  338. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-16 [17]–[20].
  339. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 4.
  340. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-16 [17]–[20].
  341. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-17 [20]–[24].
  342. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-18 [40].
  343. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, P-10 – P-11 [68].
  344. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, P-10 [66].
  345. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017); Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021); Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) vol 4, 107.

Chapter 18

Looking to the future

Introduction

Despite the profound and long-lasting effects of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, it is possible for people and communities to heal. Chapter 15, Perspectives on healing(opens in a new window), explored concepts of healing, and how people can heal from these impacts, both individually and as communities. It established that healing is a very personal, multidimensional experience, and there is no healing response that meets everyone’s needs.

To understand the targeted responses that would best support healing from historical child sexual abuse in government schools, the Board of Inquiry engaged with victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members, as well as academic experts, service providers, and the State.

While there is no single solution that would help everyone heal, Chapter 15(opens in a new window) highlighted four significant ways to contribute to healing:

  • providing opportunities for recognition, reflection and acknowledgement
  • ensuring people have safe spaces to share their experiences
  • ensuring there is strong accountability for historical child sexual abuse, including transparency about what happened and about what has been done since to prevent further sexual abuse
  • providing support services that can contribute to healing for victim-survivors.

Chapter 17, Support needs and challenges(opens in a new window), explored in more detail the role support services play in helping victim-survivors to heal, and identified specific areas where changes could be made to improve victim-survivors’ access to, and experiences of, support services.

In this Chapter, the Board of Inquiry sets out its nine recommendations. These take into account the objectives identified in the Order in Council that established the Board of Inquiry and the evidence and information the Board of Inquiry has received in the course of its work. Although the Board of Inquiry’s recommendations are most closely connected to clauses 3(d) and (e) of its Terms of Reference, they also build on and relate to clauses 3(a), (b), (c) and (f).

Healing requires a holistic approach. Accordingly, the Board of Inquiry has made recommendations that complement, build on, and interact with each other. Although each recommendation has its own value, the positive impacts may not be fully realised if they are implemented in isolation.

Recognising and acknowledging harm

Chapter 15(opens in a new window) explored how acknowledging child sexual abuse in government schools and addressing past institutional failings are powerful ways to support healing, at both an individual and community level. Ways to do this include delivering public apologies to victim-survivors and creating memorials to acknowledge their experiences. These public responses can provide a platform for other healing responses of a more private nature.

A public apology

Dr Hazel Blunden, Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, and colleagues usefully characterise public apologies as ‘a recognition that wrong has been done to someone and that the institution takes responsibility for that wrong’.1

It is becoming more common for institutions to make public apologies to people who experienced historical child sexual abuse while in their care.

On 28 June 2023, the then Premier of Victoria, the Hon Daniel Andrews MP, spoke at a media conference where he announced the Board of Inquiry.2 Mr Andrews said the Board of Inquiry would ‘culminate in a … full apology’.3 As part of that announcement, Mr Andrews said the ‘unique circumstances at Beaumaris Primary School’ and the establishment of the Board of Inquiry warrant:

a separate apology that acknowledges the unique and evil goings on at that school, at that time … we think doing that as a stand-alone acknowledgement — the most formal acknowledgement that we can make — is the appropriate thing to do.4

Both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments have made other apologies in recent years in relation to institutional abuse, but not specifically in relation to historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

On 8 February 2024, in a joint sitting of Parliament, the Hon Jacinta Allan MP, Premier of Victoria, apologised ‘unreservedly’ to the more than 90,000 people who were placed into institutional care as children between 1928 and 1990 (known as ‘Pre-1990 Care Leavers’ or ‘Forgotten Australians’).5 The Premier said to victim-survivors, ‘[y]ou have met silence with truth’ and ‘I do want your contributions recorded in the history of [Parliament]’.6

On 27 November 2019, during his time as Premier, Mr Andrews apologised in Parliament to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse linked to Puffing Billy, a well-known steam railway and tourist attraction.7 This followed a report from the Victorian Ombudsman in 2018 about volunteers who had used their position with the Victorian Railways, including Puffing Billy, to perpetrate child sexual abuse.8 Mr Andrews also committed to victim-survivors that ’we will not let this happen again’.9

On 22 October 2018, following the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission), then Prime Minister the Hon Scott Morrison MP made a national apology in Federal Parliament to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.10 Another former Prime Minister, the Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC, apologised in Federal Parliament to Stolen Generations on 13 February 2008.11

The role of public apologies in supporting healing

For some, apologies can be part of an effective institutional response to wrongdoing.12 They are seen as a means to engage with communities that have been harmed, and to address the harm caused by the institution in the past.13 Apologies for historical institutional abuse have been described as ‘a potential means of acknowledging individual and collective wrongdoing, validating the suffering of victims, and furthering individual and societal healing by marking a symbolic break from the past’.14

However, some research suggests that while apologies can have ‘profound healing effects’, they are not always effective.15 The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations (often referred to as the Betrayal of Trust Inquiry) reported that many victim-survivors and their families felt that an apology that is not backed by action is inadequate.16

Bravehearts, an organisation that works with and advocates for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse, told the Board of Inquiry that while a ‘formal and public apology’ might be helpful for some victim-survivors, others may view it as tokenistic.17 Research also suggests that formal apologies can be considered insincere if they are required as a result of a formal process such as an inquiry.18

Dr Katie Wright, Associate Professor, Department of Social Inquiry, La Trobe University, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that views on apologies are mixed.19 Dr Wright said:

For an apology to be meaningful, it needs to be accompanied with action. I think an apology that is not meaningful is one where a politician might apologise but nothing is done, and that, obviously, is very difficult for victim-survivors and can ring a bit hollow, perhaps. So the more successful approaches appear to be where an apology is one part of a broader process of redressing what has happened in the past.20

Similarly, Professor Leah Bromfield, Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection and Chair of Child Protection, University of South Australia, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that apologies can be meaningful and contribute to addressing trauma, but can be harmful if they are not genuine and backed by action.21

For formal apologies made by government, acknowledgement of the wrongdoing is essential. However, the Board of Inquiry considers that a truly effective apology must go further and include a meaningful commitment to action.

Perspectives on the healing value of public apologies

The Board of Inquiry heard a range of perspectives from victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members about formal public apologies. While views were mixed, most people were supportive of a public apology. Some people who did not feel an apology would be valuable to them, personally, did not oppose one being made on the basis that other victim-survivors may find such an apology meaningful.

Some victim-survivors expressed a clear view that an apology would not be helpful to them. One victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that they did not want an apology because ‘the damage has been done’ and ‘what good is an apology if nothing changes’.22 A secondary victim said an apology would be problematic because an ‘apology is as apology does’, and any apology would need to be backed by action.23 One victim-survivor said that an apology would be hollow in the absence of their abuser being brought to justice.24 Another said that an apology from the State might be important to some people, but meant nothing to them; they considered making apologies to be a political process.25 An affected community member said that a public apology would make no difference to them.26

Emphasising the significance of action, one victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that an apology was less important to them than knowing that the Department of Education (Department) is working to address child sexual abuse in government schools in an ongoing way. However, they were comfortable with an apology, knowing that other victim-survivors in the community want one.27

Other victim-survivors thought that an apology would be helpful. A victim-survivor said they liked the idea of an apology, and that it would be helpful if victim-survivors had input into its wording.28

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that there should be an apology from the government, and that it should happen in Parliament.29 A further victim-survivor said that an apology was important for some people, but acknowledged that the people who would be apologising were not in the Department at the time the child sexual abuse occurred.30

One victim-survivor said they would like an apology from the State, with full recognition that what happened was not right.31 An affected community member said that a public apology from the State would be very healing for people.32 A victim-survivor said that an apology was necessary, and that a lot of people would feel better if an apology was made. However, they were concerned about how some people may be affected by an apology.33

A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that she thought apologies are very important and can be powerful. She described an apology as a way to acknowledge the truth and of not sweeping things under the carpet.34

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry he understood that for some, an apology would not do anything, but he was hopeful that it would give victim-survivors ‘somewhere to hang our burden’.35 He said, however, that an apology for victim-survivors of the child sexual abuse that occurred at Beaumaris Primary School would not go far enough, and that any apology could not be genuine unless the Department knew the full extent of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.36

Similarly, another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that a formal apology is important because it would give a voice to people who do not have one. He thought it is critical that an apology be made only once full details of the extent of child sexual abuse in government schools are known, and that the apology should be delivered in relation to all government schools, not just Beaumaris Primary School.37

A secondary victim said they thought an apology would feel very hollow to their partner if it was not a ‘whole-hearted’ one.38 An affected community member said there needs to be a formal apology from the Department to everyone who was at Beaumaris Primary School at the same time as the relevant employees.39 Another affected community member told the Board of Inquiry that apologies ‘mean something’.40

The Department’s apology

The Board of Inquiry acknowledges the formal apology to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools made by Jenny Atta PSM, Secretary, Department of Education, on behalf of the Department at the Board of Inquiry’s public hearings, and the publication of the apology online the same day.41 As part of that apology, Ms Atta said to victim-survivors: ‘I am profoundly sorry for the shocking abuse and injury inflicted upon you, abuse and injury that should never have occurred anywhere, especially in a place where you’re entitled to not only feel safe, a place where you should have been safest’.42

Ms Atta further acknowledged that she was ‘aware of evidence already before this Board of Inquiry ... that apology without a commitment and follow-through on a course of action carries the risk of further harm and an ongoing loss of trust’.43

Ms Atta committed to ‘fully engaging with the findings, conclusions and recommendations’ of the Board of Inquiry.44 The Board of Inquiry considers that the Department can build on its apology by publicly committing to actions it has already taken and is taking to prevent child sexual abuse in government schools and respond to victim-survivors. This could include, for example, documenting these actions on the Department’s website.

The Board of Inquiry also acknowledges the apology to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools made by Dr David Howes PSM, Deputy Secretary, Schools and Regional Services, Department of Education, during his evidence in the public hearings. Dr Howes apologised ‘profoundly’ and expressed ‘ongoing regret’ that people working in the position equivalent to his at the time of the child sexual abuse did not take action. He said: ‘[W]e will do everything that we can, those of us who hold those offices now, to make sure those things … do not happen again’.45

A public apology to all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools

The Board of Inquiry acknowledges that victim-survivors who shared their experiences with the inquiry expressed mixed views about a public apology. It understands that no formal apology can or would fully meet the needs of all victim-survivors, secondary victims or affected community members. As stated above, the Board considers that any apology must happen alongside other action to acknowledge and address harm.

On the balance of the information before it, the Board of Inquiry considers that a formal and public apology to all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools should be a fundamental part of the Victorian Government’s response to the findings set out in this report.

The Board of Inquiry does not consider it would be appropriate for the Victorian Government to limit its apology to victim-survivors who attended schools that were the subject of this Board of Inquiry’s work, for two main reasons. First, the information available to the Board of Inquiry has revealed that historical child sexual abuse in government schools extended beyond Beaumaris Primary School and the other schools falling within the inquiry’s scope. On this issue, the Board of Inquiry does not anticipate the State would take a different view. In other words, the Board of Inquiry understands the State would not disagree that child sexual abuse in government schools during the relevant period extended beyond the schools within the inquiry’s scope. Second, victim-survivors who were not able to share their experiences with the Board of Inquiry due to its narrow scope could feel distressed, angry and in some cases re-traumatised if an apology did not recognise their experiences.

Therefore, the Board of Inquiry considers that the Victorian Government must publicly apologise for historical child sexual abuse that occurred in all government schools across Victoria.

However, the public apology should explicitly acknowledge the experiences reflected in this report and the failures of the Department’s response at the time of the sexual abuse, as identified in this report.

The Board of Inquiry heard from some victim-survivors who were concerned about the Victorian Government making an apology before the Department has undertaken work to understand the extent of historical child sexual abuse in all government schools, believing that an apology should not be made until this work is done. The Board of Inquiry has given careful consideration to this issue, acknowledging that there has not yet been full transparency about or accounting for historical child sexual abuse in government schools on a statewide basis.

The Board of Inquiry strongly supports the Department undertaking work to understand — then disclose to the public — the full extent of historical child sexual abuse in its schools. This is discussed later in this Chapter. As will be seen, the Board of Inquiry has taken the view that the Department should not stop working to understand the extent of sexual abuse in government schools at the conclusion of this inquiry.

The Board of Inquiry considers that a statewide public apology should be made, together with an offer to all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools of a genuine pathway to share their experiences by participating in a truth-telling process (see Recommendation 3).(opens in a new window)

Recommendation 1: A statewide public apology

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Victorian Government formally apologise to all victim-survivors, secondary victims and communities affected by historical child sexual abuse in government schools. The apology should:

  • be made in Parliament, with victim-survivors and secondary victims invited to be present
  • specifically address the sexual abuse that occurred at Beaumaris Primary School and other government schools within the scope of the Board of Inquiry
  • be accompanied by commitments to action from government.

Delivering the public apology

It is important that the Victorian Government follow through on delivering a public apology in a timely manner. In her evidence, Dr Wright told the Board of Inquiry that ‘people want to see action quite quickly, and particularly when it’s government action and it’s deferred, that can be very difficult for survivors and undermine the trust that they might have in an inquiry or government action following an inquiry’.46

In delivering its public apology, the Board of Inquiry suggests the Victorian Government consider, to the fullest extent possible, the views and preferences of people affected by historical child sexual abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and other government schools within the scope of this inquiry — particularly with regards to the form of words used to describe and address their experiences.

The Board of Inquiry also considers the public apology should be published online, so that it remains accessible to people in the future.

Trauma-informed supports should be available at Parliament House for people who choose to attend on the day. The Victorian Government should also consider what temporary supports, such as telephone or online support, may need to be available to people who choose to watch the apology via live webstream.

The public apology must also be accompanied by government commitments to meaningful and tangible actions that aim to improve accountability for and responses to historical, contemporary and any future child sexual abuse in government schools. These commitments, including the timeframes within which actions would be taken, should be documented and published.

If the Victorian Government decides to implement the Board of Inquiry’s recommendation in relation to truth-telling (Recommendation 3)(opens in a new window), the public apology should include an invitation to all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools to participate in the truth-telling process.

Memorialisation

Memorials can be understood as public symbols designed to ‘remember the wrongs of the past’, and can be either physical structures or activities.47 Memorials can acknowledge the past, but they can also focus on ‘healing processes and rebuilding of trust between communities’ in the present, and raising awareness to avoid such wrongs in the future.48

Memorials are gradually being adopted as a way of acknowledging and commemorating lived experiences, rather than being reserved for memories of people who have passed away (such as war memorials).49 They are a public and visible response that can support healing for victim-survivors, secondary victims and communities affected by historical child sexual abuse.

Memorials should not be approached in a one-size-fits-all way. They can and should be delivered in a range of formats and styles to suit the needs of the relevant community. They can be permanent, such as the memorial to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse at Trinity Grammar School, unveiled in June 2023.50 They can also be temporary, such as LOUD fences — fences with colourful ribbons tied to them to represent the voices of, and show community support for, victim-survivors of child sexual abuse.51 Memorials can be large, such as sculptures or park benches, but they can also be small, such as plaques.

Memorials have been established in Australia and overseas to recognise and publicly memorialise child abuse, including abuse experienced by Stolen Generations, and sexual abuse. Examples include:

  • Colebrook Blackwood Reconciliation Park in South Australia — ‘Australia’s first memory space to acknowledge childhood trauma’.52 This space is a memorial to the Stolen Generations at the site of the Colebrook Home for Aboriginal Children and includes two public artworks and a plaque.53
  • Memorial plaques installed at Central Station in Sydney and five regional stations (with more planned) — These acknowledge the role Transport for NSW played in the removal of Aboriginal children from their families as part of the Stolen Generations.54
  • Memorial to Survivors of Sexual Violence in Minneapolis, United States of America — This is the United States of America’s first permanent, public memorial for survivors of sexual violence. The memorial was initiated by a survivor who shared her story and mobilised other survivors to speak out publicly.55 The memorial’s design and launch was enabled by local leadership and created community dialogue about sexual violence.56

The Royal Commission found that memorials can support victim-survivor healing and recommended the establishment of a memorial.57 Specifically, the Royal Commission recommended that ‘[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’.58 More than six years after the recommendation was made, the national memorial is yet to be built.

In 2023, the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings recommended a memorial be established at the site of Ashley Youth Detention Centre once it is closed, to recognise the ‘protracted, widespread and systematic nature’ of child sexual abuse that occurred there.59

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland and other inquiries into child abuse have also recommended memorials to acknowledge experiences of childhood abuse.60

Public art can also be used in memorials to convey meaning and evoke emotion. One of the public art works at the Colebrook Blackwood Reconciliation Park is a statue of a woman looking at her empty arms, representing a grieving mother.61 The Memorial to Survivors of Sexual Violence includes seating and public art depicting a mosaic, to represent broken pieces that ‘can be put together to create something whole and beautiful’, and a ripple effect that represents ‘the multiplying power of breaking the silence’ about sexual violence.62

The role of memorials in supporting healing

Memorials have the potential to create shared narratives that can promote reconciliation and healing.63 Sexual Assault Services Victoria told the Board of Inquiry that, if sought by victim-survivors, memorials can be an important element of recovery, along with other factors such as therapeutic supports.64

The Board of Inquiry heard from a number of expert and community witnesses who spoke about using memorials to support healing from historical child sexual abuse.

Dr Rob Gordon OAM, Clinical Psychologist and trauma expert, provided evidence to the Board of Inquiry that publicly memorialising the experiences of victim-survivors of child sexual abuse can provide an opportunity for communities to come together with a focus on care and respect, to remember what happened and what has been learned, and to focus on healing.65

In her evidence, Dr Wright told the Board of Inquiry about a ‘Legacy Project’ at the conclusion of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales. Dr Wright described the challenges of memorialising difficult experiences, and how the Legacy Project was developed with victim-survivors.66 The Legacy Project has seen more than 150 memorial benches and plaques displaying messages of hope installed across England and Wales, reflecting the breadth of engagement from victim-survivors across these countries.67

Maureen Hatcher, Founder, LOUD fence Inc, told the Board of Inquiry that LOUD fences in Australia, which are often located outside institutions where abuses have occurred, are designed to bring attention to the issue of sexual abuse, demonstrate support from the community, and provide a way for victim-survivors to connect with each other.68 However, Ms Hatcher described how the fences sometimes receive a ‘hostile’ response from the public, and how she had on occasion been verbally abused while tying ribbons to fences.69

Place-based memorials can play a role in helping people heal from institutional historical child sexual abuse.

Adrian Farrer, Principal, Trinity Grammar School, Kew, Victoria, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry about his experience establishing a permanent place-based memorial for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse at the school. The memorial, which is on school grounds but is visible and accessible to the public, consists of seating, a crepe myrtle tree and a slim, decorative design feature the school calls a ‘blade’ with a statement acknowledging the school’s past failures to care.70 Mr Farrer gave evidence that establishing a meaningful and authentic memorial took three and a half years.71 It required a strong commitment from both victim-survivors, who helped drive the process, and school leadership.72 Mr Farrer described the school’s approach to addressing its past failings and history of child sexual abuse as open and overt, because ‘you can’t be a school that cares if you fail to care’.73 The Trinity Grammar memorial was dedicated in June 2023.

A former student of Trinity Grammar School who has spoken publicly about his experience of sexual abuse as a child at the school (which is not within the scope of this Board of Inquiry) shared his views about the memorial at the school, saying: ‘In combination with the apologies I received, the memorial at Trinity Grammar has really helped my healing. Together, they say that people are listening and that they are genuinely sorry’.74

He told the Board of Inquiry that the school’s leadership culture has improved, and that he has a ‘real affinity and soft spot for the school now’.75 He added: ‘I think a memorial is an important way for institutions to acknowledge the experience of survivors whose lives have been completely and utterly destroyed by things that happened to them in the institution’.76

The Board of Inquiry also heard evidence about how memorials can support communities to heal from other forms of trauma.

Bruce Esplin AM, former Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner and former Chair of Regional Arts Victoria, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry about a memorial established in a small community in Gippsland following the Black Saturday bushfires. Mr Esplin described how the whole community was traumatised by the loss of community members in the fire, along with homes and community facilities.77 The community engaged a local sculptor who worked with it to build a memorial arch from fire-damaged items donated by community members.78 Mr Esplin explained that the contribution of the local community to the initiation, design and assembly of the memorial meant that the memorial was meaningful to the community.79 Mr Esplin also gave evidence that the memorial had helped many people move forward from their trauma and face the future with confidence.80

The importance of co-design

Based on the evidence it has heard and the information it has received, the Board of Inquiry understands that engagement with victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected communities is essential to ensure a memorial is meaningful and meets the needs of individuals and communities. Recent research by Alison Atkinson-Phillips, Lecturer in Community Development, Murdoch University, suggests that while there is no best-practice model for memorialising experiences, time, relationship building and communication with the people whose experiences are being memorialised are critical.81

Dr Wright gave similar evidence to the Board of Inquiry that ‘the question of how we remember difficult histories is complex. Successful approaches have foregrounded wide and meaningful engagement with victim-survivors and affected communities’.82

The Board of Inquiry also heard that while effective engagement is critical, there is no response that would satisfy or meet the needs of everyone who has experienced, or been affected by, historical child sexual abuse.83

Perspectives on the healing value of memorials

The Board of Inquiry heard a range of perspectives from victim-survivors about using memorials to acknowledge historical child sexual abuse in government schools, including the need for memorials and their location. These views were expressed in relation to recognising historical child sexual abuse in Beaumaris Primary School, and Victorian government schools more broadly.

Some victim-survivors shared that they did not wholly support a memorial. A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that they did not necessarily agree with a memorial, as it would be a constant reminder of the pain they had experienced.84 Another victim-survivor was concerned that a memorial may be more of a political opportunity than a healing opportunity, but acknowledged that it may be meaningful for other people.85

A victim-survivor described how they did not like seeing ribbons on school gates (LOUD fences) because children at the school do not need to know about the sexual abuse that occurred at the school in the past.86 Another victim-survivor described walking past Beaumaris Primary School regularly and feeling indifferent about the ribbons on display.87

An affected community member told the Board of Inquiry that memorials did not go deep enough, and made ‘no difference’ to her.88

However, other victim-survivors spoke more positively about the potential benefits of a memorial. For example, a victim-survivor described how a memorial and a space for reflection at Beaumaris Primary School would be very powerful.89 He also expressed that he was open to a wider memorial in a central location.90

A participant at the Board of Inquiry’s Lived Experience Roundtable shared their view about the importance of memorialising what happened at Beaumaris Primary School, given the focus of the inquiry. They said:

As difficult as it is, it’s better … for us as victim-survivors to see that [memorialisation of what occurred] reflected … specifically in the school. And for others, children and parents now of the school, to understand that they are not part of what went on. In fact, they need to know that it’s a great school and that children are very well looked after there now and it’s a thing of the past. But it needs to be recognised.91

One victim-survivor shared his views about memorials with the Board of Inquiry in detail. He said that histories of abuse should be memorialised at individual schools with histories of child sexual abuse, and that this public acknowledgement could help prevent abuse in the future.92 He said that if Beaumaris Primary School or other schools were memorialised, the focus should be on what has changed, along with a recognition of past failings.93

He recognised that the form of the memorial was not for him alone to determine, but shared his view that there should be a ‘public memorial in place in perpetuity in a public area — not on a school site, but a public memorial to historical childhood abuse’.94 He believed this should be in a central location and be a memorial for all schools.95

The Board of Inquiry heard from a victim-survivor who said there is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but that memorials are ‘very good things’.96 She said that a memorial would be a powerful way for the community to acknowledge that people in their community had suffered.97 She also said that it would be a ‘healing process’ if victim-survivors contributed to establishing a memorial.98

One victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that he would like to see a memorial that recognises the suffering of victim-survivors at Beaumaris Primary School ‘as a strength’.99 He said it would provide closure for victim-survivors and also be a ‘full stop’ for the school.100 But he expressed concern about the impacts on the current school community, including students.101

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry they could understand that some people would like a memorial at Beaumaris Primary School, but that other people may not want that. They suggested that a reserve or foreshore may be a good place for a memorial in Beaumaris, rather than in the school itself.102

A victim-survivor shared views about the location of a memorial, and told the Board of Inquiry that there should not be a memorial to victims on the grounds of any primary school.103 He described child sexual abuse as an ‘adult concept’ and said that a memorial at a primary school ‘creates something that young children cannot understand’.104 He suggested instead that a memorial should be located on Department property, where senior bureaucrats would see it regularly.105

The Board of Inquiry heard from another victim-survivor that memorials are one way to support healing, but that they were also interested in other ways of honouring the experiences of victim-survivors, for example, through victim-survivor-led research in universities.106

A memorial in recognition of historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School

Evidence and information available to the Board of Inquiry indicates that memorials, including place-based memorials, can be an enduring public acknowledgement of past institutional harm, and can support healing for victim-survivors, secondary victims and communities affected by historical child sexual abuse.

While views shared with the Board of Inquiry by victim-survivors were mixed, most people were supportive of a memorial that acknowledges the experiences of victim-survivors at Beaumaris Primary School, or they considered that a memorial could help other people to heal, even if it did not do so for them personally.

Given the extent of information now known in relation to experiences of historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School, and the general support victim-survivors expressed for a memorial, the Board of Inquiry considers that the creation of a memorial would be appropriate and meaningful. Consistent with the evidence the Board of Inquiry heard about the need for extensive consultation in designing memorials of this kind, it has not considered it appropriate to make recommendations about the design and location of such a memorial. It has, however, specified matters of process in Recommendation 2(opens in a new window).

As explained below, while the Board of Inquiry has recommended creating a memorial acknowledging historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School, it has not made such a recommendation in relation to other government schools within the inquiry’s scope. That is because, as previously explained, most of the victim-survivors who shared their experiences with the Board of Inquiry were from Beaumaris Primary School. Accordingly, while the Board considers it has a strong basis to recommend creating a memorial acknowledging historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School, further consultation with victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected communities would be needed before embarking on a process to create a memorial with respect to historical child sexual abuse at other schools. As noted above, Recommendation 2(opens in a new window) provides more detail as to process.

The Board of Inquiry notes that victim-survivors expressed some support for a broader, statewide memorial to acknowledge historical child sexual abuse in all government schools. However, the Board of Inquiry was not in a position to make recommendations about a statewide memorial, given consultation with victim-survivors from government schools across Victoria was not within its scope.

Recommendation 2: A new memorial and a consistent process

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Department of Education:

  • work with victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members to co-design the location and form of a memorial acknowledging historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School
  • consider, facilitate and fund requests for other memorials to acknowledge historical child sexual abuse in government schools in accordance with new policy guidance for memorials. This policy guidance should be trauma-informed and:
    • be developed in consultation with victim-survivors and secondary victims of historical child sexual abuse in government schools
    • provide for consistent assessment of requests for memorials, and
    • describe decision-making processes, types of memorialisation to consider and requirements for facilitating engagement with victim-survivors, secondary victims, local communities and other stakeholders.

Establishing the memorial and developing a consistent process

The Board of Inquiry has deliberately not been prescriptive about the form or location of a memorial in relation to Beaumaris Primary School. This recognises that any memorial needs to be designed based on the needs and preferences of the victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members, and that it takes time to do this well.

However, the Board of Inquiry learned about the features of memorials that make them more likely to be meaningful and valued. While the memorial should be co-designed and the process trauma-informed, the Board of Inquiry suggests the following factors should be considered:

  • Ensure the design process is accessible and widely communicated to maximise awareness and opportunities for participation for people who are affected.
  • Afford victim-survivors choice about how they wish to participate and their level of engagement, including enabling them to provide one-off feedback or engage with the process along the way (for example, establishing a victim-survivor working group to co-design the memorial).
  • Ensure participating victim-survivors and secondary victims are provided access to trauma-informed counselling and support during the co-design process.
  • Adopt a broad view of ‘community’ when consulting, recognising that local community members may include (but are not limited to) representatives of local organisations, Bayside City Council and the existing school community. ‘Community’ may also include other public landowners, such as Parks Victoria.
  • Be sensitive regarding the location of the memorial, recognising that the practical challenges associated with establishing memorials on public primary school grounds may make them unsuitable locations for memorials. Some of these challenges include restrictions on public access to primary schools.

The Board of Inquiry notes that the Department has acknowledged the importance of exploring a memorial on Beaumaris Primary School grounds as one option as part of a co-design process, as well as other options.107 Other options may include locating a memorial nearby within the local government area.

As a starting point, the Victorian Government should look to recent examples of place-based memorials acknowledging historical child sexual abuse that have been established in non-government school settings in Victoria, including Trinity Grammar School, Kew, and St Patrick’s College, Ballarat. These examples provide opportunities to learn about engagement and consultation processes, and design and implementation opportunities and challenges.

To facilitate an equitable approach to assessing any requests for other memorials, the Department must develop trauma-informed policies and guidelines to enable consistent assessment of requests. These should be developed in consultation with victim-survivors and secondary victims of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, to ensure that the perspectives of people with lived experience are incorporated from the beginning of the process.

The Board of Inquiry appreciates that the Department is already considering many of these matters, and the Department has informed the Board of Inquiry that it intends to develop policies related to memorials acknowledging child sexual abuse in government schools.108

Reckoning with past failings

Truth-telling and accountability are key contributors to the process of healing for victim-survivors. The Board of Inquiry is addressing this through two recommendations:

  • a statewide truth-telling and accountability process for all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools that documents their experiences and contributes to a public record of past failings of the Department (Recommendation 3)(opens in a new window)
  • a new restorative engagement program for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools (Recommendation 4)(opens in a new window).

These recommendations serve two objectives: to improve recognition of all victim-survivors’ experiences and to increase the Department’s accountability.

The recommendations are intended for two different groups of victim-survivors. Recommendation 3(opens in a new window) extends the opportunity that was afforded to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse who came within the scope of this inquiry to all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools and non-government schools where the alleged perpetrator previously worked at a government school and allegedly committed child sexual abuse at that government school. Consistent with the definition in the Terms of Reference, the recommendation applies to those victim-survivors who experienced abuse on or prior to 31 December 1999.

However, recommendation 4(opens in a new window) is not an extension of the work undertaken by this inquiry. Further, there is no principled reason for limiting eligibility to participate in a restorative engagement process to adults who experienced child sexual abuse in a government school on or prior to 31 December 1999. Accordingly, recommendation 4 is not limited to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, but applies to all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools.

The restorative engagement program, as the Board of Inquiry envisages it, would therefore be available to adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools, irrespective of when the abuse occurred.

A statewide truth-telling and accountability process and creation of a public record

Truth-telling is typically associated with justice and reconciliation in colonised countries, including Australia.109 Truth-telling processes can, however, offer healing and acknowledgement for other people who have been failed or wronged by governments or institutions. There is no single definition, but Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR) describe truth-telling as follows:

Truth-telling, broadly speaking, encompasses any activity or process that exposes historical and/or ongoing truths. It often acts as a record of historical experience as part of a process of relationship-building, political transformation or reconstitution of political relations in divided societies. Truth-telling should be understood as a multifaceted and ongoing process (as opposed to a predetermined end) which deepens over time.110

The Board of Inquiry acknowledges that it has drawn on the experiences and expertise of First Nations communities to help it consider how truth-telling can support healing in the context of the inquiry.

Truth-telling processes can be facilitated through specially established bodies.111 One such body is the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. The Centre was established as a place of dialogue with First Nations, Inuit and the Metis Nation peoples, who were forced to attend residential schools, where widespread abuse took place.112 The Centre preserves the record of these human rights abuses, promotes continued research and learning, and educates Canadians on the profound injustices experienced by First Nations, Inuit and the Metis Nation peoples.113

Reconciliation Australia and The Healing Foundation convened a truth-telling symposium in October 2018, where participants noted that truth-telling plays a central role in healing, and has the ‘power to shape a better future’.114 At the symposium, Professor Tom Calma AO, human rights and social justice advocate, said: ‘[t]ruth telling is about developing a shared understanding, which can serve as the basis for us all to move forward together. At its core, truth telling must be driven by the goal of recognising rights and driving reform’.115

According to Mick Gooda, former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Social Justice Commissioner:

We know that truth-telling is central to the healing we must all go through. Without the truth we will never heal properly ...116

The Royal Commission is one of a number of inquiries and royal commissions in recent decades that have incorporated truth-telling components.117 Professor Helen Milroy, who was a Commissioner appointed to the Royal Commission, told the 2018 truth-telling symposium that ‘[p]eople came to us not because they wanted compensation, but they wanted their story to contribute to a positive future for children, and a safer future for children’.118 She said the truth-telling aspect of the Royal Commission’s work allowed participants to feel that their story mattered and that they could move forward with their healing.119

Dr Gordon gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that ‘such an important part of the healing of sexual abuse is the sense that this is coming into the open, that it’s realised that this is wrong and that the community at large is against it. So it means it needs to be acknowledged and talked about’.120 Dr Gordon also said that ‘[v]ictim-survivors being able to tell their story is very important to healing from trauma’.121

Former Premier Daniel Andrews, when announcing this Board of Inquiry, said, ‘[t]his is principally a truth-telling process’,122 and that ‘what’s important is that we hear and believe victim-survivors, and we give them an opportunity to record their truth … to take a step closer to that healing, and I think acknowledgement and belief and support and having your truth recorded forever is a very important thing. This will culminate in a full apology as well’.123 These principles outlined by the former Premier — truth-telling and having that truth permanently documented — have been fundamental to the Board of Inquiry’s work.

Perspectives on truth-telling

For victim-survivors who engaged with the inquiry, the importance of truth-telling, or the opportunity to be heard and validated, emerged as a strong theme. The Board of Inquiry heard that truth-telling provides an opportunity for individual healing, and can also contribute to collective healing by creating safe spaces for victim-survivors to share their experiences and connect with other people with similar experiences. A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry:

[I]n my experience, silence is the enemy of the survivor.124

He went on to say: ‘I understand why there are people that would remain silent and deal with the impacts of abuse themselves … but I would encourage people to come forward and to, I guess, start with talking about this and coming forward to the inquiry and giving their evidence in whatever shape or form that they can’.125

Another victim-survivor said the biggest impediment to her healing was ‘the silencing’.126 She described the impact of this silencing as profound, but felt the Board of Inquiry enabled the silence to be broken, and that sharing her experience and feeling believed and validated was powerful for her.127

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry about the value of feeling heard:

I really appreciate and am really thankful to this inquiry for listening because I feel … like I have been finally listened to … after 48 years. I’ve finally been listened to and validated and my hope is that there’s some other people who have read the newspapers … like I did … But I’m sure there’s other people … that might have some psychological benefit by someone else saying ‘Yep, this happened, this stuff happened’.128

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry:

The important thing … is that you’re talking about it, and I think that in itself is, apart from being really courageous and strong, it’s the single biggest thing that will help you in your journey ahead … to keep communicating and talking about how you’re feeling.129

A victim-survivor described how sharing his experience with the Board of Inquiry made him feel like he was able to move on with his life after suppressing his experiences for so long.130

The Board of Inquiry heard that victim-survivors should be supported to share their experiences and speak in their own time, with one victim-survivor stating the Board of Inquiry had given him ‘space and a comfortable platform to talk about his experiences and he hopes it encourages others and assists with others in their healing process’.131 A victim-survivor said that a fellow victim-survivor had told him he would know when he felt ready to come forward and share his experiences, which the first victim-survivor described to the Board of Inquiry as his ‘dark story’.132

Participants at the Board of Inquiry’s Lived Experience Roundtable also spoke about the importance of being heard when sharing experiences relating to sexual abuse. One participant described feeling waves of grief, hurt, shame and humiliation, and experiences of not being listened to.133 Another participant said that ‘being listened to is probably one of the most important things in my journey since [I was] a young [child] because I had a couple of goes at trying to be listened to and was absolutely not listened to at all’.134

A secondary victim described the opportunity to engage with the Board of Inquiry and share her experiences as a privilege and said of the process: ‘Out of the sadness is going to come some goodness’.135

The importance of institutional accountability and transparency as part of truth-telling

While truth-telling in its own right is important and can support healing, it often needs to be coupled with institutional accountability and transparency to contribute to individual and collective healing.

When information about the extent of institutional child sexual abuse is not made public, the lack of openness contributes to the silence around child sexual abuse that has endured for too long. It limits accountability. It prevents the institution from learning from its past action and inaction, and from taking steps to improve. Importantly, it also impedes victim-survivors’ healing and ability to come forward to share their experience.

In his evidence, Dr Gordon told the Board of Inquiry that ‘socially speaking, the solution to trauma is history, because history is in the past, but it also tells us … what we might have learnt. And then we can actually take that learning into changing society for the better’.136

In Chapter 13, System failings(opens in a new window), the Board of Inquiry set out a finding that the Department has never investigated historical child sexual abuse in government schools adequately or broadly enough to understand or publicly acknowledge the true extent of this abuse, meaning it cannot be fully accountable for past failings. While the work the Department has undertaken in support of this Board of Inquiry is substantial, further work is still needed to investigate and understand historical child abuse in government schools at a statewide level.

Victim-survivors told the Board of Inquiry that it was important for the Department to take steps to understand the full extent of historical child sexual abuse that has occurred in government schools and to be transparent about what it learns. A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that the Department needs to ‘clear the decks and put everything on the table’ and understand the extent of historical child sexual abuse in government schools beyond Beaumaris Primary School and other schools within the scope of this inquiry.137

Another victim-survivor described being enraged by their belief that the Department had been trying to hide the truth and had not been open.138 She described how it would be healing for institutions to publicly take accountability and would help to prevent further sexual abuse.139

Similarly, an affected community member said that public transparency would be helpful, and victim-survivors needed to not feel afraid of speaking up.140 They said knowing the truth was out in the open was the most important thing to them.141

In private session after private session, it was made clear to the Board of Inquiry that knowing the ‘full picture’ was a vital part of many victim-survivors’ personal healing journeys. For some victim-survivors, the fact that they were not the only person who had come forward with an experience of sexual abuse by a particular alleged perpetrator was a significant revelation. Until that point, many had thought they were the only one.

A victim-survivor said that when he saw media coverage of the Board of Inquiry, he felt it was an opportunity to speak the truth.142 Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that since learning that other people at their school experienced sexual abuse, they were ‘happy to openly discuss’ their own experience ‘in the hope that it may help to prevent this sort of thing happening in the future’.143 Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that they hoped their evidence ‘encourages other victim survivors to come forward and speak the truth about what happened to us’.144

For other victim-survivors, it was particularly important to know whether parents or other teachers had made complaints, or to understand how it came to be that the alleged perpetrator was moved to another school. These examples illustrate a broader point: victim-survivors would be in a better position to heal if they understand the entire picture of child sexual abuse at government schools.

Victim-survivors also spoke about recognition and change. One victim-survivor said that it is important to feel a sense of justice, but that justice ‘requires some kind of change [and] recognition of harm’, as well as making sure child sexual abuse in government schools does not happen again.145 At the Board of Inquiry’s Lived Experience Roundtable, a victim-survivor said that they had been ‘hell-bent on trying to stop future abuse of other kids’.146

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that there was a need for education about and recognition of the magnitude of the impacts of child sexual abuse in government schools.147

A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that the most important thing to them was that the Department was working to address child sexual abuse in government schools in an ongoing way.148 Another victim-survivor said they hoped the Department had ‘improved its policies and procedures in handling, investigating and acting to remove these abusers from this environment and reporting information to the police so proper legal investigations and actions are taken’.149

The need for a statewide truth-telling and accountability process

Through the course of its work, the Board of Inquiry has heard from victim-survivors about how valuable it has been to their healing to participate in a truth-telling process and contribute to a public record. The Board of Inquiry’s work has demonstrated the value in providing a truth-telling process for a particular group of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools — that is, victim-survivors of abuse at Beaumaris Primary School and other schools within the inquiry’s scope. However, the Board of Inquiry’s limited scope meant that many other victim-survivors have not had the same opportunity to participate in these processes or contribute to the public record.

As a participant at a Services Roundtable observed, the narrow focus of the Board of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference created ‘two classes’ of victim-survivors — those who had the benefit of the Board of Inquiry’s work, and those who did not.150

Victim-survivors do have some existing pathways to share their experiences. They can choose to access the National Redress Scheme or seek financial support through the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (VOCAT). They can also choose to pursue a civil claim against the Department and, in recent times, have been able to seek information about the various support and healing options available to them through the Department’s Sexual Harm Response Unit.

While these pathways are helpful and accessible to some people, some victim-survivors may not be eligible for these pathways or some, for various reasons, choose not to engage in them. For example, a victim-survivor might not feel emotionally equipped to pursue a civil claim or might not be interested in pursuing financial assistance or redress. For people who are not eligible for or choose not to engage with these pathways, there is no formal opportunity to share their experience. In addition, some of these avenues require victim-survivors to navigate legal or other processes that can make them feel constrained when expressing their experiences or disappointed with the degree of recognition they receive.

Further, none of these processes directly contribute to a wider public record about the extent of historical child sexual abuse in government schools and the failings by the Department to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse at the time.

The work of the Board of Inquiry has been important. But there is more to be done. Based on the evidence and information before it, the Board of Inquiry considers that more comprehensive accountability is required, and all victim-survivors should have equitable access to share their experiences if they wish to do so. For these reasons, the Board of Inquiry considers that a statewide independent truth-telling and accountability process for all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools is required. A statewide process would enable the creation of a comprehensive public record of victim-survivors’ experiences, as well as the Department’s past failings.

This statewide process is needed to support full public awareness and individual and collective healing.

Recommendation 3: A statewide truth-telling and accountability process

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Victorian Government establish a statewide truth-telling and accountability process for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in all Victorian government schools that:

  • is independent and time-limited
  • is available to:
    • victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in any Victorian government school
    • victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in a non-government school where the alleged perpetrator previously worked at a government school and allegedly committed child sexual abuse at that government school
  • results in an independent public record of victim-survivors’ experiences shared through the truth-telling process, that includes recognition of past failings of the Department of Education.

Establishing a truth-telling and accountability process for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools

The Board of Inquiry is of the view that a statewide truth-telling and accountability process would:

  • provide all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in Victorian government schools an opportunity for their experiences to be heard and acknowledged
  • inform a public record of historical child sexual abuse in government schools and the failings of the Department of Education
  • increase departmental accountability and transparency in relation to historical child sexual abuse in government schools
  • allow the Government to learn from the experiences and information shared, in order to better prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in government schools into the future.

Scope and access

It is recommended that the truth-telling and accountability process be open to:

  • all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools up to and including 31 December 1999
  • all victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in a non-government school up to and including 31 December 1999, where the alleged perpetrator had previously been an employee of a government school and allegedly committed child sexual abuse at that government school.

The Board of Inquiry considers it appropriate to expand the scope to non-government schools where an alleged perpetrator previously worked at a government school and allegedly committed child sexual abuse at that school. This is because any inaction by the Department against an alleged perpetrator while in the government school setting may have resulted in missed opportunities to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in the non-government school setting. As the work of this inquiry demonstrates, there cannot be full accountability if it is not possible to inquire into circumstances where, for example, an employee with a known history of child sexual abuse convictions is able to move into the non-government sector and continue teaching. An example of this scenario is highlighted in Chapter 11, The alleged perpetrators.(opens in a new window)151

Principles of the truth-telling and accountability process

For the independent truth-telling and accountability process to operate as the Board of Inquiry envisions, it proposes a number of principles to shape the implementation and delivery of the process. These are outlined below.

INDEPENDENCE

Independence would be critical to the success of any truth-telling and accountability process. It is likely that many victim-survivors would not choose to engage with a truth-telling process if it were not independent from the Victorian Government and the Department. In the Board of Inquiry’s view, the ability of a truth-telling and accountability process to build trust with victim-survivors would be significantly impaired if it were not independent.

The Victorian Government may wish to consider a range of options to deliver the independent truth-telling process, such as establishing an independent statutory body, or establishing a time-limited inquiry.

A TRAUMA-INFORMED APPROACH

Every aspect of the truth-telling and accountability process must be delivered in a trauma-informed way. Trauma-informed approaches place an emphasis on the psychological, cultural and physical safety of victim-survivors.

To be delivered in a trauma-informed way, the truth-telling and accountability process should, at a minimum:

  • maximise victim-survivors’ choice in how they participate with the truth-telling aspect of the process; for example, they could be offered the option to take part in person, online or through written engagement
  • offer free counselling to the victim-survivors and their supporters prior to, during and shortly after they participate in the process
  • employ a continuity-of-care model; for example, victim-survivors and their supporters could be provided with a single point of contact and the same independent representative throughout the process
  • provide physical locations for taking part in the process that feel safe and welcoming for victim-survivors and their supporters, and are not clinical or adversarial
  • employ staff with skills, experience and training in trauma-informed approaches
  • ensure equity of access to the process, and that victim-survivors and their supporters experience no financial disadvantage from taking part; for example, they could be reimbursed for costs they incur, such as travel or accommodation.
CREATING A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR DIVERSE PARTICIPANTS

The Board of Inquiry anticipates that in implementing a statewide truth-telling and accountability process, victim-survivors from a diverse range of backgrounds would be eligible to participate, including people from First Nations communities, people from culturally diverse communities, people with disabilities, people from LGBTIQA+ communities, and people of different genders and ages.

It is critical that the truth-telling and accountability process is designed so that it is accessible and safe for people of all backgrounds to participate.

LEGAL RIGOUR

The truth-telling process would need to consider and manage how it operates in the context of civil claims, redress and restorative engagement approaches. Consideration of relevant reporting obligations would also be important.

Establishing a public record of historical child sexual abuse

Establishing a public record would help victim-survivors understand what happened and know that they are not to blame and may not be alone in their experiences. It may also encourage more people to come forward through the truth-telling aspect of the process or to seek justice or support through other pathways.

To support this, a public record that documents the experiences that are shared by victim-survivors through the process must be established by the entity responsible for the truth-telling and accountability process. This should be regularly updated as more people share their experiences.

The truth-telling and accountability process must also operate transparently. For example, the entity responsible may establish a dedicated website and publicly share information about the schools that victim-survivors have shared information on, how many people have participated in the process, and how information is being gathered.

While the Board of Inquiry recommends that the public record be established independently, it has a strong view that the Department should also proactively seek to understand the extent of its own failings and be transparent about its findings. For example, if the truth-telling and accountability process is not undertaken in the context of an inquiry, the Department should review its own records, document the action or inaction it took in response to any child sexual abuse identified (as well as the reasons for that action or inaction), and assess the effectiveness of any actions taken. This review should be provided to the entity responsible for the truth-telling and accountability process to contribute to the public record and to ensure a more complete understanding of the extent of historical child sexual abuse in government schools.

The Board of Inquiry is of the view that this action would support greater accountability, provide victim-survivors with a deeper understanding of what occurred and ensure recognition of their experiences.

A new approach to personal responses

The role of personal responses in supporting healing

Personal apologies or acknowledgements of harm can be important for individual healing from institutional abuse. These personal responses can contribute to healing in similar ways to public apologies, but in a private way.

Similar to public apologies, a personal apology must be sincere, empathetic, unconditional and freely given in order to be a helpful response for victim-survivors.152 Meaningful apologies that include both personal and public acknowledgement of an institution’s failures can have a healing effect for victim-survivors.153 Any such responses should always be delivered in a trauma-informed way.154

Dr Judith Herman, a psychiatrist who has researched trauma and abuse extensively, suggests that many victim-survivors need ‘[a]cknowledgment of [their] truth, acknowledgment of the harm [they have] suffered, and [a] full apology’.155 Dr Herman describes genuine apologies as personal and emotional, and as creating ‘the possibility of repairing a relationship’.156

Actions that follow a personal apology can add to an apology’s meaningfulness or undermine it. In her evidence to the Board of Inquiry, Professor Bromfield said that victim-survivors:

are entirely reasonable in their expectation that institutions should, of their own volition, feel that they ought to apologise, for that apology to be genuine, for that apology to be given by a person in a position of authority, and for that apology to be backed up with action that is congruent with the apology. So you don’t say ‘I’m sorry’ and then in civil litigation you’ve got multiple techniques to deny the abuse or … not be a model litigant.157

Dr Gary Foster, founder of Living Well, a service for men who have experienced childhood sexual abuse or sexual assault, has trained government executives in Queensland in apologising to victim-survivors of institutional abuse on behalf of government. Dr Foster told the Board of Inquiry’s Healing Roundtable that an apology by a government or institutional representative should include the ‘trifecta’ — apologising personally, apologising in their role within the institution, and apologising on behalf of the government department or institution.158

Victim-survivors shared their perspectives with the Board of Inquiry about personal apologies and responses. Generally, people who shared their views were supportive of victim-survivors being able to seek an apology directly from the Department. One victim-survivor said he wanted an apology from the Department to recognise the years of torment he had experienced, and that no-one had done anything to help him.159

Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that after he disclosed his experience of sexual abuse, he would have liked someone from the Department and Victoria Police to contact him and say sorry.160 He said: ‘Of course, they have not done this, and I am left with the feeling that they did not listen or care then, and that they are not listening and they do not care now. No-one called.’161

Victim-survivors also spoke of the need for apologies to be genuine. One victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that after a civil claim is settled, there is ‘an apology of sorts’, but that it is not individual (that is, personalised) and that there should be a genuine apology made.162 Another victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that people must be apologised to individually, and in person, not through a third party such as a solicitor.163 A victim-survivor described a written apology he received after meeting with the Secretary of the Department, and his view that it was not personal. He noted that the apology ‘is addressed to my lawyer. It’s nice, no real complaints, except it’s not personal. It’s not to me.’164

Some victim-survivors spoke of receiving apologies from the school or the State. A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry:

It feels to me like schools, that there should be the capacity for a person, to go back to a school and say: ‘Something happened when I was a student at school’. Even if it was 20 years ago ... I feel very much like schools, by embracing that responsibility around reporting or willing to report historical instances of abuse, that would change things over time. I think if that was embedded into the training of teachers and the system that would change things.165

Another victim-survivor described being asked, as part of a court proceeding, whether he would like an apology, and that he said he only wanted an apology from the State.166

Bravehearts told the Board of Inquiry that some victim-survivors might like individual apologies from the school where they were sexually abused.167 Bravehearts said: ‘[v]ictims and survivors need to see the school or organisation where they were harmed state clearly that they acknowledge the harm done to children, that they unconditionally condemn the actions of the perpetrator or alleged perpetrator, and that they offer support to those harmed’.168

The Board of Inquiry notes that there is no legal distinction between schools and the Department, including for the purpose of delivering apologies. Despite this, victim-survivors may perceive them as different, and have preferences about who they would like to engage with and receive an apology from.

Restorative engagement as a good practice approach to delivering personal responses

How personal responses are delivered, and whether they are considered authentic, can have an impact on their effectiveness.169 It is important that the interaction between a victim-survivor and institutional representative(s) feels personal and genuine for it to contribute to healing. The Board of Inquiry heard that a representative giving a personal response needs to show empathy and compassion and be emotionally present.170 One person at the Healing Roundtable emphasised the need for the person delivering an apology to be ‘seen as being fair dinkum and absolutely owning the apology’.171

The Board of Inquiry understands that a restorative engagement approach is considered good practice when it comes to supporting victim-survivors to engage with an institution to receive a personal response.

Restorative engagement is a process that ‘brings together the person harmed with a senior leader of the institution in which the harm occurred to outline their personal account of harm, its impact, the ongoing effects and to receive a personalised and genuine acknowledgement of the resulting harm’.172

Restorative engagement is a more structured form of personal response that can be used to support healing from institutional historical child sexual abuse. While a restorative engagement program may result in a personal apology or acknowledgement of harm from the institution, it is a much more trauma-informed and victim-centred process than an apology alone. Restorative engagement involves properly preparing everyone who participates in the process (for example, a victim-survivor, any support people they would like involved, and institutional representatives) to ensure they understand what the engagement would involve, what the victim-survivor hopes to achieve, and what arrangements are needed to support an optimal outcome for the victim-survivor.

Importantly, restorative processes often include a truth-telling element. The very nature of the process of an individual seeking recognition would often involve an element of sharing or telling one’s truth. Establishing a ‘healing and restorative truth’ provides acknowledgement of the broad facts, the harm suffered, accountability for wrong-doing and reparation, and can facilitate healing.173 Unlike the truth-telling and accountability process outlined in Recommendation 3(opens in a new window), restorative engagement processes are individual, private and do not result in public accountability by the responsible institution.

Restorative engagement processes are also guided by ethical values of voluntariness, safety, inclusion, dignity, respect, responsibility, accountability, truth-telling and honesty.174 These processes seek to enhance mutual understanding and agreement, truth, trust, and participants’ healing and individual choice.175

An example of a restorative engagement program is the recently implemented Restorative Engagement and Redress Scheme, which supports former or current Victoria Police employees who have experienced sexual harassment or sex discrimination in the workplace.176 This scheme, which is run independently of Victoria Police through the Department of Justice and Community Safety, enables people to share their experiences with a senior Victoria Police representative and access broader redress arrangements, including financial payments.177

A review of the Defence Abuse Restorative Engagement Program, ‘which gives complainants the opportunity to have their complaint heard, acknowledged and responded to by a senior Defence representative’,178 found that the program offered profound value for victim-survivors by having their experiences listened to by senior representatives and acknowledged.179 The review also found that the program was having significant positive cultural change within the organisation.180

The timing of personal responses

The Department told the Board of Inquiry that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools may engage with the Department via two streams: by making an application under the National Redress Scheme or through a civil claim.181

The first of these — the National Redress Scheme — adopts a restorative engagement process that ‘is fundamental to [victim-survivors] achieving a sense of healing’.182 Redress arrangements are outside the scope of the Board of Inquiry’s Terms of Reference and accordingly have not been examined. However, the Department provided information to the Board of Inquiry about ‘direct personal responses’, which are a component of the National Redress Scheme.183 Under the National Redress Scheme, victim-survivors are offered the opportunity to receive a direct personal response from an institution for the harm they experienced as a child.184 It can include an acknowledgement of the victim-survivor’s experience and of the impacts of the sexual abuse, an apology and an explanation from the institution about what it has done, or would do, to prevent further abuse. Direct personal responses can be made face-to-face, in writing or through other arrangements, dependent on a victim-survivor’s needs.185

The second — when a civil claim is concluded — currently has no program or process to enable someone to then seek a personal response, other than making a separate application through the National Redress Scheme (which can be made concurrently with a civil claim).186 However, not all victim-survivors would be eligible to make a claim through the National Redress Scheme. For example, if a victim-survivor has previously been awarded compensation or damages by a court they are not eligible to apply to the scheme and cannot access a direct personal response, unless another institution was also responsible for the abuse they experienced.187

An example of how this situation can affect victim-survivors was shared with the Board of Inquiry through a submission. The submission described how a victim-survivor’s request for a direct personal response from the Department at the conclusion of a civil matter was refused on the basis that he needed to make an application through the National Redress Scheme.188 The victim-survivor decided not to pursue this application due to the need to provide further legal documentation about the sexual abuse he experienced, as well as long wait times.189

The Department gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that it is open to a new program for victim-survivors to access a ‘direct personal engagement’ with the Department at the conclusion of a civil matter, without having to make an application through the National Redress Scheme.190 In relation to victim-survivors who would like an acknowledgement from the Department but pursue neither a civil nor redress claim, the Department gave evidence indicating that the Sexual Harm Response Unit could facilitate and arrange this type of engagement.191 The Board of Inquiry considers each of these steps, if taken, to be positive developments.

When describing the possible new program in the Board of Inquiry’s public hearings, the Department gave evidence that it ‘would need very skilled and trained facilitators … because a trauma-informed approach to direct personal engagement would necessarily involve it being very, very victim-centred’.192

The Board of Inquiry welcomes the Department’s willingness to establish an additional avenue for victim-survivors to seek a personal engagement with the Department at the conclusion of a civil claim, without having to make a separate application through the National Redress Scheme.

However, the Board of Inquiry understands that even with this positive change, victim-survivors who do not make a civil claim or apply through the National Redress Scheme would still not have a pathway to seek a personal response from the Department. The Board of Inquiry considers that this gap should be addressed.

In addition, people who finalised their civil claim with the Department some time ago may not have had the option of seeking a personal response at the time. These people should also be eligible to seek a personal response from the Department now.

The Board of Inquiry is of the view that the Department should implement a restorative engagement program for all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools, recognising that the restorative engagement model is a good practice approach to delivering personal responses. The Board of Inquiry is of the view that the process should be open to all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools, not just victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse, as victim-survivors may benefit from this healing response irrespective of when the sexual abuse occurred. While victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in a government school would also be eligible for the truth-telling and accountability process outlined in Recommendation 3(opens in a new window), if they choose not to participate in that process, they can participate in the restorative engagement program instead.

Recommendation 4: A restorative engagement program

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Department of Education establish a restorative engagement program for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools who:

  • cannot or do not wish to make a civil claim or National Redress Scheme application, or
  • have finalised a civil claim against the Department of Education, without the need to make a separate application through the National Redress Scheme, or
  • finalised a civil claim before Direct Personal Responses were available.

This program would allow these victim-survivors to safely share their experience of child sexual abuse and the harm caused, and receive a personal response from the Department of Education.

Introducing a restorative engagement program in the Department

The restorative engagement program must be designed and established so that it:

  • is trauma-informed and based on best-practice and current evidence on effective restorative engagement practices
  • is victim-survivor-led in a way that maximises choice and flexibility, including methods of participation (for example, in person or in writing) and timing
  • involves expert and independent facilitators with appropriate training, skills and expertise to sensitively support the victim-survivor, the Departmental representative, and the response victim-survivors receive through the process
  • builds existing capability within the Department (including executive leaders who would be providing responses) to participate in restorative engagement
  • introduces the necessary new capability into the Department to directly support victim-survivors to understand and participate in the process in a safe, trauma-informed way
  • creates opportunities for continuous improvement in current approaches to the prevention of and response to child sexual abuse in government schools.

The restorative engagement program should be designed in consultation with victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, including people who have previously participated in a comparable restorative engagement process (such as receiving a direct personal response through the National Redress Scheme).

Regardless of the pathway a victim-survivor chooses to use to seek a personal engagement with the Department, the quality of the engagement process and any personal response should be the same. To do this, it is critical that the Department introduces and builds the necessary existing and new capability to effectively deliver the restorative engagement program so that:

  • All executives involved in restorative engagement and personal responses have undertaken training on how to communicate with victim-survivors in a trauma-informed way and deliver personal responses in line with good practice.
  • Support staff have the clinical experience, expertise and capability to support victim-survivors to make an application for the pathway, move through the pathway safely, change processes or pause the process if required and facilitate access to additional supports if needed.
  • Skilled and independent facilitators are available to conduct trauma-informed personal engagements.193

For people pursuing civil claims, the Board of Inquiry understands that the restorative engagement program cannot run concurrently and would need to be undertaken after a claim has concluded. However, victim-survivors should still have appropriate access to information and initial assistance through the online hub and telephone line proposed in Recommendation 6(opens in a new window).

The success of the restorative engagement program would also be supported by other processes recommended by the Board of Inquiry. Improved records management processes, including digitising and cataloguing records (Recommendation 5)(opens in a new window) would be essential to better equip the Department to quickly respond to victim-survivors’ requests, and identify and produce the information and files necessary to support engagement in a personalised way.

Information access to aid healing

As described throughout Part B(opens in a new window), victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools are often left searching for understanding. Why were they sexually abused? Who else was sexually abused at their school? What was known at the time? What action was taken, or not taken, by those in charge?

Access to transparent and centralised information about historical child sexual abuse in government schools is essential to help victim-survivors and secondary victims understand what happened to them or their loved one. This understanding contributes to their healing and sense of recognition and holds the Department accountable.

The Board of Inquiry understands that there are two key problems with the Department’s approach to sharing information.

The first problem is the lack of publicly available information from the Department about the extent of historical child sexual abuse in government schools or its past failings. This makes it very difficult for victim-survivors to identify and understand what they have experienced in context. This is addressed earlier in this Chapter in Recommendation 3(opens in a new window), about the establishment of a public record of child sexual abuse in government schools.

The second problem relates to personal access to information, such as individual school records or general information about schools. This is discussed in more detail below.

Better information-sharing practices and processes for individuals

The role of information-sharing and access in supporting healing

Victim-survivors and secondary victims of historical child sexual abuse often seek out information, such as school records, to try to understand what happened to them. The response they receive from an institution is very important. While not all information can be shared, institutions need to provide a sensitive and transparent response about what is (and is not) available and why.

A study into victim-survivors’ perceptions of institutional responses to child sexual abuse suggests that helpful responses occurred when ‘[t]he institution provided information freely and did not try to close down investigations’.194

The Department provided evidence about the importance of access to information during the Board of Inquiry’s public hearings, saying ‘what we’ve heard through correspondence with the victim-survivors at Beaumaris is that truth-telling and information is really critical to healing’.195 The Department acknowledged that access to information is limited by poor historical records and past record-keeping practices.196

To further inform its understanding of these issues, the Board of Inquiry has drawn on examples from other historical contexts.

Many people who grew up in out-of-home care search for records and information to help them better understand their identity and reconnect with family. Processes to do this ‘can be frustrating, complicated, time-consuming, expensive and traumatic’.197 Find & Connect is a web resource created by historians, archivists and social workers with funding from the Commonwealth Government. It launched in November 2011 and contains publicly available records and information about institutional care in Australia, such as records and information about orphanages and children’s homes.198

Finding Records is another web resource, developed by the then Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, to support former ‘wards of the state’, Pre-1990 Care Leavers (‘Forgotten Australians’) and Stolen Generations to find and access historical records.199 The website contains more than one million historical records that have been indexed, as well as guides to help people find records.200

The Department gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry that it would like to commence a reform project related to the digitisation of school records so that they can be catalogued and, depending on the nature of the record, publicly shared via the Public Record Office Victoria or the Department’s school history website.201 The Department indicated that this project would also support requests for records that are not publicly available, by enabling quicker access to records and greater responsiveness to requests.202

Access to information, including initiatives planned or underway to digitise and improve access to records, was also discussed during the Board of Inquiry’s Government Roundtable.203

Challenges accessing information for victim-survivors and secondary victims

The Board of Inquiry heard that victim-survivors and secondary victims currently struggle to access information relevant to the child sexual abuse they or their loved ones experienced.

A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that he had sought information to support a potential civil claim and to prevent his alleged abuser having further access to children.204 He described how a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Victoria Police, made years after he had initially reported the sexual abuse to the police, resulted in him receiving a one-page document that was largely redacted.205

A secondary victim related how they had engaged with the Department and Victoria Police to obtain a teacher’s employment records, describing the FOI processes they had to follow as ‘very difficult’.206

Another secondary victim told the Board of Inquiry about the challenges she experienced when seeking her now deceased brother’s police records from Victoria Police, and how she eventually had to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for their release.207

An affected community member familiar with Beaumaris Primary School described how former students had approached the school seeking records and validation of their experiences, but that the school had kept no records related to its history of child sexual abuse.208

Recommendation 5: Improving information access

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Department of Education implement:

  • trauma-informed practices for responding to requests for information and records that are related to historical child sexual abuse in government schools (including requests identified as such while being processed), including through:
    • delivery of trauma-informed training for archivists and staff in Freedom of Information units
    • development of information materials that provide transparency to people seeking records about what records may or may not be available and why
    • provision of individualised information and support to people seeking records
  • a program of work to improve its records management processes, including digitising and cataloguing records to support ease of access, and publishing school records that are able to be released publicly.

Introducing trauma-informed responses to requests for records and information

The Board of Inquiry acknowledges the challenges people have faced in seeking to access information to better understand the circumstances of experiences of child sexual abuse (whether as a victim-survivor or as a secondary victim). It also acknowledges how these challenges may have re-traumatised them.

The Board of Inquiry recommends an improved process to support and respond to information requests, along with the capability within FOI units to deliver this, in order to:

  • respond to individuals in a trauma-informed way
  • better support individuals to access information that enables them to understand what occurred and what contributes to their healing.

A trauma-informed response would include, at a minimum:

  • clear processes and guides for accessing information
  • clear information on what information is available and why
  • timely responses to information requests
  • trauma-informed training for all archivists and staff within FOI units in departments likely to receive requests for information (for example, the Department and Victoria Police)
  • individualised support from the same member of the FOI team when it is known that a person is seeking records related to historical child sexual abuse in a government school.

The Victorian Government can draw from and build on trauma-informed responses already in place elsewhere in Victoria. For example, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) responds to requests for information from Pre-1990 Care Leavers (‘Forgotten Australians’) using trauma-informed practices.209

The Board of Inquiry also notes that a person requesting information will not necessarily disclose that their request relates to historical child sexual abuse in a government school. Nevertheless, staff in FOI units should be aware that such requests are possible and respond to all requests with this possibility in mind.

The Board of Inquiry also recommends that the Department implement a program of work to review, identify, catalogue and digitise (where appropriate) all school records that may be relevant to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools. This may include teacher records, student records and class records.

The Board of Inquiry also recommends that the Department publish records that are able to be released publicly in a central online location. Existing platforms, such as Find & Connect, should be considered when designing this repository. Publication of records of this kind differs from the process of establishing an official public record of child sexual abuse in government schools (which is addressed in Recommendation 3(opens in a new window)).

Meeting the support needs of victim-survivors

In Chapter 17(opens in a new window), the Board of Inquiry recognised that eight key challenges adversely impact victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools’ experiences of accessing and receiving support services.

Some of these challenges are systemic in nature, including services’ limited capacity to see people quickly and to provide the necessary duration of support. Systemic challenges also include service inequity, the need for greater inclusivity, and inadequate numbers of professionals skilled in responding to trauma. The Board of Inquiry heard different ideas about how best to address these systemic issues.

On the one hand, there are those who say there may be benefit in creating stand-alone services to support victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse, including institutional child sexual abuse. Professor Patrick O’Leary, Co-Lead of the Disrupting Violence Beacon and Director of the Violence Research and Prevention Program, Griffith University, provided evidence that a new nationalservice that responds to historical child sexual abuse through a gendered approach may benefit victim-survivors.210 In her evidence, Professor Bromfield told the Board of Inquiry that, for male victim-survivors, those who identify as LGBTQIA+, victim-survivors with disability or those in prison, ‘specialist services … may be worth considering’.211 Some advocates have gone a step further, calling on the Commonwealth and Victorian governments to introduce a service model specifically for victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.212

On the other hand, the Board of Inquiry heard concerns about introducing new services. Concerns included the potential to further fragment services,213 issues with setting up high-quality stand-alone services given the expertise that this requires,214 and financial and practical difficulties with scaling new services to a state level.215 Discussing the need for dedicated services for male victim-survivors as one example, a participant in one of the Board of Inquiry’s Services Roundtable reflected on the potential for a new service to exacerbate existing demand issues:

[W]hen we don’t have the capacity to currently meet the demand that we’re needing, how would we have the capacity to add another service into a sector that is struggling already?216

Instead, some Services Roundtable participants explained that it could be beneficial to expand the capacity and capability of existing services to better respond to historical child sexual abuse.217 Sexual Assault Services Victoria recognised that many victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse are older adults who may not easily engage with services and recommended resourcing specialist sexual assault service clinical leads for older adults specifically.218 A participant in a Services Roundtable suggested embedding specialist workers in diverse access points across the service system that victim-survivors are likely to access, including in health services.219 They recognised that for many victim-survivors, particularly men, approaching a specialist sexual assault service can be confronting and indicated that this could help reduce this barrier.220

Participants in the Board of Inquiry’s Government Roundtable shared similar views. The view was expressed that the existing specialist sexual assault support sector has the scale and expertise to respond effectively to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse, including male victim-survivors.221 Participants stressed that rather than developing new services, opportunities to leverage existing services and systems should be explored.222

On the balance of information before it, the Board of Inquiry agrees that there are opportunities to leverage existing services and systems to meet many of the support needs of victim-survivors. However, as previously discussed in Chapter 17(opens in a new window), the Board of Inquiry understands that existing services are under considerable strain as a result of resource pressures. The term ‘resource’ in this section covers both the level of funding available to a service and the extent of its workforce.

Addressing resource pressures in a strategic and coordinated way

Funding for specialist sexual assault services

The Board of Inquiry understands that more funding is needed to enable specialist sexual assault services to meet the needs of adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse. For example, a participant in a Services Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry that services do not lack the ability or inclination to support this cohort, but that they lack the resources.223 The Board of Inquiry heard that additional resourcing and revised service delivery targets would allow support services to provide a broader range of supports to victim-survivors.224

Sexual Assault Services Victoria stated that a new funding model would enable services to have greater flexibility in the duration and types of support that they could offer victim-survivors.225 It recommended establishing a ‘new long-term funding model that enables the full scope of the work that specialist sexual assault services undertake to support victim-survivor recovery’.226

The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC), in its 2021 report Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (VLRC report), stated that ‘[t]he first and most crucial task of reform is to invest in sexual assault support services’.227 It recommended addressing the resourcing needs of specialist sexual assault services as a priority, and significantly increasing their resources to meet demand.228

While the Board of Inquiry agrees that funding challenges need to be resolved, it understands that funding alone would not solve the strain experienced by existing services. As described in Chapter 17(opens in a new window), workforce supply and capability challenges also make it difficult for services to meet demand and address people’s needs.

Workforce supply and capability

In her evidence, Professor Bromfield explained that more needs to be done to grow the existing pool of skilled workers and build existing workers’ capability to respond to complex trauma:

We really need to look at how we develop statewide workforce capacity-building initiatives to build the capability of both the existing workforce in responding to complex trauma and to grow the number of people who can respond to childhood trauma.229

Professor Bromfield noted that, given that the evidence base on responding to historical child sexual abuse continues to evolve, ‘an expectation around continuous professional development would be helpful in this sector’.230

Bravehearts specifically identified the need to address gaps in specialised training to ensure therapeutic and support service professionals understand the nature of child sexual abuse (including grooming), effective interventions, and how to minimise the toll that working with those who have experienced child sexual abuse can take on workers.231

A participant in a Services Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry that capability could be improved through training and upskilling staff, as well as through developing communities of practice, which allow for expertise to be shared across services.232 Another participant in a Services Roundtable highlighted the need for ‘widespread … training and support for practitioners across a range of different systems’.233

Dr Gordon also gave evidence that there is a need for ‘strong investments in supporting the clinicians so they have good supervision, [and] good opportunities for debriefing and reflective practice’ to reduce the risk of practitioner burnout.234

In 2021, the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System recommended structural workforce reforms to ensure expanded mental health services have the necessary size and composition.235 The Victorian Skills Authority, which provides advice to the Victorian Government and departments on current and future skills needs, has also produced research indicating that there is a significant need for more social sector workers.236

Reforms underway to address resource pressures

The Board of Inquiry has been told that the Victorian Government is introducing a range of reforms to help address workforce supply challenges. The DFFH advises that it is adopting strategies to increase and upskill the social services workforce. This includes offering incentives to increase the number of workers in the sector and investing in retention and skills development for existing workers.237 The DFFH told the Board of Inquiry that it is engaging with the Commonwealth Government to advocate for reforms that reduce barriers to workforce entry, such as providing more financial assistance for students on placements and increasing Commonwealth Supported Places ‘for post-graduate short courses … to build more agile specialist pathways, including for career changers’.238 It is also implementing specific workforce development activities targeted to the sexual assault support sector. For example, it is implementing funded attraction and recruitment campaigns to fill vacancies, continuing to build the longer-term pipeline of skilled workers through graduate and trainee programs about dealing with sexual assault, and reducing barriers to mobility across sectors.239

The DFFH also told the Board of Inquiry that it is ‘working to secure additional funding to services across Victoria in response to demand’ and has introduced flexible funding to meet the immediate needs of victim-survivors and remove practical barriers to accessing support (such as transport costs).240

Publicly available information reveals that work is also underway at the Commonwealth and state levels to build workforce capability to respond to child sexual abuse. The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse is promoting best practice and providing education and training to workforces. It is also undertaking a baseline analysis of the new Minimum Practice Standards for Specialist and community support services, to support their implementation.241

Another development is the funding of Sexual Assault Services Victoria to play a role in driving improvement and consistency across the sexual assault support sector. Sexual Assault Services Victoria is leading research, commissioned by the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse, to understand the specialist sector’s knowledge gaps in providing trauma-informed support for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse and to identify the training needed to address these.242

More broadly, the Victorian Government is supporting the establishment of a new Mental Health Statewide Trauma Service which would be responsible for researching trauma-informed care and practice, and disseminating its findings. It would train and provide multidisciplinary specialist trauma practitioners to work in Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services and assist other mental health practitioners to better understand trauma-informed care.243

The Victorian Government is also introducing new reforms to improve access to services. The Victorian Government is implementing mental health reforms to improve the access of all Victorians to publicly funded therapeutic support. According to publicly available information, this includes rolling out new mental health and wellbeing services for adults and older adults, known as Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals, across Victoria.244

In the justice sector, the new Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme will replace the current VOCAT in 2024. The new scheme is designed to be more victim-centric and is intended to make it easier for all victims of violent crime to receive financial assistance, including access to counselling.245

The DFFH is also working to tailor approaches for victim-survivors who experience structural barriers to seeking support or reporting. The DFFH’s evidence to the Board of Inquiry is that it is funding specialist sexual assault services and multicultural, faith-based and ethno-specific organisations to work in partnership to improve the accessibility and cultural safety of specialist sexual assault services.246 It is also funding Sexual Assault Services Victoria to improve access to services for people with disability and people from LGBTQIA+ communities.247

Further, the Australian Law Reform Commission has commenced an inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence in Australia. Under its terms of reference, the Australian Law Reform Commission will have regard to ‘support and services available to people who have experienced sexual violence, from the period prior to reporting to the period after the conclusion of formal justice system processes’.248 It will provide a final report to the Commonwealth Attorney-General by 22 January 2025.249

Realising the effects of the reforms

It is the Board of Inquiry’s view that resource pressures affecting support services must be addressed to give services the capacity, capability and flexibility to deliver appropriate supports to adult victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. Expanding and strengthening existing public support services would make support more accessible and reduce the number of people being forced into the private system, which may be unaffordable to them. To do this, services need to be adequately funded and there needs to be enough professionals in the specialist sexual assault sector, mental health sector (public and private) and in some community organisations with the specific knowledge and capability to effectively respond when adults disclose institutional child sexual abuse.

The Board of Inquiry recognises that the Victorian Government is trying to address complex funding and workforce challenges in a coordinated and strategic way through its reform agenda. It will take time to implement these reforms, for them to take effect and for their effectiveness to be evaluated. Given this, and given the limited scope of this inquiry, the Board of Inquiry decided not to make specific recommendations to address resource pressures.

Even so, the Board of Inquiry notes that there may be opportunities to ensure community and specialist sexual assault sector workforce reforms include training and skills development in responding to adult victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. Existing mental health workforce reforms could also include training that builds practitioner capability to respond to adult disclosures of institutional child sexual abuse, given its prevalence and that many victim-survivors often engage first with mental health services.

The Board of Inquiry also notes that existing services need to be supported to use learnings from research and translate knowledge into practice. This includes ensuring there is investment in ongoing professional development, which services need the capacity for their workers to be able to undertake without compromising the duration or time they can spend delivering support to victim-survivors and other consumers.

Targeted supports

Aside from the systemic challenges described earlier, the Board of Inquiry believes that there are specific and targeted improvements that can be introduced into existing systems to better meet the needs of victim-survivors. They involve improving:

  • access to information and advice to assist victim-survivors to understand the available options
  • support to navigate services to assist victim-survivors to access support more easily
  • ensuring victim-survivors can receive timely support from specialist sexual assault support services and these services are seen as accessible to all genders.

The Board of Inquiry’s recommendations are directed towards helping adults who have experienced child sexual abuse in government schools. However, the Victorian Government may find some of these improvements could meet the needs of other adults who have experienced sexual assault. In some instances, the information received by the Board of Inquiry has allowed it to recommend targeted service improvements that expand beyond supporting only victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, to include adults who have experienced child sexual abuse in any institution or in any setting. However, while there are common needs in some areas, some responses need to be specifically focused on victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools. In its recommendations, the Board of Inquiry has therefore been specific about which cohort the advised service improvements should target.

Strengthening access to information and assistance

Service providers told the Board of Inquiry that all victim-survivors would benefit from information sources that demonstrate a deep understanding of historical child sexual abuse and provide advice and tools to manage its impacts.250 Specifically, the Board of Inquiry heard that victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools should have access to targeted information and advice that reflects their experience and needs.251

The Board of Inquiry notes that work is already underway at the national level to help victim-survivors of child sexual abuse to access better information and advice. The Commonwealth Government is establishing a national point of referral to assist victim-survivors of child sexual abuse.252 Its aim will be to help victim-survivors, practitioners and the general public to ‘navigate the service system and access information, resources and support services’.253

While it is likely to be beneficial, the national point of referral is not targeted to address the specific information needs of victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools. Some of these needs are unique to this cohort. For example, victim-survivors in this cohort may require specific information or advice about how to access and interpret their school records, or how to access the Department’s Counselling Assistance Payments. They may need information tailored to their needs about how to pursue civil claims or how to participate in redress schemes.

A participant in a Services Roundtable told the Board of Inquiry they have the capability to create and provide information and resources for all Victorian victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse, but that a lack of funding was a barrier to doing so.254 Sexual Assault Services Victoria recommended that the Victorian Government fund it to develop a website that includes practical information and resources for current and historical survivors of child sexual abuse, informed by VLRC report recommendations.255 The VLRC recommended the establishment of a central website to provide people with practical information on sexual violence and their options for support, reporting and justice.256

The Board of Inquiry notes that such a website could be helpful for victim-survivors, but considers that adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools should have access to centralised information and assistance that is specific to their needs. The Board of Inquiry also understands that the Victorian Government is still considering the VLRC report recommendations.

As discussed earlier in the Chapter, in early 2023, the Department introduced the Sexual Harm Response Unit to better support schools in responding to instances of alleged child sexual abuse perpetrated against current students and former students.257 Since then, the Department has expanded the Sexual Harm Response Unit’s scope so that it can receive reports of historical child sexual abuse via a direct telephone line and email address.258 The Department
advised that the Sexual Harm Response Unit can now provide assistance to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools about services and referrals through this telephone line.259 The Department has also updated the Victorian Government website to include more information about support services, the National Redress Scheme, VOCAT, apologies and acknowledgements, as well as information about making a legal claim against the Department to seek compensation.260

The Department advised the Board of Inquiry that the Sexual Harm Response Unit’s involvement in historical child sexual abuse matters is currently quite limited and it is not involved in the majority of cases.261 However, the Department’s evidence was that the expansion of the Sexual Harm Response Unit to receive historical reports of child sexual abuse in government schools provides an opportunity for the Department to support these victim-survivors.262

The Board of Inquiry is supportive of the Department’s work to expand the Sexual Harm Response Unit’s function to better support schools to respond to allegations of current and historical child sexual abuse in government schools. The Board of Inquiry considers that this work needs to continue to expand to ensure that all students, current and former, are well supported and that schools have the capability to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse safely, consistently and appropriately.

The Board of Inquiry acknowledges and supports the Department’s recent steps to establish and improve access to information and assistance for victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse directly through the Sexual Harm Response Unit. The Board of Inquiry is of the view that further opportunities exist to build on this work and ensure adult victim-survivors’ access to information and assistance continues to improve.

The Board of Inquiry considers that the Department is best placed to be the central point of information and initial assistance for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in schools. This is because the Sexual Harm Response Unit already has an existing function assisting this cohort, and the Department holds a substantial amount of information that may be useful to victim-survivors.

Being responsible for the centralised information and assistance point also affords the Department the opportunity to build its capability to directly engage with victim-survivors and flexibly support them to access support and pathways that best meet their needs. This also provides the basis for the Department to start building the necessary new functions and capabilities needed to undertake personal responses as part of restorative engagement pathways. These actions together would help to build trust in the Department over time, as the Department continues to hold itself accountable for past harms and takes responsibility for restorative engagement with victim-survivors.

To do this, the Board of Inquiry sees value in the Department broadening the existing remit of the Sexual Harm Response Unit to provide a more centralised information and initial assistance hub and telephone line for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools, as well as to provide support and advice to engage with the Department’s processes, such as the process for seeking records. The information and evidence received by the Board of Inquiry suggests that the online hub and telephone line would be beneficial for all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools, not just victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse. This is because all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools may struggle to find information about supports, experience trauma that impacts their ability to navigate complex systems, and may benefit from having a centralised place to seek information and assistance about their specific needs.

Recommendation 6: A new online hub and telephone line providing information and assistance for adult victim-survivors

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Department of Education establish an online hub and telephone line for adults who are victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools to seek information and initial assistance.

Components of implementation

PROVIDING INFORMATION IN AN EASILY ACCESSIBLE AND TRAUMA-INFORMED WAY

In establishing the online hub, the Department should seek to ensure that the information provided is comprehensive and tailored to adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools. This means it should provide information that addresses the wide range of support needs that victim-survivors have and options available to them. This includes information about:

  • available support services across the different systems
  • justice pathways, including the National Redress Scheme and civil litigation
  • financial assistance schemes such as VOCAT (and the new Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme when it replaces VOCAT)
  • reporting alleged child sexual abuse in government schools (current and historical) to police
  • how to engage with the Department to request information and records related to child sexual abuse in government schools
  • how to engage with the Board of Inquiry’s recommended truth-telling process and new restorative engagement program from the Department.

The Victorian Government already has an existing ‘Report abuse if you’re a current or former student’ webpage which could be expanded and amended to build the online hub. Regardless of whether this page is amended or a new website is created, the online hub and its information should be trauma-informed, welcoming and accessible to victim-survivors. This includes making it clear that the online hub is for all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools, regardless of whether they want to directly engage with the Department, report their experience to police or choose not to take further action. It should also be clear about what options are only available to victim-survivors of historical child sexual abuse in government schools (for example, the recommended truth-telling and accountability process) and those that are available to all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools. The information should also be inclusive and meet the diverse communication needs of victim-survivors.

The Board of Inquiry considers that designing the online hub in close consultation with victim-survivors is important to ensuring these objectives are met.

OFFERING INITIAL ASSISTANCE

While online information on supports and schemes alone may be sufficient for some people, others may also need some initial assistance to help them understand the options available to them. A telephone helpline accessible through the online hub should be offered for this purpose.

The Board of Inquiry considers that the Sexual Harm Response Unit is well placed to provide initial assistance to victim-survivors, given that the Unit already plays a role in supporting adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools to understand their support options. The Sexual Harm Response Unit should continue to expand this function to ensure it has the capability to provide initial high-level assistance to victim-survivors about their options. This could include explaining how to contact a support service or access a scheme, or helping someone to understand the difference between support options. The Sexual Harm Response Unit would not be responsible for providing detailed and comprehensive advice about options in the service system more broadly that would best meet an individual’s needs. This responsibility would sit with the coordination, navigation and advocacy function recommended in the next section (Recommendation 7)(opens in a new window).

In addition to providing information and initial assistance, the Sexual Harm Response Unit should also continue to build its capability and capacity to provide more detailed advice and support to victim-survivors who wish to engage in any processes administered by the Department. This includes seeking information and records from the Department (Recommendation 5)(opens in a new window), seeking a direct personal response from the Department (Recommendation 4)(opens in a new window) or reporting allegations of child sexual abuse to the Department. Importantly, the function should be independent of other parts of the Department (such as the area responsible for civil claims) to ensure it is safe for victim-survivors. The Board of Inquiry notes that the Unit’s role in supporting people while they are participating in a civil claims or redress process would be more limited, but it would still be available to direct them to information as needed.

ENSURING THE ONLINE HUB AND TELEPHONE LINE ARE SAFE, TRAUMA-INFORMED AND TRUSTED

To ensure victim-survivors are aware of the online hub and telephone line, these services should be well publicised through departmental channels, including school communications, and through advocacy and support organisations. Other relevant Victorian Government websites should also reference the online hub and include links for victim-survivors. This includes websites such as the DFFH webpages on sexual assault and supports, the Victims of Crime website and the Victorian Government webpage on the National Redress Scheme.

The Sexual Harm Response Unit should make sure that it can provide assistance in a trauma-informed way. Staff tasked with supporting this work should have training to understand the particular trauma impacts experienced by adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools. They need a basic working understanding of the service systems and options available for victim-survivors and have the knowledge and skills to be able to explain these options to victim-survivors clearly and compassionately. Staff providing initial assistance should also build the capability and flexibility to support victim-survivors to change pathways where needed.

Recognising that staff would need to refer some victim-survivors to specialist sexual assault services for support, the Department and the DFFH should develop new protocols between the online hub and telephone line and specialist sexual assault services to support smooth referral pathways for victim-survivors and access to timely support.

Public-facing material should also be clear about who the online hub and telephone line services are for, to avoid confusion for other victim-survivors. Staff would also need to have the capability to sensitively redirect other cohorts who may contact the telephone line (for example, an adult who has experienced familial child sexual abuse) to more suitable entry points and refer them to appropriate services where necessary.

KEEPING UP TO DATE

The Board of Inquiry notes that service systems are constantly changing, as are service responses to child sexual abuse and sexual assault more broadly. The Sexual Harm Response Unit should stay informed about existing and proposed new service offerings, and raise awareness of them through the online information and advice hub. For example, and as indicated earlier, the Board of Inquiry notes that a national point of referral is being established. While the online hub and telephone line would not seek to replicate this initiative, once it is established there would be opportunities to ensure victim-survivors are aware of the national point of referral and are engaged with the best supports available to them.

Improving coordination, navigation and advocacy supports

As discussed in Chapter 17(opens in a new window), some victim-survivors require more than just episodic assistance to move through complex systems and services. They need informed advice, help navigating processes and services, and support to complete forms. Some people would also benefit from a consistent point to which they can return in order to re-engage with services over their life course when the need arises.

Other cohorts who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse already have access to dedicated coordination, navigation and advocacy support. For example, the Victorian Government funds statewide advocacy and support services for Pre-1990 Care Leavers (‘Forgotten Australians’).263 The support these services provide can include assistance with locating family members and support to access records and ward files.264 They also include coordinated support that assists with service referrals, casework, exploring support options, completing forms and advocacy.265 The Commonwealth Government funds Find & Connect support services, including the website discussed earlier in this chapter, to provide information for Pre-1990 Care Leavers (‘Forgotten Australians’) and support for them to access their records.266

Dr Joe Tucci, CEO, Australian Childhood Foundation, gave evidence to the Board of Inquiry recommending the introduction of a new stand-alone service that would provide a single point of contact for victim-survivors that could directly link them with the range of supports they need over their life course.267 Dr Tucci’s evidence set out how this would be different to what the specialist sexual assault services currently provide, noting their services are generally therapeutic and they do not provide ‘more general support over the life course’.268

This type of solution to address coordination and navigation challenges is not new. Other reviews have previously recommended introducing new coordination, navigation and advocacy supports for broader cohorts who have experienced sexual abuse or assault. In 2017, the Royal Commission recommended new community-based supports for victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse that can provide navigation support, among other things.269 Recent advocacy and petitions have called for governments to implement the Royal Commission’s reforms and ensure a ‘no wrong door’ support.270

In 2021, the VLRC recommended a model of independent advocates to provide continuous support to victim-survivors of sexual violence navigating legal and service systems.271 The VLRC’s recommendation was informed by broad consultation and research and its findings suggest that the independent advocate model (or something similar) is widely supported by stakeholders.272 The VLRC suggested that such a model could be introduced into specialist sexual assault services as a starting point, but noted their role in providing this type of function has decreased over time as waitlists and referrals have increased.273

The Board of Inquiry is of the view that adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in schools shouldhave access to a service or function that provides dedicated coordination, navigation and advocacy support, equivalent to supports offered to other institutional child sexual abuse survivors. The information and evidence received by the Board of Inquiry suggests all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in schools would benefit from this function for the same reasons as they would benefit from the online hub and telephone line (Recommendation 6).(opens in a new window) The Board of Inquiry has therefore not limited the recommendation to victim-survivors of historical sexual abuse in government schools only.

Recommendation 7: Improved coordination, navigation and advocacy support

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Victorian Government, in consultation with victim-survivors, develop and trial a coordination, navigation and advocacy function for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in schools.

Components of implementation

The coordination, navigation and advocacy function would be responsible for assisting adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in schools to engage with and move between support services and systems. This may include the following:

  • light-touch support, to help connect people with a support service or system, including assisting them with completing application forms for schemes, making warm referrals to services, helping people to re-engage with a service that they have previously used or supporting victim-survivors to understand and exercise their rights
  • more intensive support, to help people with complex needs engage with services or systems where required; for example, supporting them to report to police or make a civil claim, liaising and advocating on behalf of a person to access services, or completing application forms on a person’s behalf.

The Board of Inquiry acknowledges that over time, existing capability and capacity within services to deliver this type of coordination, navigation and advocacy function has eroded due to demand pressures and workforce constraints. While parts of this function still exist — such as the counsellor advocates role in specialist sexual assault services — the capability to deliver the broader function has diminished across services. The Board of Inquiry therefore recommends that the Victorian Government undertake the following steps to design and implement the new function:

  • As a starting point, work in consultation with service providers, victim-survivors and peak bodies to design the function, including identifying the contemporary capabilities and skills needed to successfully deliver the function within current system settings.
  • Identify appropriate existing services (or if necessary, introduce a new stand-alone service) that have the right skills, expertise and capabilities to deliver the function.
  • In consultation with stakeholders, develop and deliver appropriate training to these services that would grow and embed capability to deliver the new function successfully.
  • Trial the function and evaluate how effective the function is over time for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in schools. If the function is providing positive outcomes for victim-survivors, the Board of Inquiry considers that there could be merit in the Victorian Government exploring opportunities to expand the offering to other cohorts (noting the value of such a function for wider cohorts has already been evidenced in previous reviews).

The Board of Inquiry is not in a position to recommend the specific service provider that would be responsible for delivering the function, given the specific capabilities and skills needed to deliver the function have yet to be designed. The Victorian Government should explore which services already have some existing capability and skills that could be used to deliver the function. For example, specialist sexual assault services already provide counsellor advocates.274 Similarly, some services funded to deliver the Victims Assistance Program (VAP) may also have some of the capability and expertise necessary to deliver the function. While unable to recommend a specific provider, the Board of Inquiry considers that the function should be designed in line with the following minimum features:

  • The service delivering the support should be appropriately trained and skilled in working with adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in a trauma-informed way, and have a deep, broad and technical understanding of what service offerings are available, how they meet people’s needs, and how to move between and around services and systems.
  • The chosen service also needs to be recognised and respected by other services and systems in order for the function to be able to successfully provide advocacy, liaison and referral support when required.
  • Victim-survivors should be able to refer themselves to the function. Other agencies or services should also be able to refer people to the function.
  • Victim-survivors should be able to easily re-engage with the function over their life course if symptoms of their trauma re-emerge, enabling them to quickly and easily seek necessary supports. The Board of Inquiry acknowledges that this does not mean a victim-survivor would be able to re-engage with the same staff member every time, but would have a single service they could contact when their needs change.
  • The function should not duplicate work already undertaken by existing services, such as the VAP’s role in helping people to navigate justice pathways; rather, it should collaborate with existing services to better coordinate the support provided by services and systems.
  • The function should be located within a service or services where people are most likely to engage early. Access should not be conditional on a person using that service for any other support. Consideration should be given to offering the function through a range of different services to provide diverse access points.
  • The function should be independent from formal reporting mechanisms for the investigation of sexual abuse.

In designing the model, the Board of Inquiry considers it would be beneficial for the Victorian Government to consider the features of similar proposed models canvassed in the VLRC report.275

STRENGTHENING COLLABORATION AT THE SAME TIME

To ensure the coordination, navigation and advocacy function is as effective as possible, the Board of Inquiry notes that successful collaboration and coordination between support services and systems is also essential.

Some reforms have already been implemented or have been recommended to help improve service collaboration. For example, in response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, the Victorian Government has introduced new guidance for Victorian mental health and wellbeing and alcohol and other drug services to ensure coordinated treatment, care and support for people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use or addiction.276 The model is based on the ‘no wrong door’ principle discussed above.277

The DFFH’s evidence during the public hearings was that it is also addressing challenges the specialist sexual assault sector and the community services sector have collaborated with each other by ‘doing some work to strengthen partnerships across sexual assault services and disability services, multicultural services and LGBTIQ[A+] services’.278 Sexual Assault Services Victoria recommended to the Board of Inquiry that the Victorian Government also fund a collaborative project between sexual assault support services and services in the mental health and alcohol and drug sectors.279

The DFFH also gave evidence that a new multidisciplinary centre in Shepparton was scheduled to be opened in December 2023.280 While the VLRC report found that multidisciplinary centres are achieving their aims, it also noted that there are opportunities for further improvements and that they should not be the only collaborative model used.281

The VLRC report also found that, in general, collaboration between services responding to sexual violence could be improved.282 It recommended several ways to improve coordination and collaboration across the system. This included conducting an independent review of collaboration between those working to respond to sexual violence and a statewide, multi-agency protocol for responding to sexual violence.283 The Board of Inquiry understands these recommendations have not yet been implemented.

The Board of Inquiry agrees that an independent review of collaboration, as recommended in the VLRC report, is needed. The Board of Inquiry also supports the introduction of multi-agency protocols to improve service connectivity and collaboration across the service systems responding to sexual violence, including institutional child sexual abuse.

The Board of Inquiry considers that conducting a review and introducing multi-agency protocols would help improve referral processes, clarify roles and responsibilities, and identify and address gaps in responsibility, all of which could also help to improve the navigability of services over time.

Improving service responses for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse

The Board of Inquiry has identified two areas where service responses for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse can be improved in the short term, while larger-scale systemic reform is underway.

First, it is important to resolve the lack of formalised peer support for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse outlined in Chapter 17(opens in a new window). As explained in that Chapter, peer support groups that allow people to connect with others who have gone through similar experiences help people to heal or seek further support. Dr Tucci gave evidence that while there is power in peer support groups being self-generated, integrating them into the service system could ensure that they are better resourced.284

Formalised peer support models have already been introduced in at least one other jurisdiction. The Survivors & Mates Support Network (SAMSN) is a peer support model based in New South Wales that provides support for male victim-survivors of child sexual abuse. SAMSN provides professionally facilitated peer-to-peer connection through eight-week support groups, as well as a Peer Support Line through which victim-survivors can ‘talk to a mate who can relate’.285 Participants in the Lived Experience Roundtable spoke positively about SAMSN’s model.286

A victim-survivor told the Board of Inquiry that they would like to see the establishment of peer support groups for female victim-survivors who have experienced historic child sexual abuse at school.287

The Board of Inquiry considers that peer support programs are a significant form of support for many adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse. Introducing a more formalised peer support program for this cohort in Victoria would be likely to provide victim-survivors with more targeted support that directly addresses some of their needs.

Further, the Board of Inquiry considers that there are two opportunities to improve some victim-survivors’ ability to access specialist sexual assault services in a timely way. The first of these is developing a consistent approach to the ways in which adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse can access specialist sexual assault services in a timely way, based on their needs.

The second of these opportunities is reviewing and updating public information about specialist sexual assault services to grow awareness that these services are available and responsive to all genders. As discussed, while specialist sexual assault services are already inclusive and responsive to all genders, they are not always visible to, or seen as appropriate by, male victim-survivors. This is particularly important in view of the significant cohort of older men in Australia who report having experienced sexual abuse as a child in an institution.288

During the Government Roundtable, State representatives noted that updating the public-facing material of sexual assault services could facilitate better communication about what the services deliver and how they respond to diverse communities, including men.289 A participant in a Services Roundtable similarly highlighted that services could provide clearer information to communicate that their services are also available for men, but that this would require resourcing.290

Recommendation 8: A targeted program of work to improve service responses

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Victorian Government design and implement a targeted program of work to improve service responses to adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse. This includes:

  • in consultation with victim-survivors, designing, developing and implementing a formal peer support program for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse
  • in consultation with sexual assault support services and Sexual Assault Services Victoria, develop a consistent approach to how adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse may access sexual assault support services in a timely way
  • reviewing and updating public-facing information of sexual assault support services to grow awareness that services are available for and responsive to people of all genders.

Components of implementation

A FORMAL PEER SUPPORT PROGRAM

The peer support program should be co-designed with adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse to make sure it meets their needs. The program should be:

  • available and accessible to people in multiple locations across Victoria, noting that victim-survivors may live regionally
  • accessible in person or online, as informed by the needs of victim-survivors
  • inclusive and providing support options that meet the diverse needs of victim-survivors. The program should be developed with clear eligibility guidelines that consider and cater for cohort needs. For example, some victim-survivors may benefit from gender-specific peer support options, or from groups that allow them to engage with others who have experienced child sexual abuse in similar settings or ways. The Board of Inquiry has therefore not limited the recommendation to victim-survivors of historical sexual abuse in government schools only.
  • developed and implemented in a way that is trauma-informed, safe and is appropriately connected to and overseen by clinical professionals who can offer therapeutic guidance and provide education, advice and to support to peer groups as needed
  • facilitated by peer leaders who have been supported to access trauma-informed training and peer facilitation training to ensure they have the capability and confidence to safely lead the program.

The Board of Inquiry notes that there are several peer support models already in existence that could inform the design of a Victorian peer support program. This includes SAMSN, as discussed above, and The Survivor Hub. These programs provide peer support for people impacted by sexual abuse in Sydney. Any implementation of similar models should be informed by evaluations of such programs.

IMPROVED ACCESS TO SPECIALIST SEXUAL ASSAULT SERVICES

The Victorian Government should examine how long adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse are currently waiting to access specialist sexual assault services, in order to:

  • understand what barriers or challenges might be preventing victim-survivors from receiving support in a timely way
  • identify opportunities and solutions to ensure that adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse can access sexual assault service supports when they need them.

Solutions should be designed in consultation with Sexual Assault Services Victoria and specialist sexual assault services so that a consistent approach to how victim-survivors access these services is implemented — and in a way that does not disadvantage other cohorts.

In developing the solutions, the Board of Inquiry considers that it is appropriate and necessary for adult victim-survivors to have to wait for a reasonable period of time to access a service if they are not in crisis. However, no-one should have to wait for long periods of time even if they are ‘coping’, as quick responses might mean a person does not experience a crisis in the first place. During any waiting period, victim-survivors should be provided with a ‘holding service’ that can provide a quick check-in or referrals to other relevant services, so they are not left waiting on their own for the entire period of time.

GENDER-INCLUSIVE PUBLIC FACING INFORMATION

To ensure specialist sexual assault services are readily recognisable as gender-inclusive and to mitigate any perceptions that services are for women only, existing public-facing information, such as colour palettes, logos, language and imagery, should be reviewed and amended. Changes need not be made to the names of existing services.

This work should be accompanied by raising awareness — including in organisations that provide referrals to specialist sexual assault services — aimed at increasing understanding of the supports these services can provide to people of all genders.

The work should also extend to online information, including the information on the DFFH’s website, and the Victorian Government should work with Sexual Assault Services Victoria to ensure that any public material it produces about support services has gender-neutral information, language and branding.

The Board of Inquiry was told about at least one specialist sexual assault service that has positioned itself to be responsive to men through language changes, and that as a result the service has seen more male victim-survivors access its supports.291 The Board of Inquiry considers this a positive step and believes there is merit in ensuring that all specialist sexual assault services adopt a consistent approach to language that is gender-inclusive.

The information and evidence received by the Board of Inquiry suggests that all adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse would benefit from improved access to specialist sexual assault services and gender-inclusive public-facing information. The Board of Inquiry has therefore not limited the recommendation to victim-survivors of historical sexual abuse in government schools only.

Ensuring a joined-up and strategic approach to implementation

Additional funding to enable implementation

As discussed in Chapter 17(opens in a new window) and further reiterated in this Chapter, services are facing significant capacity challenges which are leaving them stretched and struggling to meet growing demand for supports.

In line with the Order in Council, the Board of Inquiry’s report aims to help develop a shared understanding, among all Victorians, of the impact of that historical child sexual abuse on victim-survivors, secondary victims, affected communities, and society.292 To do this, it raises awareness about the issue of historical child sexual abuse in government schools, and also discusses the available support services available to victim-survivors. It is highly likely that services would experience a demand peak as a result of the Board of Inquiry’s work, and the associated public commentary.

Further, the Board of Inquiry anticipates that specialist sexual assault services would experience additional time-limited demand peaks as a direct result of its recommendations, if implemented. This includes:

  • introduction of a statewide truth-telling and accountability process that would likely see new waves of victim-survivors coming forward to access support for the first time or again
  • more victim-survivors assisted to access support services as a result of the new online information and assistance hub and the coordination, navigation and advocacy function
  • new protocols between the Department and the DFFH to help victim-survivors receive timely access to specialist sexual assault support services once referred
  • improved awareness of the inclusivity of specialist sexual assault services for all genders.

The Board of Inquiry does not think it is appropriate or possible to expect existing services to provide these new functions or meet increased demand within their current budgets. To do so would be likely to result in unsuccessful implementation, see more people referred to specialist sexual assault services with six- to 12-month waitlists, or the redirection of resources away from other critical and important support offerings to enable implementation. The Board of Inquiry is of the view that additional funding is needed to implement services and make sure that services have the capacity to respond to the associated demand peaks.

Strong oversight and governance

The Board of Inquiry is aware that its recommendations, if implemented, would be introduced into an already complex system.

To avoid fragmentation, and to ensure collaboration and coordination of effort, the Board of Inquiry sees merit in establishing a governance mechanism to oversee implementation of recommendations or using an existing mechanism for that purpose. This governance mechanism could include all departments and agencies responsible for implementing the various components of the recommendations. It would be responsible for:

  • developing a strategic roadmap to ensure that reforms are implemented in a joined-up way, that their implementation is properly sequenced and that collaboration in the service system is strengthened
  • developing a service and system implementation plan, in consultation with relevant services, to ensure implementation does not inadvertently cause service challenges for adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in government schools or other cohorts.

The governance mechanism could also be responsible for:

  • designing and implementing a work program
  • ensuring that service improvements are informed by reform directions and improvements happening across service systems more broadly, and are integrated with these reform plans where appropriate.

Protection of personal information

Throughout its work, the Board of Inquiry has committed to conducting itself in way that is inclusive and sensitive to the trauma that is associated with child sexual abuse. In doing so, it has endeavoured to place the needs and preferences of victim-survivors at the centre of its work, while complying with its procedural fairness obligations.

The choice and control of victim-survivors, secondary victims, affected community members, and organisations who chose to engage with the Board of Inquiry was paramount to how personal information provided to the Board of Inquiry was treated. These participants could choose to have their information treated confidentially, anonymously or publicly. The Board of Inquiry respected those preferences, including in its public hearings and report.

This was an important feature of the Board of Inquiry’s conduct — some victim-survivors were disclosing child sexual abuse for the first time in their lives, others were involved in criminal and civil proceedings or may be in the future; all were sharing deeply personal information. Choice and control over how personal information was shared supported individuals to engage with the Board of Inquiry in a safe, open and trauma-informed way. The information provided was fundamental to the Board of Inquiry’s work.

Treatment of information was also important in relation to the Board of Inquiry’s procedural fairness obligations, noting that the Board of Inquiry received information about the alleged perpetrators which has not been legally tested in court.

As explored in Chapter 2, Operations(opens in a new window), since its establishment the Board of Inquiry has been mindful of decommissioning the inquiry in a considered way. Importantly, this includes how personal information shared with the Board of Inquiry is managed after the inquiry ends.

Some of the records held by the Board of Inquiry are subject to restricted publication orders it made under section 73 of the Inquiries Act 2014 (Vic) (Inquiries Act). As explained in Chapter 1, Establishment and approach(opens in a new window), these orders limit the publication of information that could identify victim-survivors or alleged perpetrators. The Board of Inquiry expects these orders will continue to have effect after it ceases to exist, although these orders will only apply in accordance with their terms.

In considering its decommissioning approach, the Board of Inquiry was aware of a gap in current legislation that may be relevant to how its information is treated after the inquiry ends.

For example, at the conclusion of the Board of Inquiry, its records will transfer to the Department of Premier and Cabinet and then onto the Public Record Office Victoria for archiving.293 At that time, relevant ministers may declare the records to be ‘closed’ from general public access for certain reasons, including that the records contain matters of such a private or personal nature that they should not be open for public inspection.294 In practice, the most sensitive records are closed for periods of 75 to 99 years.295

Despite this, the Board of Inquiry’s transferred records will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) and accordingly may be requested by, and in certain circumstances released to, the public (subject to the provisions of that Act). While the Board of Inquiry expects that some of its records may be withheld from release on the basis of relevant exemptions, these decisions will be made by the Victorian Government (not the Board of Inquiry).

While section 80 of the Inquiries Act prevents certain uses of information provided to the Board of Inquiry in criminal and civil proceedings, questions arise in relation to the scope of section 80,296 including the ways in which the information may still be permissibly used (for example, informing the development of a defence to a proceeding). Further, section 80 does not preclude access to the information, including under the Freedom of Information Act.297

Other inquiries established under the Inquiries Act have also identified the need for legislative reform, including the Yoorrook Justice Commission. The Yoorrook Justice Commission found that there is no mechanism for it to guarantee the information shared with it will be kept confidential once it finishes its work.298 The Yoorrook Justice Commission recommended that, by 29 February 2024, the Victorian Government create new statutory protections for public records that ensure that information shared on a confidential basis remains confidential for a minimum of 99 years once they are transferred to the Victorian Government.299

While the gaps in current legislation are small, and while the Board of Inquiry considers the risk of confidential and anonymous information being released to be remote, this is a risk that should not exist.

Similar concerns were raised at the Commonwealth level in relation to the treatment of information in national commissions, inquiries and truth-telling processes. In response, the Royal Commissions Amendment (Enhancing Engagement) Act 2023 (Cth) was introduced to ensure that personal or confidential information disclosed to royal commissions is protected after the life of a commission. This includes exempting documents received from a royal commission from the Commonwealth’s freedom of information legislation.300

The Board of Inquiry has consulted at length with the Victorian Government, the future custodian of its records once the Board of Inquiry ceases to exist, to ensure as far as possible under Victorian law that the preferences of those who provided personal information to the Board of Inquiry are respected. This seeks to ensure that personal information that is confidential, anonymous or sensitive remains confidential. In February 2024, the Chair wrote to the Premier, The Hon Jacinta Allan MP, outlining these matters.

The Board of Inquiry recommends legislative reform to the Inquiries Act to ensure that personal information that an inquiry identifies as confidential, anonymous or sensitive and is transferred to the Victorian Government, remains confidential for a minimum of 99 years after the records are transferred to it.

Given the Board of Inquiry’s recommendation relates to all future Victorian inquiries, the precise scope of application of such a mechanism would be a matter for the Victorian Government to consider in the design of any legislative reform. In this Board of Inquiry, personal information that is sensitive included, for example, information that may prejudice a criminal or civil proceeding. In designing any legislative reform, the Victorian Government would also need to balance the benefits of such a mechanism with maintaining appropriate accountability, transparency and scrutiny of inquiries themselves.

This legislative amendment should apply to all Victorian inquiries and should be applied retrospectively to this Board of Inquiry’s records (without affecting the continued application of any restricted publication orders made by the Board of Inquiry). This would ensure that all future inquiries, especially those with a truth-telling focus, can uphold the needs, preferences and choices of participants and all people are empowered to safely share their experiences.

Recommendation 9: Legislative reform to ensure the enduring protection of personal information provided to boards of inquiry

The Board of Inquiry recommends the Victorian Government amend the Inquiries Act 2014 (Vic) to ensure that personal information identified by the relevant board of inquiry as confidential, anonymous or sensitive:

  • is kept confidential for a minimum of 99 years following the end of a board of inquiry
  • be exempted from the application of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) for a minimum of 99 years following the end of a board of inquiry.

These changes should apply retrospectively to this Board of Inquiry.

Conclusion

The Board of Inquiry has heard extraordinary stories of resilience in the face of child sexual abuse and recovery from the damaging effects of this abuse. However, it is clear that many victim-survivors continue to suffer in silence or fail to be provided with the support and acknowledgement they deserve.

The Board of Inquiry was established — in part — to begin a process of healing. It worked to contribute to this by ensuring that victim-survivors, secondary victims and affected community members experienced its own processes and people as validating and compassionate. The Board of Inquiry has been heartened by those who have recognised these efforts and found them thoughtful, affirming or empowering.

However, healing is a long journey for many. People who shared their experiences with the Board of Inquiry are at different stages of this journey. The recommendations set out in this Chapter are intended to ensure that they — alongside other victim-survivors of child sexual abuse — can continue to move towards a life that is not defined by the sexual abuse they experienced.

Initiatives aimed at acknowledging the prevalence and impact of child sexual abuse in government schools, and accepting accountability for the harm done, are critical. However, these initiatives must be accompanied by a support services system that is equipped to respond to the unique needs of these adult victim-survivors of child sexual abuse as they process their experiences and reclaim their hope for the future.

Chapter 18 Endnotes

  1. Hazel Blunden et al., ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 60.
  2. ‘Vic Premier Andrews Holds Joint News Conference’, (Nine News, 28 June 2023).
  3. ‘Vic Premier Andrews Holds Joint News Conference’, (Nine News, 28 June 2023).
  4. ‘Vic Premier Andrews Holds Joint News Conference’, (Nine News, 28 June 2023).
  5. Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 8 February 2024, 247 (Jacinta Allan, Bendigo East – Premier).
  6. Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 8 February 2024, 250 (Jacinta Allan, Bendigo East – Premier).
  7. Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 27 November 2019, 4501 (Daniel Andrews, Premier).
  8. Deborah Glass OBE, ‘Investigation into Child Sex Offender Robert Whitehead’s Involvement with Puffing Billy and Other Railway Bodies’, Victorian Ombudsman (Web Page) <https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/our-impact/investigation-reports/investigation-into-child-sex-offender-robert-whiteheads-involvement-with-puffing-billy-and-other-railway-bodies/#full-report>(opens in a new window).
  9. Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 27 November 2019, 4501–2 (Daniel Andrews, Premier).
  10. Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 22 October 2018, 10560–4 (Scott Morrison, Prime Minister).
  11. Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 13 February 2008, 167–71 (Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister).
  12. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 58.
  13. Anne-Marie McAlinden, ‘Apologies as “Shame Management”: The Politics of Remorse in the Aftermath of Historical Institutional Abuse’ (2022) 42 Legal Studies 137, 138.
  14. Anne-Marie McAlinden, ‘Apologies as “Shame Management”: The Politics of Remorse in the Aftermath of Historical Institutional Abuse’ (2022) 42 Legal Studies 137, 143.
  15. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 58–9.
  16. Family and Community Development Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Betrayal of Trust: Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations (Parliamentary Paper No 275, November 2013) 99.
  17. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 5.
  18. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 60.
  19. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-50 [28].
  20. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-50 [30]–[35].
  21. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 15 [74]–[75].
  22. Private session 2.
  23. Private session 6.
  24. Private session 22.
  25. Private session 26.
  26. Private session 34.
  27. Private session 7.
  28. Private session 4.
  29. Private session 9.
  30. Private session 14.
  31. Private session 23.
  32. Private session 24.
  33. Private session 39.
  34. Private session 18.
  35. Private session 20.
  36. Private session 20.
  37. Private session 10.
  38. Private session 19.
  39. Private session 40.
  40. Private session 37.
  41. Transcript of Jenny Atta, 17 November 2023, P-210 [7] – P-211 [27]; Jenny Atta, ‘Statement from the Secretary, Department of Education’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/statement-jenny-atta-secretary-department-education>(opens in a new window) Appendix J.
  42. Transcript of Jenny Atta, 17 November 2023, P-210 [9]–[12]. Note there are some small changes in style between the transcript and the apology published on the Department’s website.
  43. Transcript of Jenny Atta, 17 November 2023, P-211 [13]–[16].
  44. Transcript of Jenny Atta, 17 November 2023, P-211 [22]–[23].
  45. Transcript of David Howes, 16 November 2023, P-191 [15]–[18].
  46. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-50 [40]–[43].
  47. Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, Farida Shaheed: Memorialization Processes, UN Doc A/HRC/49 (23 January 2014) 4.
  48. Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, Farida Shaheed: Memorialization Processes, UN Doc A/HRC/49 (23 January 2014) 5.
  49. Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘Commemorating Childhood Loss and Trauma: Survivor Memorials in Australia’ (2020) 32(2) Historic Environment 54, 56.
  50. Transcript of Adrian Farrer, 24 November 2023, P-304 [39]–[45].
  51. Transcript of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, P-296 [45]–[46].
  52. Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘Commemorating Childhood Loss and Trauma: Survivor Memorials in Australia’ (2020) 32(2) Historic Environment 54, 58.
  53. Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘Commemorating Childhood Loss and Trauma: Survivor Memorials in Australia’ (2020) 32(2) Historic Environment 54, 57–9.
  54. ‘Stolen Generations Memorial Plaques’, Future Transport (Web Page) <https://www.future.transport.nsw.gov.au/case-studies/stolen-generations-memorial-plaques>(opens in a new window).
  55. Alexa Sardina and Nicole Fox, ‘America’s First Memorial Honoring Survivors of Sexual Violence’ (2022)
    37(17–18) Journal of Interpersonal Violence NP14914, NP14915.
  56. Alexa Sardina and Nicole Fox, ‘America’s First Memorial Honoring Survivors of Sexual Violence’ (2022)
    37(17–18) Journal of Interpersonal Violence NP14914, NP14915.
  57. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 17, 65.
  58. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 17, 65.
  59. Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings (Final Report, September 2023) vol 3 vol 5
  60. Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (Final Report, 2017) vol 1, 230–1; Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘Commemorating Childhood Loss and Trauma: Survivor Memorials in Australia’ (2020) 32(2) Historic Environment 54, 60.
  61. Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘Commemorating Childhood Loss and Trauma: Survivor Memorials in Australia’ (2020) 32(2) Historic Environment 54, 57.
  62. ‘Honoring Survivors of Sexual Violence’, Survivors Memorial (Web Page) <https://www.survivorsmemorial.org>(opens in a new window).
  63. Alexa Sardina and Nicole Fox, ‘America’s First Memorial Honoring Survivors of Sexual Violence’ (2022) 37(17–18) Journal of Interpersonal Violence NP14914, NP14920.
  64. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 8.
  65. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 16–17 [67].
  66. Transcript of Katie Wright, 24 October 2023, P-50 [1]–[13].
  67. ‘Our Legacy’, Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (Web Page) <https://www.iicsa.org.uk/our-legacy.html>(opens in a new window).
  68. Statement of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, 3 [13].
  69. Statement of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, 4 [18]; Transcript of Maureen Hatcher, 24 November 2023, P-298 [29]–[30].
  70. Transcript of Adrian Farrer, 24 November 2023, P-304 [40]–[47].
  71. Transcript of Adrian Farrer, 24 November 2023, P-305 [22]–[25].
  72. Transcript of Adrian Farrer, 24 November 2023, P-309 [1]–[6].
  73. Transcript of Adrian Farrer, 24 November 2023, P-310 [17]–[18].
  74. Submission 52, 2.
  75. Submission 52, 2.
  76. Submission 52, 3.
  77. Transcript of Bruce Esplin, 24 November 2023, P-316 [5]–[8].
  78. Transcript of Bruce Esplin, 24 November 2023, P-316 [24]–[26], [40]–[46].
  79. Transcript of Bruce Esplin, 24 November 2023, P-317 [31]–[37].
  80. Transcript of Bruce Esplin, 24 November 2023, P-317 [4]–[10].
  81. Alison Atkinson-Phillips, ‘Commemorating Childhood Loss and Trauma: Survivor Memorials in Australia’ (2020) 32(2) Historic Environment 54, 65.
  82. Statement of Katie Wright, 23 October 2023, 12 [54].
  83. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  84. Private session 31.
  85. Private session 26.
  86. Private session 23.
  87. Private session 40.
  88. Private session 34.
  89. Private session 20.
  90. Private session 20.
  91. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  92. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-27 [11]–[17].
  93. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-25 [24]–[30].
  94. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-26 [47] – P-27 [2].
  95. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-27 [7]–[9].
  96. Private session 18.
  97. Private session 18.
  98. Private session 18.
  99. Private session 10.
  100. Private session 10.
  101. Private session 10.
  102. Private session 38.
  103. Email from private session participant 7 to the Board of Inquiry.
  104. Email from private session participant 7 to the Board of Inquiry.
  105. Email from private session participant 7 to the Board of Inquiry.
  106. Private session 29.
  107. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 19 December 2023, 4.
  108. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 19 December 2023, 4.
  109. ‘What is Truth-telling?’, ANTAR (Web Page) <https://antar.org.au/issues/truth-telling/what-is-truth-telling>(opens in a new window).
  110. ‘What is Truth-telling?’, ANTAR (Web Page) <https://antar.org.au/issues/truth-telling/what-is-truth-telling>(opens in a new window).
  111. See e.g.: ‘About’, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (Web Page) <<<https://nctr.ca/about>(opens in a new window); ‘About Us’, Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (Web Page) <https://icrir.independent-inquiry.uk/about-us>(opens in a new window). 
  112. ‘About’, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (Web Page) <https://nctr.ca/about>(opens in a new window).
  113. ‘About’, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (Web Page) <https://nctr.ca/about>(opens in a new window).
  114. Reconciliation Australia and The Healing Foundation, Truth Telling Symposium Report: 5–6 October 2018 (Report, 2018) 5.
  115. Reconciliation Australia and The Healing Foundation, Truth Telling Symposium Report: 5–6 October 2018 (Report, 2018) 23.
  116. Vanessa Barolsky and Karen Berger, Recognising the Power of Community Truth-telling (Alfred Deakin Institute Policy Briefing Papers, 2023) vol 3(1) 6.
  117. Reconciliation Australia and The Healing Foundation, Truth Telling Symposium Report: 5–6 October 2018 (Report, 2018) 6.
  118. Reconciliation Australia and The Healing Foundation, Truth Telling Symposium Report: 5–6 October 2018 (Report, 2018) 16.
  119. Reconciliation Australia and The Healing Foundation, Truth Telling Symposium Report: 5–6 October 2018 (Report, 2018) 17.
  120. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-290 [30]–[33].
  121. Statement of Rob Gordon, 22 November 2023, 17 [69].
  122. ‘Vic Premier Andrews Holds Joint News Conference’, (Nine News, 28 June 2023).
  123. ‘Vic Premier Andrews Holds Joint News Conference’, (Nine News, 28 June 2023).
  124. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-28 [10].
  125. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-28 [10]–[14].
  126. Private session 18.
  127. Private session 18.
  128. Private session 14.
  129. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  130. Private session 36.
  131. Submission 36, 5–6.
  132. Private session 4.
  133. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  134. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  135. Private session 30.
  136. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-290 [25]–[28].
  137. Private session 20.
  138. Private session 18.
  139. Private session 18.
  140. Private session 21.
  141. Private session 21.
  142. Private session 15.
  143. Submission 11, 1.
  144. Statement of ‘Bernard’, 19 October 2023, 4 [33].
  145. Private session 24.
  146. Lived Experience Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023.
  147. Private session 9.
  148. Private session 7.
  149. Submission 49, 2.
  150. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2021, P-31 [46] – P-32 [6].
  151. Chapter 11, The alleged perpetrators, ‘Alleged perpetrator narrative: Darrell Ray’.
  152. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 72.
  153. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 73.
  154. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 73.
  155. Judith L Herman, Truth and Repair (Basic Books UK, 2023) 109.
  156. Judith L Herman, Truth and Repair (Basic Books UK, 2023) 93.
  157. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-73 [33]–[39].
  158. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  159. Private session 16.
  160. Private session 14.
  161. Private session 14.
  162. Private session 9.
  163. Transcript of Tim Courtney, 23 October 2023, P-25 [40]–[45].
  164. Private session 20.
  165. Private session 29.
  166. Private session 23.
  167. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 5.
  168. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 5.
  169. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 66.
  170. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  171. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023.
  172. ‘Open Circle: What is Restorative Justice?’, RMIT University Centre for Innovative Justice (Web Page)
    <https://cij.org.au/opencircle/what-is-restorative-justice>(opens in a new window).
  173. Marie Keenan and Estelle Zinsstag, Sexual Violence and Restorative Justice (Oxford University Press, 2023), 11-12.
  174. Steve Kirkwood, ‘A Practice Framework for Restorative Justice’, (2022) 63 Aggression and Violent Behavior 101688, 3.
  175. Steve Kirkwood, ‘A Practice Framework for Restorative Justice’, (2022) 63 Aggression and Violent Behavior 101688, 3.
  176. ‘Restorative Engagement and Redress Scheme’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/redress-police-employees>(opens in a new window).
  177. ‘Restorative Engagement and Redress Scheme’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/redress-police-employees>(opens in a new window).
  178. Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, Processes to Support Victims of Abuse in Defence (Report, October 2014) 40.
  179. Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, Processes to Support Victims of Abuse in Defence (Report, October 2014) 40-1.
  180. Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, Processes to Support Victims of Abuse in Defence (Report, October 2014) 40-1.
  181. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-262 [11]–[14].
  182. ‘National Redress Scheme — Direct Personal Response — Consultation Paper’, National Redress Scheme (Consultation Paper, October 2021) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021-10/final-published-dpr-consultation-paper.pdf>(opens in a new window)
  183. ‘Direct Personal Response’, National Redress Scheme (Web Page) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/applying/what-can-you-apply/direct-personal-response>(opens in a new window).
  184. ‘Direct Personal Response’, National Redress Scheme (Web Page) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/applying/what-can-you-apply/direct-personal-response>(opens in a new window).
  185. National Redress Scheme, Fact Sheet: Direct Personal Response (Fact Sheet) <https://www.nationalredress.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2023-06/Direct%20personal%20response%20-%20Fact%20Sheet%2006062023.PDF>(opens in a new window).
  186. Transcript of Government Panel (Jane Sweeney), 23 November 2023, P-261 [45]–[47], P-262 [1]–[2]; Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-262 [11]–[19].
  187. National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018 (Cth) ss 13(1)(d), 15(6); National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Rules 2018 (Cth) r 11(1).
  188. Submission 41, Angela Sdrinis Legal, 15.
  189. Submission 41, Angela Sdrinis Legal, 15–16.
  190. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023 P-262 [21]–[31].
  191. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-262 [37]–[41].
  192. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-273 [17]–[20].
  193. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-273 [2]–[28].
  194. Hazel Blunden et al, ‘Victims/Survivors’ Perceptions of Helpful Institutional Responses to Incidents of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse’ (2021) 30(1) Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 56, 64.
  195. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-273 [31]–[32].
  196. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-273 [33]–[34].
  197. ‘About Find & Connect’, Find & Connect (Web Page) <https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/about>(opens in a new window).
  198. ‘About Find & Connect’, Find & Connect (Web Page) <https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/about>(opens in a new window).
  199. ‘Finding Records’, Department of Health and Human Services (Web Page) <https://www.findingrecords.dhhs.vic.gov.au>(opens in a new window).
  200. ‘Finding Records’, Department of Health and Human Services (Web Page) <https://www.findingrecords.dhhs.vic.gov.au>(opens in a new window).
  201. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023 P-273 [39]–[43].
  202. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023 P-273 [45]–[47].
  203. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 19 December 2023, 1–2.
  204. Private session 14.
  205. Private session 14.
  206. Private session 6.
  207. Private session 12.
  208. Private session 13.
  209. Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Vic), Care Leaver Access to Records Policy (Policy, February 2021) 2.
  210. Statement of Patrick O’Leary, 15 November 2023, 8 [53].
  211. Statement of Leah Bromfield, 23 October 2023, 16 [81].
  212. Beaumaris and Surrounding Communities — CSA Survivors and Families, ‘Services & Supports for Survivors & Communities Impacted by Systemic Child Sexual Abuse’, change.org (Online Petition, 1 February 2022).
  213. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2021, P-30 [10].
  214. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2021, P-29 [25]–[26].
  215. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2021, P-22 [5]–[16].
  216. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2021, P-23 [17]–[20].
  217. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2021, P-29 [25]–[45]; Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2021, P-22 [5]–[12], [30]–[33].
  218. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 7.
  219. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2021, P-32 [1]–[4].
  220. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2021, P-31 [41]–[45].
  221. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 19 December 2023, 4.
  222. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 19 December 2023, 4.
  223. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2021, P-29 [39]–[40].
  224. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2021, P-30 [1]–[37]; Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 4.
  225. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 4.
  226. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 4.
  227. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 248.
  228. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 59, 248.
  229. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-76 [35]–[38].
  230. Transcript of Leah Bromfield, 24 October 2023, P-77 [41]–[42].
  231. Submission 29, Bravehearts, 4.
  232. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-22 [5]–[16], [30]–[36].
  233. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-31 [26]–[28].
  234. Transcript of Rob Gordon, 23 November 2023, P-288 [15]–[16].
  235. Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (Final Report, February 2021) vol 4, 451.
  236. Victorian Skills Authority, Health and Community Services Industry Insight (Final Report, October 2022) 5.
  237. Response to invitation for additional information, Government Roundtable, 14 December 2023, received 29 December 2023.
  238. Response to invitation for additional information, Government Roundtable, 14 December 2023, received 29 December 2023.
  239. Response to invitation for additional information, Government Roundtable, 14 December 2023, received 29 December 2023.
  240. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 14 [48(b)].
  241. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2030 (2021) 50; <https://www.childsafety.gov.au/system/files/2022-09/national-strategy-2021-30-english.pdf>(opens in a new window); Amanda Paton et al, Minimum Practice Standards: Specialist and Community Support Services Responding to Child Sexual Abuse (National Office for Child Safety, December 2022) <https://www.childsafety.gov.au/system/files/2023-08/minimum-practice-standards-specialist-community-support%20Services-responding-child-sexual-abuse.PDF>(opens in a new window).
  242. ‘Delivering Trauma-informed Support for Child Sexual Abuse Victims in Australia: Mapping the Knowledge Gaps and Training Needs of the Specialist Sectors’, National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse (Web Page) <https://nationalcentre.org.au/research/delivering-trauma-informed-support-for-child-sexual-abuse-victims-in-victoria-mapping-the-knowledge-gaps-and-training-needs-of-the-specialist-sectors>(opens in a new window).
  243. ‘Recommendation 23: Establishing a New Statewide Trauma Service’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/mental-health-reform/recommendation-23>(opens in a new window).
  244. ‘Local Adult and Older Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing Services’, Department of Health (Web Page) <https://www.health.vic.gov.au/mental-health-reform/local-adult-and-older-adult-mental-health-and-wellbeing-services>(opens in a new window).
  245. ‘Victims of Crime Financial Assistance Scheme’, VIC.GOV.AU (Web Page) <https://www.vic.gov.au/victims-crime-financial-assistance-scheme>(opens in a new window). See also Victims of Crime (Financial Assistance Scheme) Act 2022 (Vic) ss 5(a)–(d), 10(2)(a), 14(2)(a), 16(2)(a).
  246. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 14 [48(d)].
  247. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, 14 [48(d)].
  248. ‘Justice Responses to Sexual Violence’, Australian Law Reform Commission (Web Page) <https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/justice-responses-to-sexual-violence>(opens in a new window).
  249. ‘Justice Responses to Sexual Violence’, Australian Law Reform Commission (Web Page) <https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/justice-responses-to-sexual-violence>(opens in a new window).
  250. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [22]–[35].
  251. Healing Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-8 [36]–[38].
  252. Commonwealth of Australia, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2030 (2021) 41.
  253. National Office for Child Safety, ‘Public Consultation to Inform a National Point of Referral to Assist Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse to Access Help and Information’ (Discussion Paper, October 2023) 6.
  254. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-23 [9]–[15].
  255. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 7.
  256. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) xxxii.
  257. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 2 [8].
  258. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 6 [20].
  259. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-248 [34]–[38].
  260. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 6 [20]–[21].
  261. Statement of Elly Gay, 3 November 2023, 3 [8].
  262. Transcript of Government Panel (Kate Rattigan), 23 November 2023, P-247 [9]–[22].
  263. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 7 [28].
  264. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 8 [29].
  265. ‘Coordinated support program’, Open Place (Web Page, 2022) <https://www.openplace.org.au/coordinated-support>(opens in a new window).
  266. Statement of Jane Sweeney, 10 November 2023, 8 [31]; ‘About Find & Connect’, Find & Connect (Web Page) <https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/about>(opens in a new window).
  267. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 11 [51].
  268. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 11 [54].
  269. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December 2017) vol 9, 15.
  270. Beaumaris and Surrounding Communities — CSA Survivors and Families, ‘Services & Supports for Survivors & Communities Impacted by Systemic Child Sexual Abuse’, change.org (Online Petition, 1 February 2022).
  271. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 262.
  272. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 256–8.
  273. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 259.
  274. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 3.
  275. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 262; Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Final Report, December) vol 9, 15.
  276. Victorian Government, Integrated Treatment, Care and Support for People with Co-occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use or Addiction: Guidance for Victorian Mental Health and Wellbeing and Alcohol and Other Drug Services (July 2022) 12.
  277. Victorian Government, Integrated Treatment, Care and Support for People with Co-occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use or Addiction: Guidance for Victorian Mental Health and Wellbeing and Alcohol and Other Drug Services (July 2022) 12.
  278. Transcript of Government Panel (Kelly Stanton), 23 November 2023, P-271 [39]–[42].
  279. Submission 40, Sexual Assault Services Victoria, 6.
  280. Statement of Kelly Stanton, 9 November 2023, [26]
  281. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 92–6.
  282. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 96–8.
  283. Victorian Law Reform Commission, Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (Report, September 2021) 81, 98.
  284. Statement of Joe Tucci, 21 November 2023, 13 [62].
  285. ‘Peer Support Phone Line’, Survivors & Mates Support Network (Web Page) <https://www.samsn.org.au/recovery-and-healing/peer-support-line>(opens in a new window).
  286. Lived Experiences Perspectives Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-14 [27]–[34].
  287. Submission 22, 2.
  288. Chapter 17, Support needs and challenges, ‘Prevalence of child sexual abuse in institutional settings’.
  289. Government Roundtable, Summary of Themes, 19 December 2023, 4.
  290. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 1 December 2023, P-23 [5]–[15].
  291. Services Roundtable, Record of Proceedings, 29 November 2023, P-23 [20]–[25].
  292. Order in Council (Vic), ‘Appointment of a Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools’, Victorian Government Gazette, No S 339, 28 June 2023, cl 2(b).
  293. The Premier may determine to transfer the records to another public office; Inquiries Act 2014 (Vic) s 124.
  294. Public Records Act 1973 (Vic) ss 9–10.
  295. ‘Closure of Public Records under Section 9 of the Public Records Act 1973’, Public Record Office Victoria (Fact Sheet, 2013) <https://prov.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2016-05/1110fs1-20130731.pdf>(opens in a new window).
  296. As recently considered by the Supreme Court of Victoria in Re Mokbel (No 2) [2024] VSC 39.
  297. Inquiries Act 2014 (Vic) s 80(1)
  298. Yoorrook Justice Commission, Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems (Report, 31 August 2023) 399 <https://yoorrookforjustice.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Yoorrook-for-justice-report.pdf>(opens in a new window).
  299. Yoorrook Justice Commission, Report into Victoria’s Child Protection and Criminal Justice Systems (Report, 31 August 2023) 394 <https://yoorrookforjustice.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Yoorrook-for-justice-report.pdf>(opens in a new window).
  300. Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) s 7(2E)(a)(vi).
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