Findings of inquiry into Tasmanian Education Department highlights institutional child sex abuse not a thing of the past

Inquiry into Tasmanian Education Department

The inquiry into responses to child sexual abuse in government schools was commissioned in August last year and was conducted by professors Stephen Smallbone and Tim McCormack. Their report made 21 recommendations, including the urgent implementation of a complete record of all sexual abuse concerns and complaints, training for student teachers, and new measures for safeguarding students. The Tasmanian Government has accepted and will implement all recommendations. The inquiry uncovered decades of evidence suggesting that up until the late 1990s, the Department’s responses to allegations “routinely involved deflecting or ignoring concerns and complaints, often by disbelieving or blaming students, and by shielding alleged or known sexual abusers.” Teachers and principals were often confused and unsure as to if and when they should contact police in relation to complaints. Disturbingly the report found that to this day, the Department is unable to state if there has been a diminution of complaints and concerns raised in relation to child sex abuse within Tasmanian schools, due to an absence of basic record-keeping procedures and processes in this respect.

Commission of Inquiry

The Commission of Inquiry has been ongoing since October, and is focused on four areas: public schools, hospitals, youth detention and out of home care. Public hearings will be held early in 2022. It is across institutions in these areas that there have been a significant number of egregious allegations both of abuse, and of significant cover-ups. As we noted in our recent blog on allegations relating to John Wright and Swimming Australia, these events are a depressing but important reminder of the need – in 2021 – for institutions to have appropriate processes and procedures in place to deal with disclosures and escalate them to the authorities – and for survivors to clearly understand the other options available to them to obtain justice.