Australian Royal Commissions Into Child Welfare, Abuse and Protection

ABSTRACT Both nationally and internationally, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (RCIRCSA) is widely viewed as a remarkably successful public inquiry. Unlike many other commissions, it was stable, attracted little controversy, was highly regarded, and led to extensive legal, regulatory and policy reform. It also influenced the establishment and approach of subsequent institutional child abuse inquiries in several other countries. This article begins by situating the RCIRCSA (2013–2017) within a long tradition of Australian Royal Commissions in the field of child welfare and protection and asks why the widespread abuses it uncovered had previously been ignored. Innovative approaches taken by three Royal Commissions from the 1970s to 1990s are then considered. By listening to victim/survivors in new ways, an alternative model was provided for balancing different forms of evidence, including from expert witnesses, documentary sources, academic research, and submissions and testimony based on experiential knowledge. The article concludes with some observations about the connection between inquiry approaches and findings, and how the turn to testimony and believing ordinary people both repositioned victim/survivors and reoriented inquiry outcomes.