About the Tasmanian Commission of Inquiry

What is the Tasmanian Commission of Inquiry?

The Tasmanian Commission of Inquiry was an independent two-year inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings.

The Commission followed years of concerns being expressed about child abuse in Tasmanian schools, in the Launceston General Hospital, and in Ashley Youth Detention Centre. Many victim survivors spoke up and some staff were whistleblowers, taking tremendous courage and persistence.

The focus of the Commission of Inquiry was the quality of the Tasmanian Government’s responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse in government institutions. This included hospitals, public schools, and youth detention centres, and non-government institutions funded to provide services, such as out-of-home care.

The Commission of Inquiry was established in March 2021. It held nine weeks of public hearings in which they heard from victim-survivors, public servants and experts. Transcripts of the hearings and statements from witnesses are available to read online.

The Commission delivered its final report in September 2023 - it was more than 3000 pages long, and made 191 recommendations. There is a summary available on the Commission of Inquiry website.

What were the aims of the Commission of Inquiry?

Under its terms of reference, the Commission was asked to inquire into what the Tasmanian Government should do to:

• better protect children against child sexual abuse in institutional contexts in the future
• achieve best practice in the reporting of, and responding to reports or information about, allegations, incidents or risks of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts
• eliminate or reduce problems that currently prevent appropriate responses to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts, including addressing failures in, and barriers to, reporting, investigation and responding to allegations and incidents of abuse, and
• address or alleviate the impact of past and future child sexual abuse in institutional contexts, including ensuring justice for victims through processes for referrals for investigation, prosecution and support services

The Commission was also asked to inquire into the adequacy and appropriateness of the TasmanianGovernment’s responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts generally, and in particular by:

• the Department of Education to allegations of child sexual abuse in Tasmanian Government schools
• the Tasmanian Health Service and the Department of Health to allegations of child sexual abuse
• the Department of Communities Tasmania to allegations of child sexual abuse at the Ashley Youth Detention Centre.

What were the key findings of the Commission of Inquiry?

The report concluded that the Tasmanian Government’s response to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse in institutions had too often been inadequate.

It also concluded that the Tasmanian Government does not often enough have the right systems in place to effectively address the risks and respond to incidents of child sexual abuse in institutions into the future; and does not often enough have a culture that encourages feedback, reporting, monitoring and reflection when responding to incidents of child sexual abuse.

To address these issues, the Commission of Inquiry gave 191 specific recommendations.

These included a more coordinated statewide response to child sexual abuse, stronger mechanisms to protect children in institutions, greater care and compassion for marginalised children, and increased participation of victim-survivors in policy design and delivery.

The Tasmanian Premier has pledged to implement all the recommendations. The Government’s public response - Keeping Children Safe and Rebuilding Trust - was issued on 1 December 2023.

There has been concern expressed about barriers placed on the Commission’s ability to make findings of misconduct about public servants. In response to these concerns, the Tasmanian Government has announced terms of reference for two independent inquiries: one looking at the actions of government agencies in relation to the Commission of Inquiry, and one looking specifically at heads of agencies.