Premier of South Australia

In November 2004 the Hon. Ted Mullighan QC, former Justice of the Supreme Court, commenced the Inquiry into Children in State Care.

The Commissioner has now completed his Inquiry and submitted his report.

I have read the report including the many narratives of sexual abuse of children while in institutional, secure or foster care.  The report chronicles account after account of children robbed not only of their innocence but of their past, their present and their future.

I was sickened by what I read and I am sure all Members of this Parliament and all right minded South Australians will share my abhorrence at what has happened over many decades.

The Commissioner himself in his opening lines of the report says:

Nothing prepared me for the foul undercurrent of society revealed in the evidence to the Inquiry; not my life in the community or my work in the law as a practitioner and a judge.

A recurring issue that arises in the Commissioner’s report is the inability of the victims of child sexual abuse to talk about their experiences and the unwillingness of those around them to hear or listen to their reports of abuse.  Victims lived in fear that telling their story would result in punishment, rejection or further violence and abuse.

Last night I met with a number of survivors of child sexual abuse to listen to them speak about their experiences.  One survivor spoke with passion and with pain when she said:

            The world needs to know the truth – no more silence.

The Inquiry and this report has given voice to their truth.

It has ended the silence that has disconnected child sexual abuse victims from their loved ones and friends and from the community.

It has brought a greater understanding by those around the survivors of the struggle of survivors to cope and to restore their lives, their dignity and self respect.

For those victims of child sexual abuse who have not lived to give evidence to the Inquiry we rely on those who did survive to lift the curtain of silence.  I know many of those who have survived feel a responsibility to tell their story so that others might understand the experience of those who did not survive.

Above all the Inquiry conducted by Ted Mullighan gives substance to the hope that the widespread abuse of children in care cannot be tolerated.

Amongst the most vulnerable in our community is a child neglected or abused within their own family.

Removing a child from a family to keep them safe is a very serious step by government authorities.

It carries with it a heavy responsibility.

Tragically in many cases spanning decades children placed in care – in a series of government and church institutions - suffered sexual abuse.  Perpetrators have included those charged with the care of children, other children in care, visitors and strangers.

That is, children were removed from unsafe families, only to face terrible situations, whether in institutions or in other families, or on the street.

One witness described it as being “taken out of the frying pan and into the fire”.  I was told last night, that children being taken away were told they were going on a holiday, but the holiday turned out to be a living hell.

Mr Speaker, the Inquiry represents a further step in our Government’s commitment to better protecting children in South Australia, which commenced within three weeks of coming to Government in 2002, when Robyn Layton QC was commissioned to undertake a far reaching inquiry into child protection in this State.

The Keeping Them Safe Reform Agenda, the Government’s response to that Inquiry, has underpinned a comprehensive overhaul of our child protection system, and culminated in reforms which have almost doubled resources to our child protection agency since 2002.

The Inquiry documents a range of measures this Government has taken in reforming the child protection system, including establishment of the Office of the Guardian, the Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner, and the Rapid Response Framework.

We have also made sure that paedophiles are brought to justice and prosecuted for their predatory behaviour against children.

Until my Government came to office in 2002 paedophiles and other sexual offenders were immune from prosecution for their pre-1982 offences.

We removed this protection because there must be no safe haven, no protection for any paedophile who preys on our children.

The police’s Paedophile Task Force was given extra resources to investigate the many hundreds of complaints about offences which occurred before 1982.

Since coming to office in 2002 we have:

1. Increased child pornography maximum penalties five-fold
2. Made it an offence to procure and groom a child to engage in sexual acts
3. Criminalised the filming of a child for prurient purposes regardless of consent
4. And given courts the power to classify and deal with a child sex offender as a serious repeat offender after two offences.

South Australia now has a paedophile register, giving police detailed information to monitor child sex offenders.

And in December last year, new laws came into force to allow courts to prevent convicted paedophiles from using the internet to continue their evil practices.

The Dangerous Offender legislation adopted by the Government allows the DPP to seek an order from the Court to revoke the non-parole period of a dangerous offender or detain such an offender indefinitely if he is beyond rehabilitation.

As an immediate response to the Mullighan Inquiry I commit to moving a resolution in Parliament making an apology to those who were abused as children on behalf of the Government and the people of South Australia.

In the coming weeks the Minister for Families and Communities will consult with survivors of child sexual abuse while in State care about the appropriate form of an apology.

I expect that an apology will be made in Parliament soon.

I can also advise today  that the Government has committed additional funding of $2.24 million over three years for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute cases of child abuse referred to authorities from the Mullighan Inquiry.

In my view every effort must be made to bring those who prey on children to justice – no matter who they are, no matter where they are -  whether their crimes occurred last week, last year or decades ago.

Mr Speaker I now turn to the work of the Inquiry itself.

In 2004 against a background of escalating allegations of child sexual abuse of children in care, the Government decided to establish an Inquiry.  It was critically important that the Inquiry could consider these allegations while protecting the privacy of the individuals concerned and without prejudicing any potential criminal prosecution of the offenders.  This led to Parliament establishing the Commission of Inquiry into Children in State Care.

The Government hoped that in establishing the Inquiry in the way that it did – in particular by allowing it to determine its own evidence gathering processes – people who had previously been silenced would gain sufficient confidence in the Inquiry to come forward and tell their stories.

It was also hoped that the Inquiry could provide a measure of healing for the people who came forward.  In establishing the Inquiry, the Minister for Families and Communities stated:

“The essence of this Inquiry is a healing process and critical to that is to give people a forum at which they can tell their story.  The telling of their story in a way which is respected and honoured is itself part of the healing process.”

This aspiration for the inquiry was a bipartisan one.  As the then leader of the Opposition, the Member for Frome said at the time:

“We are never going to be able to give them back their youth and innocence, but we can give them a measure of justice by allowing them to tell their story and seeing that they are taken seriously.”

(Hansard, House of Assembly, July 19, 2004:  page 2686)

To meet this aspiration, the choice of Commissioner was critical.

The Government appointed former Supreme Court Justice Ted Mullighan as Commissioner.

Former Justice Mullighan was a jurist of impeccable ability and competence.  His integrity both as a judge and formerly as a barrister is beyond reproach.

Importantly, he brought to the task a compassionate and commonsense approach.

And it was his ability to gain the necessary trust of vulnerable people, whose experience of authority whatever form had often been hostile, that made the Inquiry such a success.  Without his ability to create that relationship of trust, witnesses simply would not have come forward.

Commissioner Mullighan adopted what might otherwise be regarded as unconventional methods to gain the confidence and trust of witnesses, including reaching out to potential witnesses in correctional institutions and by taking the inquiry to rural and regional areas.

I would like to place on record the Government’s appreciation for the sensitive, compassionate and understanding way in which Commissioner Mullighan and his team conducted the Inquiry.

Commissioner Mullighan took evidence from 792 people who said they were victims of child sexual abuse.

Many said they were telling their stories for the first time.

He determined that 242 people were children in State care at the time of their alleged abuse.  Many of the allegations arose from incidents in the 60s and 70s.

There were a total of 826 allegations against 922 perpetrators.

Of these allegations, the Inquiry has referred allegations from 170 people to the police, involving 434 alleged perpetrators.

Two suspects have been arrested and a further 13 reported, arising from the referrals from the Commission of Inquiry.

Fourteen of these matters have been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

As I have said the Government has acted by committing funds to the DPP to ensure that the matters that have been referred can proceed to trial quickly.  The Commissioner’s recommendations relating to resources for the Legal Services Commission and the Courts, will be considered as part of the Government’s deliberations over the remaining recommendations.

Through you Mr Speaker I now want to talk of the former Children in State Care who gave evidence to the Inquiry.

These are people who for years have borne the pain of their experiences in silence.

As one witness told the inquiry:

“I thought perhaps for the first time in my life someone would be willing to hear my pain.”  (summary:XIV)

I want to pay tribute to their courage in telling their stories, and in doing so uncovering their truth that has been buried for years.

This has been an extremely difficult, yet powerful, time for them.

It’s also been a difficult, yet rewarding, time for their families and friends, and I want to acknowledge the incredible support they have provided to the witnesses, and the role they have played in ensuring these stories can be told.

A Commission such as this, which allowed people to tell their truth, was always going to be about more than a report or its recommendations.

In coming weeks my Government will consider the report and by 19 June 2008 will deliver to the Parliament a response to each of the report’s 54 recommendations.

For those who will find that the report re-opens old wounds in a way which is difficult to cope with, we have provided for support.  Families SA Post-care services will connect those seeking help with someone who can provide support.

I also want to address all the children currently in State care.  While there are many terrible events which have been disclosed in the report, it should be understood that the overwhelming majority of foster parents provide care and a safe environment.  But the report will help us find additional ways in which we can keep our children in State care safe.

And I want to address our foster carers, past and present; foster carers are people who open their homes and their hearts to our vulnerable children.  The Government could not do its job to protect children without the many decent, honourable people who offer their support as carers.  And we know the great majority of foster carers were…and still are today…decent people doing a selfless thing for someone else’s children.  And for that we thank them.

Mr Speaker, as I’ve indicated there are 54 recommendations in the report and we will return to Parliament with a response to each of them by 19 June.

Mr Speaker, the presentation of this report to Parliament is not the end of the story for victims of abuse and neglect in State care.

They will never forget what happened and nor should we.

The Commission of Inquiry has given people a chance to tell their stories, to have their truth about their lives acknowledged.

It has allowed us as a community to acknowledge a cruel undercurrent in the history of our State.

But for this Parliament, and those who came before us, we must listen, understand and act.

By coming to terms with the past, we can demonstrate a determination to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated.

Mr Speaker, I table the final report of the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry.