A prominent campaigner has welcomed the government’s commitment to build a national memorial in the wake of the Royal Commission into institutional child sexual abuse.
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull issued a formal response to the Royal Commission on Wednesday, with the federal government agreeing to 104 of 122 recommendations.
The commission recommended building a national memorial in Canberra “for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts”.
Canberra child safety campaigner Damian De Marco said the memorial would help give closure to families impacted by abuse within the Catholic Church.
“I think it’s a good idea, even if it only helps a few people,” he said.
“There’s a section of the community which is so often forgotten – the families and friends of kids who died from drugs or suicide. For them, there’s no recourse.”
The memorial would also act as a constant reminder of the Catholic Church’s actions, Mr De Marco said.
“It is a reminder of the culture of cover-up in the church. We need to have a lasting reminder of how dangerous it is to give private organisations free reign.
“Our first priority needs to be to protect the innocent children who can’t protect themselves.”
The government’s response to the Royal Commission’s report said it would agree “in principle” to build the memorial.
“Consultations will be undertaken to seek stakeholders’ views on this recommendation during consultations on the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse,” the government’s response read.
On Wednesday Mr Turnbull announced a new federal office to monitor child safety and also named October 22 as the date for a national apology in Parliament.
He stopped short of endorsing every recommendation from the royal commission, waiting on talks with other jurisdictions to decide 18 key issues including new criminal laws to punish those who fail to protect children.
Mr De Marco was the public face of the royal commission’s investigations into the institutional response of the Marist Brothers to allegations of child sex abuse.
He also welcomed recent moves in the ACT Legislative Assembly, which would force priests to break the seal of confession in order to report child abusers.
All three parties in the ACT Legislative Assembly supported the bill to extend the mandatory reporting scheme to cover churches and the confessional.
The new laws will require religious organisations' "activities, facilities, programs or services" to report allegations, offences or convictions related to children to the ACT Ombudsman within 30 days and launch an investigation from July 1.
The clause around the confessional won't apply until March 31, 2019, so the government and the clergy can determine how the laws will work.
The new National Office for Child Safety will start work on July 1 and is being asked to implement “policies and strategies” rather than examine individual cases, a matter that will be left to the states and territories.
A taskforce in the Attorney-General’s Department will track progress on implementing the royal commission recommendations.
The response follows a series of agreements in recent weeks with state governments, churches and non-government organisations to create the national redress scheme from July 1, offering financial assistance to survivors.
