Child sex abuse royal commission needs funding certainty to continue, Labor tells Tony Abbott

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is being pressured to immediately guarantee extra funding for the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

In June the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse asked for a two-year extension and $104 million to complete its inquiries.

It warned that without the extra resources it would not be able to continue its private sessions and public hearings for victims of child sexual abuse.

But almost two months later the Government is yet to commit the extra resources.

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has written to Mr Abbott asking him to guarantee that the royal commission will be properly funded.

"When the interim report was published Labor made it clear that we think the commission should be given that two-year extension that they've sought and since then the Government has not made up its mind, in fact the Government has created continued uncertainty," Mr Dreyfus said.

"It's now reached the stage ... that the commission's work is being impeded by the uncertainty created by the Government not making a decision, and we shouldn't have to guess.

"The royal commissioner shouldn't have to guess, survivors shouldn't have to guess, we should know now and it's time for the Government to make a decision.

"What the Government needs to do as quickly as possible is announce that it is giving the commission the two years that it seeks," he said.

Last week Mr Abbott said that cabinet would consider the royal commission's request in the next fortnight.

"I'm confident that we will be able to respond to the royal commissioners wishes because we want it to do its job," Mr Abbott said.

"We've supported it every step of the way ... it should finish its job and we ought to be in a position in the next few weeks to commit additional resources."

Topics: royal-commissions, law-crime-and-justice, child-abuse, community-and-society, federal-government, government-and-politics, australia

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