Child sexual abuse royal commission: Bill Shorten urges Government to grant inquiry more time and funds

Updated

Federal Parliament should support extra funding and time for the royal commission into child sexual abuse, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has asked for an extra two years and $104 million to complete its inquiries.

Mr Shorten says there should be no question about granting the commission whatever it needs.

"The royal commission has been doing a really important job in difficult circumstances and empowering a lot of people who haven't had a voice till now," Mr Shorten told reporters in Canberra.

"If the royal commission [says it needs extra] resources, if they believe they need extra time, I think it's incumbent on the Parliament to support this."

Attorney-General George Brandis says the request is "currently being considered".

"The interim report makes clear the enormous scale of the task being undertaken by the commission," Senator Brandis said in a statement.

"It is important that those affected by child sexual abuse and the Australian community as a whole can learn from the commission's work so far."

The commission says it has conducted thousands of private sessions with individuals but 3,000 more remain on the waiting list.

It has identified several main themes from the personal stories it has heard, including: repeated abuse and multiple perpetrators, barriers to reporting the abuse and that adults have systematically failed to protect children.

However the commission says it remain unclear as to how prevalent abuse has been or continues to be in institutions.

The interim report outlined a number of findings, with the commission's initial research showing 90 per cent of perpetrators were male.

It has found that it took 22 years on average for victims to report abuse, with men taking longer than women.

It says female victims were, on average, aged nine years old and took, on average, 22 years to report abuse.

Male victims were, on average, 10 years old when they were abused.

The creation of the royal commission was announced by former prime minister Julia Gillard in November 2012.

Ms Gillard said there had been too many revelations of "adults who have averted their eyes" from the evil of child sexual abuse.

Topics: royal-commissions, law-crime-and-justice, sexual-offences, federal-parliament, federal-government, australia

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