About public hearings
The Royal Commission holds formal public hearings to examine evidence about child sexual abuse and how institutions responded to allegations of abuse. Each public hearing examines a different case study.
Witness lists, transcripts, exhibits, images and associated submissions are available for each case study.
After the hearing, the Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission will provide witnesses, and other people who were granted Leave to Appear at the hearing, a written submission detailing what was discovered during the case study.
Submissions
The submission will outline key findings based on the hearing’s evidence and the recommendations likely to come from them. The recipients of the submission may then provide their own written submissions in reply.
The Commissioners then consider this information when they form their final recommendations during the course of the Royal Commission.
The Royal Commission held its First Sitting at the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday 3 April 2013.
Upcoming public hearings
View the Royal Commission’s schedule to see all upcoming public hearings. All case studies are listed below.
Case Studies
The scope and purpose of the first public hearing is to hear from residents, students and others of their experiences of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in certain institutions in Ballarat.
The hearing will examine the policies and procedures of the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission, the Medical Council of NSW, the Royal North Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney Local Health District, New South Wales Ministry of Health and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Victoria to allegations of child sexual abuse in private medical practices and public hospitals.
The public hearing will inquire into the experiences of a number of men and women who were resident at St Joseph’s Orphanage, Neerkol operated by the Sisters of Mercy between 1940 and 1975.
The purpose of the hearing is to enable invited persons and institutions to speak to their written submissions to the Royal Commission's consultation paper on redress and civil litigation.
The hearing will examine preventing child sexual abuse in out-of-home care and responding to allegations of child sexual abuse occurring in out-of-home care.
The public hearing will inquire into the response of Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga, New South Wales and the Uniting Church in Australia between 1970 and 2012 to concerns raised about inappropriate conduct by a number of teachers towards students at Knox Grammar School.
The hearing will examine the response of Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi to allegations of child sexual abuse.
The hearing will examine the response of Satyananda Yoga Ashram to allegations of child sexual abuse by the Ashram’s former spiritual leader in the 1970s and 1980s.
The public hearing will inquire into the responses by the Hutchins School and the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania to allegations of child sexual abuse at the School.
The public hearing will inquire into the responses of the State to complaints made and litigation instituted by former residents of Bethcar Children’s Home, Brewarrina, New South Wales.
The hearing will examine the responses by Australian Christian Churches (a Pentecostal movement in Australia) and two affiliated churches to allegations of child sexual abuse.
The public hearing inquired into the experiences of men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home.
The hearing examined the principles, practices and procedures of the Melbourne Response.
The hearing examined the response of Swimming Australia Ltd to allegations of child sexual abuse.
The hearing examined the response of the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong to allegations of child sexual abuse against John Gerard Nestor.
The hearing examined the response of the Marist Brothers to allegations of child sexual abuse in schools in the ACT, NSW and Queensland.
The hearing examined the response of an independent school in Perth to concerns raised between 1999 and 2009 by teachers and others about another teacher.
The hearing examined the experiences of men who were resident at Christian Brothers' residences in Western Australia.
The hearing examined the handling by The Salvation Army (Eastern Territory) of claims of child sexual abuse between 1993 and 2014.
The hearing examined the responses by the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide, and the South Australian Police, to allegations of child sexual abuse at St Ann’s Special School.
The hearing examined the response of the Catholic Church to the complaint made by John Ellis under Towards Healing.
The hearing examined the experience of women who were sexually abused as children, between 1950-1974 while committed in The Parramatta Girls’ Training School and The Institution for Girls in Hay.
The hearing examined the response by the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Toowoomba, to allegations of child sexual abuse.
The hearing examined the Salvation Army’s response to child sexual abuse at boys’ homes in Indooroopilly, Riverview, Bexley and Goulburn.
The hearing examined the establishment, operation and review of the Towards Healing process by the Catholic Church.
The hearing examined the handling of complaints and civil litigation concerning child sexual abuse in the North Coast Children’s Home by the Anglican Diocese of Grafton in 2006 and 2007.
The hearing examined the responses of YMCA and police to allegations made in 2011 that Jonathon Lord sexually abused children in the care of YMCA.
The hearing examined the response of organisations, including Scouts Australia, Hunter Aboriginal Services and the then Department of Community Services, to information and allegations concerning Steven Larkins, the former CEO of Hunter Aboriginal Children’s Services.
The Royal Commission held its First Sitting at the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday 3 April 2013. The transcript is available.