MR# 1421 9 October 2014 Irish Judge addresses child abuse at National Law Conference It was a report that shocked Ireland, and was the subject of a presentation by esteemed Irish High Court Judge, the Hon. Justice Sean Ryan, at the 16th National Family Law Conference in Sydney today. Justice Ryan chaired the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in Ireland between 2003 and 2009 and in a session today titled ‘Public rights, private wrongs: the archaeology of child abuse’, Justice Ryan spoke about the arduous process. “My theme is that the public inquiry carried out by the commission was long, difficult and costly, but it was important, valuable and necessary and Ireland is better for having done it and justice long denied to victims of abuse has in significant measure been done. “Other countries including Australia have come to the same conclusion that the longest way round—a major public inquiry—may be the shortest way home in the sense of achieving justice,” Justice Ryan said. In November 2012 the Australian Government announced a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse with a focus on investigating how institutions like schools, churches, sports clubs and government organisations have responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse. The Law Council has been actively monitoring the activities of the Royal Commission and provided the inquiry with several submissions which are available on the Law Council website. The official National Family Law Conference Program commenced yesterday with a ‘State of the Nation’ address delivered by Commonwealth Attorney-General, Senator the Hon. George Brandis QC. In his address Senator Brandis announced a new reference to the Family Law Council in relation to the intersection of child protection law and family law. Chair of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, Mr Rick O'Brien, said that the profession welcomed the announcement as the inquiry will focus on some long-standing issues. However, Mr O’Brien cautioned that any innovative recommendations would not be able to be implemented unless the current funding crisis facing the Family Courts was first addressed. The Attorney-General’s speech referred to the results of a recent KPMG report into the funding of Federal Courts and noted that he was considering a broad range of options and opportunities for improving the financial position of the family courts, including the options presented in the KPMG review and the Commission of Audit report. National Children’s Commissioner, Ms Meagan Mitchell and Professor Richard Chisholm AM, also presented sessions on the opening day. Ms Mitchell presented a session titled ‘Ever seen or heard?’ regarding the voice of children in family law, and Professor Chisholm released a paper outlining proposed changes to the Family Law Act, in particular; parenting orders and parental responsibility. The issue of surrogacy will continue to be discussed today following on from comments made by Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court, John Pascoe AO CVO, in his address to conference delegates yesterday where he called for an inquiry into international commercial surrogacy. The issue will be discussed as part of a panel session entitled ‘What is a Family?’ with the Family Court Judge, the Hon. Justice Judith Ryan and Professor Helen Rhoades from the University of Melbourne. A copy of Justice Ryan’s speech is available upon request. Further information on other conference sessions and events is available online. Vanessa Kleinschmidt, Director, Government and Corporate Affairs P. 02 6246 3716 // M. 0408 014 110 E. [email protected] // www.lawcouncil.asn.au 1421 - Irish Judge addresses child abuse at National Law Conference Page 2