The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is providing a unique opportunity for sexual assault victims to have their stories heard and understood, according to Wollongong-based lawyer Aaron Kernaghan.
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Mr Kernaghan has been in the commission this week representing Barbara Taylor, a senior pastor with Emmanuel Christian Family Church in Plumpton.
Ms Taylor has been giving evidence in the public hearing in Sydney which is inquiring into the responses by Australian Christian Churches and two affiliated churches to allegations of child sexual abuse.
Mr Kernaghan, a former prosecutor, said the commission far surpassed anything he had seen in the criminal justice system in terms of providing opportunities for people directly or indirectly affected by child sexual abuse to share their experiences in appropriate ways.
‘‘The government has given the royal commission an enormous amount of resources ... which has given the commission the ability to look into these matters almost microscopically – to reach back in time and order the production of documents that may not otherwise be available through the normal court process,’’ he said.
‘‘Enormous work has also been done to help every witness with counselling and support.
‘‘Everyone who has appeared at the commission has been given dignity and respect and the opportunity to have their particular story heard and that’s incredibly positive and a very good thing for the community because it’s bringing attention to the fact that there is a way to deal with these matters responsibly and respectfully.’’
Ms Taylor’s evidence related to the commission’s inquiry into the response of the Sydney Christian Life Centre and Hills Christian Life Centre (now Hillsong Church) and Assemblies of God in Australia (now Australian Christian Churches) to allegations of child sexual abuse made against the late high-profile minister Frank Houston.
Ms Taylor told the commission on Wednesday that she had raised concerns about sex abuse allegations with the state executive of the Assemblies of God in 1998, but it took months before officials acted.
Houston was suspended from ministry by the executive of the Assemblies of God in December 1999. At the time, Houston’s son Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston was the national president of the Assemblies of God.
