We have had numerous communications and conversations with the Victorian Government about the complete lack of quantifiable information in their Annual Reports on their implementation progress of Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) recommendations, comparative to most of other Australian state and territory governments. We joined forces with Stuart Grimley, whose following motion in the Victoria Parliament in August 2022, sums up what the Victorian government's Royal Commission reporting is lacking, and what they could do about it.

"MR GRIMLEY

I give notice that, on the next day of meeting, I will move —

That this House —

(1)              notes —

(a)              that the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse highlighted the unconscionable abuse of children and made bespoke recommendations to all states, where most criminal and civil laws regarding child sexual abuse are legislated;

(b)             the Government was required to report annually on its progress implementing these recommendations for five years following the Royal Commission, with the final report to be tabled in 2023, despite some recommendations not yet being addressed in their annual reporting;

(c)              the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia report their state’s overall implementation status of the Royal Commission recommendations, with South Australia and Tasmania reporting each recommendation’s status, as opposed to blanket statements, creating accountability and transparency about progress or lack thereof implementing particular recommendations;

(d)             the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence displays progress against each recommendation on their website, providing an excellent example of the way the Government could increase accountability and transparency;

(2)              calls on the Government to —

(a)              continue to report against the Royal Commission recommendations until all recommendations that have either been accepted, accepted in principle, or require further analysis are fulfilled or responded to; and

(b)             create an online resource where the public can see the Government’s progress on each recommendation, rather than as an annual document that excludes recommendations it has not implemented."

The Victorian Government has not acted on this motion, and is yet to publish the 2022 Annual Report on the Victorian Government’s progress in implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission.

What we are doing about it

We have again emailed the Department of Justice, the Department of the Solicitor General, and the Office of the Premier, to follow up on our previous emails and phone conversations, and the motion tabled in Parliament last year.

• We attached the Tasmanian Government’s Fifth Annual Report, and their Appendix with the Action Plan, as an example of providing overall implementation status, as well as providing detailed progress against each recommendation, which the Victorian Government Annual Reports to-date all lack. 
• We reshared the motion that was tabled in Parliament last year.
• We asked if the Victorian Government intends to continue to withhold the overall implementation status, and detailed progress on each recommendation of the Royal Commission, from the Victorian public. 

We asked If the Victorian Government’s Fifth Annual Report will continue to fail to provide overall implementation status, and detailed progress on each Royal Commission recommendation, we would like to know how the Victorian Government justifies the following.

• Not matching the Annual Reporting standards set by Tasmania and other states,
• How this supports a genuine apology later this year to Victorian victim/survivors of child sexual abuse in state schools and other government institutions from the Victorian Premier, and
• How this acknowledges the recently published The Australian Child Maltreatment Study, that found 29 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and older, reported experiencing child sexual abuse. A devastating indication of the need for integrated services and supports, based on the principle of ‘no wrong door’. Which is Recommendation 9.1 of the Royal Commission our petition is advocating to be implemented in full by the Victorian Government.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse remains Australia's most expensive and comprehensive royal commission ever.

Victorians, including  Victorian victim/survivors of child sexual abuse, their families and communities, deserve to know exactly what the Victorian Government has done, in response to every Royal Commission recommendation relevant to our State governments.

Thank you to all our Petitioners for your support! Your voice gives us all a voice!