For over a year we have been asking the Victorian Government to have the same level of transparency of their implementation record of Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) recommendations that the majority of other State and Territory governments provide to the public. In their recently published Royal Commission Annual Report, 2022, the Victorian Government has made a small step forward, by actually reporting for the first time the number of recommendations implemented, and yet to be implemented.

However, the Victorian Government continues to fail to identify which recommendations these actually are by not referring to recommendation numbers, making it difficult to hold them to account, for example, what the status of Recommendation 9.1 actually is. The recommendation this petition is seeking the Government to implement in full.

Here's our recent response to the Victorian Government's latest communications with us.

"Dear Secretary of the Department of Justice and Community Safety, and Acting Deputy Secretary of Children and Families Division,

Thank you for your responses (attached) regarding:

• The traceability of what the Victorian government has implemented, and/or plans to implement, as identified by the recommendation number of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission), and
• In particular, recommendation 9.1 the Beaumaris And Surrounding Communities - CSA Survivors And Families petition is seeking to meet with the Minister of Health about.

Our concerns remain, as

• The Victorian Government’s Annual Report 2022 fails to reference actions taken against specific recommendations identified by their number, as per the Tasmanian government (attached) and other Australian government reporting provide.
• The Victorian government’s Annual Report 2022, and recent correspondence, fail to mention any investment in what is core to Royal Commission Recommendation 9.1:
  “Funding and related agreements should require and enable these services to:
  * be trauma-informed and have an understanding of institutional child sexual abuse
  * be collaborative, available, accessible, acceptable and high quality
  * use case management and brokerage to coordinate and meet service needs
  * support and supervise peer-led support models.”

Integrated, accessible, collaborative, case managed, / person centric, place based funding (not service provider based funding), exists at scale elsewhere, predominantly in the UK, and Canterbury, New Zealand.

This ‘no wrong door’ approach is also one of the minimum service standard recommendations, of BASELINE ANALYSIS OF SPECIALIST AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES RESPONDING TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, August 2022, unisa.edu.au/accp (attached), a sector consultation organised by the The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse, in which we participated in 2022.

Since our petition was created on 1 February, 2022, multiple requests to meet with the Minister of Health have been ignored.

An apology to all survivors of child sexual abuse in government institutions later this year will be hollow, without the commitment to fully implement the key Royal Commission recommendation that could save lives, and improve the health and quality of life, of so many Victorian survivors.

We again ask for our petition organisers, supporters and community to have the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Health."

Thank you to all our Petitioners! You helped nudge the Victorian Government towards increased transparency in how many Royal Commission recommendations they are yet to implement. Thank you! We will keep up our efforts to move the Victorian Government to the level of full transparency of most other Australian State governments.