Lawyers in Tasmania have welcomed today’s announcement that a Commission of Inquiry into sexual abuse in government institutions will be held, but caution that the Inquiry’s terms of reference must not be too restrictive.
“We welcome the Premier’s announcement but we want to stress the importance of ensuring the scope of the Inquiry is broad enough to allow the real issues to come to light,” said Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) state president, Mr Sebastian Buscemi.
“Recent inquiries in Tasmania have had restrictive terms of reference that seemed to avoid key problems at the heart of the issue.
“We cannot learn from the mistakes of the past without knowing what those mistakes were so it is very important that the terms of reference for this Inquiry do not limit its ability to uncover the truth and determine why this shocking abuse has occurred in so many government institutions.
“It is important that the Inquiry does not become overly legalistic and miss the real issues that survivors face.
“We look forward to reviewing the Inquiry’s terms of reference.”
