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Final Sitting Opening Address by the Chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

"The conjunction of events which the Royal Commission has examined can only be described as a national tragedy. Across many decades many institutions failed our children. Our child protection, criminal and civil justice systems let them down. Although the primary responsibility for the sexual abuse of a child lies with the abuser and the institution of which they were part, we cannot avoid the conclusion that the problems faced by many people who have been abused are the responsibility of our entire society. Society’s values and the mechanisms which were available to regulate and control aberrant behaviour failed."