Former ward of the state and associate professor Jacqueline Wilson told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that institutions are “pretty much closed off” to the broader community. 

“It seems to me that there's an assumption of radical discontinuity between the outside community and the closed institution,” Professor Wilson said.

She there was a real need for the community to be involved in the running of institution which would lead to positive outcomes for children and staff who are “notionally institutionalized”

“So they became kind of hostage to that culture as well,”Associate Professor Wilson said.

University of California Professor Donald Palmer told the commission organisational culture could have a “multi-faceted effect on the likelihood of that child sexual abuse is going to occur in an organisation”.

The way the organisation is organised also contributes to how reports of abuse are responded to and dealt with.

Only greater accountability from all levels would prevent abuse, Associate Professor Wilson said.

“I think that there should be spot checks, but I also think that the institution itself, whatever that may be … needs to have some kind of meaningful relationship with the outside the community.

“It can’t just be closed off …they can't begin and end at the door.

“They need to have people who work there who are better trained and there needs to be an ongoing conversation and an ongoing understanding with the community about the institution.”

Olivia Shying