The Brisbane Archdiocese has welcomed the release of the Queensland Child Death Review Board’s report into system responses to child sexual abuse and has called for swift, coordinated action by governments and institutions to implement its reforms.
Brisbane Archbishop Shane Mackinlay said the In Plain Sight: Review into System Responses to Child Sexual Abuse report laid bare hard truths about how systems failed to protect children and that those failures must now drive real and lasting change.
“The courage of victim survivors and their families have made this report possible. We owe it to them to move beyond words to real reform,” Archbishop Mackinlay said.
“The findings make it clear that existing systems have not been enough to keep children safe. That must change, and it must change quickly.”
Brisbane Archdiocese operates in parishes, schools, Catholic Early EdCare and Centacare services, supporting large numbers of children and vulnerable people daily.
“This reach gives the archdiocese a clear view of system strengths and weaknesses,” Archbishop Mackinlay said.
“The royal commission compelled the Church to reckon with profound institutional failures, and we have learned from that reckoning.
“Those lessons now drive the archdiocese’s approach to safeguarding, and the Church is committed to sharing them with the wider community so that no organisation repeats the mistakes of the past.”
Archdiocese of Brisbane Safeguarding Director, Mark Eustance, said the alignment between the board’s recommendations and the archdiocese’s submission was encouraging but also raised the stakes.
“The report confirms what our own experience has been telling us for some time. Static checks and fragmented information are not enough,” Mr Eustance said.
“We need real-time safeguarding intelligence, shared lawfully across systems, so that patterns of concerning conduct are picked up early and acted on. That includes giving employers the legal tools to act when there is serious concern, even when a criminal charge is not possible.”
Archbishop Mackinlay said the report should be treated as a roadmap for governments and providers alike.
“In our submission we highlighted the ‘black holes’ that persist in the system: gaps around Blue Card renewals, delays in information sharing, and the legal constraints that leave organisations having to resolve employment matters within the limits of the Fair Work Act when serious safeguarding concerns arise but do not meet the criminal standard of proof,” he said.
“The board has now confirmed that these are systemic problems, not isolated experiences. It has set out a path to fix them. The priority now is to make sure that this does not become another report that gathers dust.”
FULL STORY
Archdiocese of Brisbane welcomes Child Death Review Board report and backs urgent safeguarding reform (Brisbane Archdiocese)
