AUSTRALIA

Tasmania's Catholic Church rejects mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by priests

The ABC News reported that the Catholic Archbishop of Hobart has rejected the Tasmanian Government's moves to force priests to report child sexual abuse revealed in confession, or risk criminal charges. Attorney-General Elise Archer tabled Tasmania's initial response to the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Ms Archer told Parliament Tasmania would be one of a number of jurisdictions taking the lead by accepting in-principle the need to include priests as mandatory reporters. Ms Archer has also flagged her intention to table legislation later in the year to strengthen Tasmania's legal responses to child sexual abuse, including improving the use of pre-recordings for vulnerable witnesses, broadening the operation of grooming offences under the Criminal Code, and measures to improve the operation of the crime of persistent child abuse.

NSW Bishop breaks ranks on church report into child abuse royal commission

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Bishop of Parramatta Vincent Long Van Nguyen has broken ranks with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to join reform groups and politicians calling for public release of a church report responding to the child abuse royal commission. Keeping the four-volume, 1000-page, church-commissioned Truth Justice and Healing Council (TJHC) report “in-house for any period longer than necessary” is “not in the interest of the kind of church the Pope speaks about”, said Bishop Long in a statement this week. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said it would “take some time” to consider the TJHC report it received in March, and would formally respond to the royal commission when it had “completed our dialogue with the Holy See” and received advice from an implementation advisory group appointed in May. The report is understood to have fallen short of unambiguously supporting a royal commission recommendation to scrap confessional protections for priests, but to have backed changes to confession that would avoid a direct clash between the church and governments on the issue. The report is also understood to have endorsed progressive changes in the Australian church inconsistent with some of the public positions held by its more conservative leaders.

NT Government response to Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The NT Government announced in a Media Release that of the 107 recommendations that are the responsibility of the NT, the NT Government has accepted, or accepted in principle, 95 of the Final Report recommendations. A further 12 recommendations are being further considered. The NT Government has noted an additional 82 recommendations, which are the responsibility of religious institutions, and the Commonwealth Government. This means all jurisdictions except for WA have released formal statements regarding the Royal Commission.

NSW girl charged as footage emerges of shocking schoolyard bashing

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a 13-year-old girl has been charged on NSW's south coast as shocking footage emerged of the alleged schoolyard bashing that left the victim, another young girl, in hospital with serious facial injuries. The assault allegedly took place at lunchtime at a school in Bega, with video shot by an onlooker on a phone later uploaded to social media. The ABC News has also reported that a student protest about bullying at the school has been shut down amidst a media storm over the alleged attack. More than 100 students said they planned to attend what they described as a strike after their classmate was hospitalised. The attacker has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intimidation over the incident, which occurred on June 19. Students said the school intervened to stop their protest.

'Massively overdue' smartphone review to tackle predators, cyberbullies

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, tackling predators and cyber bullying will be the priority for a review of phones in NSW schools, and a recommendation to ban smartphones in primary school is on the cards, says the psychologist heading the review, Michael Carr-Gregg. NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes called Dr Carr-Gregg to ask him to head the review, which will be the first in Australia. The terms of reference have not yet been drawn up, no panel has been chosen and no deadline has been decided. Dr Carr-Gregg said he would look at global research into smartphones in schools, and what schools are doing around the world. He would invite submissions and report back to the minister with suggestions for smartphone guidelines in schools. At present, school policies for electronic devices vary widely. After the review, schools would still be able to decide their own policies, but they would have research on which to base those decisions.

Children showing harmful sexual behaviours must be a priority: Commissioner

According to WA Today, children displaying harmful sexual behaviours must be recognised as a priority group for intervention and support, the WA Commissioner for Children and Young People says. Colin Pettit called on the state government to do more to help address the problem, and said Australian Institute of Family Studies researchers estimated 30 to 60 per cent of all experiences of childhood sexual abuse were carried out by children and young people. Police case files studied by University of South Australia Australian Centre for Child Protection researchers found in WA, 62 per cent of recent child sexual abuse allegations within an institutional setting involved a minor as the person of interest. Mr Pettit's research found that in WA there was no common understanding of "harmful sexual behaviours" across agencies and no information kept on how many children displayed these behaviours.  Responses varied in quality and the effectiveness of services was not clear. His survey found a heavy reliance on private practitioners and no specialist services for children with harmful sexual behaviours in WA, which was compounded by inadequate funding.

Australian Government launches inquiry into mistreatment of international students

According to SBS News, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration will commence the first public hearing of this inquiry that looks into the efficacy of the current regulation of Australian migration agents. The investigation includes the nature and prevalence of fraud, professional misconduct and other breaches by registered migration agents, the current review mechanisms for migration agents and the adequacy of penalties. The inquiry committee is collecting evidence of the volumes and patterns of unregistered migration agents and education agents providing unlawful immigration services in Australia. Maria Vamvakinou, Labor MP and vice-president of the Federal Joint Standing Committee on Migration says they are looking to identify any deficiency that could compromise the system and they are particularly interested in the role of education agents – there is also an outline of the role of education agents and current collapses in international student education agencies.

Cyber security incidents could cost Aussie businesses $29B per year

According to ARN and The Australian, fear and doubt of cyber risks has led 66 per cent of Australian businesses to put off digital transformation plans, with security incidents potentially costing organisations $29 billion per year. Frost & Sullivan research commissioned by Microsoft found that more than half (55 per cent) of organisations in Australia have experienced a cybersecurity incident in the past five months. Microsoft director of corporate legal and external affairs Tom Daemen said, "To combat this, we need to be instilling a data culture throughout organisations. Data management needs to be prioritised in the boardroom as a strategic focus.”

INTERNATIONAL

Vatican convicts ex-diplomat of child porn distribution

According to the ABC News, the Vatican tribunal has convicted a former Holy See diplomat and sentenced him to five years in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography in the first such trial of its kind inside the Vatican. Monsignor Carlo Capella admitted to viewing the images during what he called a period of "fragility" and interior crisis sparked by a job transfer to the Vatican embassy in Washington. He apologised to his family and the Holy See, and appealed for leniency by saying the episode was just a "bump in the road" of a priestly vocation he loved and wanted to continue. Tribunal President Giuseppe Dalla Torre read out the verdict after a two-day trial and sentenced Capella to five years and a fine of 5,000 euros ($AU7,830). Capella will serve the sentence in the Vatican barracks, where he has been held since his arrest earlier this year.

Principals spending too much time as managers, new report on Ontario education finds

The CBC News reported that principals are spending too much time doing menial managerial tasks and school boards are struggling to adequately support students' mental health, according to a sweeping new report on education in Ontario released Monday. Those are two of the most pressing issues identified in People for Education's annual review of the province's publicly-funded schools, entitled The New Basics for Public Education. The non-profit organization assembled the report from survey results garnered from 1,244 schools in all but two of Ontario's 72 public boards. The authors found that only nine per cent of elementary school principals and 13 per cent of secondary school principals said "Supporting professional learning and improving the instructional program" — ostensibly their primary function — as their most time-consuming task. Some 22 per cent of elementary principals instead reported "Managing facilities" was the most-consuming task they handle, where as 25 per cent of high school principals surveyed said "Managing staff" took up most of their time.