Safe as Churches ? 8 Conference

16 - 17 May 2017 - Jasper Hotel, Melbourne

The 8th Safe as Churches? Conference was held in Melbourne on the 16 and 17 May 2017. Organised by the National Council of Churches in Australia – Safe Church Program, it brought together 180 delegates from a wide variety of Church traditions. There were delegates representing every state and territory within Australia as well as delegates attending from Fiji, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

The Honourable Justice Peter McClellan AM, Chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse provided an update and information about current work, as well as the latest statistics surrounding their work. From the 6,302 Private Sessions that they have processed to date, 59% relate to a Religious Institution.

Sessions were also held relating to Forgiveness and Reconciliation for Survivors of Sexual Abuse and the impact of shame and guilt around this, Pastoral Care of Survivors and Parishes and working with known offenders.

Keynote presentations were made by Mary Barry, CEO of Our Watch (Australia’s Peak Body relating to the prevention of violence against women and children) on preventing Family Violence; Gerard Mansour, Commissioner for Senior Victorians relating to Elder Abuse and how churches can prevent and respond; and Greg Gebhart, Senior Trainer with the Federal Government eSafety Commission, who looked at technology and digital trends, cyberbullying and Image Based Abuse.

For specific information and Speaker handouts from the conference visit the Conference page of our website.

View The Honourable Justice Peter McClellan AM’s presentation. 

For more information about the NCCA – Safe Church Program visit www.safechurches.org.au