National Memorial for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse

This consultation is now closed.

The Department of Social Services (department) is seeking your views on the purpose and key attributes of the National Memorial for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (National Memorial) via a national survey.

Your responses will inform the scope of a national competition to be held in early 2021 to determine the final National Memorial design.

The department has developed an Information Paper, which includes relevant background information to help you complete the survey.

The National Memorial was a key recommendation (17.6) of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission).

In the lead up to the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (National Apology), the National Apology Reference Group (Reference Group) consulted stakeholders on the Royal Commission’s recommendation.

Following these consultations, the Reference Group advised the Government to ‘establish a national memorial for victims and survivors which is both educative in nature but also offers a place of support and reflection for survivors’.  The Reference Group also recommended that ‘a further process should be undertaken to settle the design and location of the national memorial, in consultation with survivors.’

In delivering the National Apology on 22 October 2018, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, honoured the courage and strength of those with lived experience of institutional child sexual abuse, and committed to establishing ‘a place of truth and commemoration, to raise awareness and understanding of the impacts of child sexual abuse.’

On 6 October 2020, the Australian Government committed funding towards the establishment of the National Memorial in Canberra.

This survey forms an important part of the Government’s commitment to establishing a memorial that reflects the views and needs of people with lived experience of institutional child sexual abuse.

Following input from stakeholders including responses to this survey, a national design competition will be held in early 2021 to determine the National Memorial design.  The competition will seek proposals from relevant professionals that meet the design requirements, including the intent, site, and features of the National Memorial.  A mixed panel, including people with lived experience of institutional child sexual abuse and industry experts, will select the preferred design.

What to expect

Child sexual abuse can be a difficult topic to discuss.  This survey has been sensitively designed for all people to have their say on the establishment of the National Memorial.  This survey is anonymous, you will not be asked to share your personal experiences, and all questions are optional.

The survey will ask your views on things like the National Memorial purpose and key attributes.

The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.  If you need to take a break at any time while completing the survey, you can save your responses and return to it at another time.  You may also opt out of the survey at any time and skip any questions you do not wish to answer.

If you need emotional support at any time please contact:

• In an emergency call Triple Zero (000)
• Lifeline 13 11 14
• Beyond Blue 1300 224 636
• Mensline 1300 78 99 78
• Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
• 1800 Respect 1800 737 732

If you need support from a Redress or Find and Connect organisation, you can reach them via the following links:

• Redress
• Find and Connect Support Services and Representative Organisations

Privacy Statement

The survey is anonymous and all of the questions are optional. Your responses will be treated in confidence and in accordance with the department’s Privacy Policy.  The survey will not ask for your name or the name of any organisations you are associated with.  The survey will ask questions about your age and location to help understand what is important to different groups of people.  The department will analyse the survey results and use the anonymous data to inform the establishment of the National Memorial.

Contact Us

The department will provide further updates in relation to the National Memorial at www.dss.gov.au.

For more information about the Royal Commission, visit the website.

For any other enquires please email RCMemorial@dss.gov.au.