The National Centre's Monthly Newsletter: May 2025 edition
National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse
Protecting children, guiding best practice responses and pathways to healing for survivors.
Welcome to our Newsletter, our LinkedIn edition alongside our Monthly EDM which you can subscribe to here. Please enjoy our Newsletter welcome below, written by National Centre CEO Dr Janine Bush .
"Welcome to this edition of our newsletter update on the National Centre’s ongoing work to prevent and improve responses to child sexual abuse.
This month we’ve had an opportunity to participate in the evaluation of the Australian Government’s First Action Plans (1AP) under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021–2030, including the extent to which it has been effective and aligns with the National Strategy values.
The National Centre continues to explore current issues relating to the lifelong impacts of child sexual abuse. On 22 May, I chaired our In Conversation event: ‘Compassionate Aged Care for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse’. This event focused on the impacts of child sexual abuse and the complexities for victim-survivors in navigating, accessing and receiving aged care in home and residential settings. Given the often intimate, personal nature of care, this session emphasised the importance of quality health and aged care that is safe and trauma-informed. The recording for this session will be available soon.
The National Centre continues to monitor inquiries into matters relating to child safety and child sexual abuse that are in progress or that governments are responding to. This includes:
Given the extent of current and recent inquiries into matters relating to children’s safety and child sexual abuse, the pending 10 year anniversary of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and ongoing calls for more inquiries into children’s safety (particularly from sexual violence), it is timely to reflect on the 2024 examination of more than 3,000 recommendations from 61 Royal Commissions and inquiries relevant to the child protection and youth justice systems held between 2010 and 2022. This work was undertaken by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) in collaboration with the National Children’s Commissioner resulting in the report on Improving the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children | Australian Institute of Family Studies.
In other National Centre news, I welcome Claire Gallagher as our new Director, Policy and Strategic Delivery. Claire has a legal background and deep experience across issues including child sexual abuse, family violence and victims of crime along with public sector experience. Claire’s focus will be on providing expert guidance to support the National Centre in achieving its strategic direction.
As we continue this important work across the nation, we thank you for your ongoing commitment to building a more informed and safe future for all children and survivors of child sexual abuse.
Warm regards,
Janine"
Monthly Highlights
Community Attitudes Study update
On the back of the groundbreaking first wave of the ‘Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study’, the National Centre has commissioned Roy Morgan to undertake the second wave of the survey later this year.
We look forward to working together to track attitudes, knowledge and responses to child sexual abuse over time, allowing us to examine progress against initial benchmarking data from 2022. Stay tuned for more in 2026.
Emerging knowledge
National Centre-funded research project “Learning from victims and survivors about what helps disclosure and responses to child sexual abuse” has published their second manuscript.
The project, led by Professor Lynne McPherson from Southern Cross University, is collaborating with victims and survivors to learn about what practices help or hinder disclosure, and critically, what support is needed at the point of disclosure and beyond.
The project aims to empower victims and survivors to raise concerns, disclose and seek help.
Supporting boys and men to disclose child sexual abuse
Although boys and men do not disclose child sexual abuse for similar reasons to girls and women - such as fear, self-blame and shame - boys and men also face gender-specific barriers.
These barriers can lead many boys and men to suffer the impacts of child sexual abuse in silence. For professionals, understanding these unique challenges is critical to providing effective support.
Explore our new interactive learning tool which aims to help professionals create safe spaces where boys and men can disclose their experiences and begin their healing journeys.
National Centre Blog
How General Practitioners can support pathways towards healing
Victims and survivors of sexual violence, including child sexual abuse, often experience ongoing physical and mental health challenges. It is imperative that these presentations are explored with holistic curiosity, as many adults may never disclose what happened to them.
For World Family Doctor Day 2025, the National Centre has collaborated on a blog with Dr Naomi Rutten , GP and Psychotherapist, with contributions from Angela Obradovic and Dr. Cathy Kezelman AM .
Read our new blog exploring how General Practitioners can provide whole person care.
The Change Academy
Compassionate aged care for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse
Thank you to everyone who joined our In Conversation webinar, ‘Compassionate aged care for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse’ on 22 May.
Many older adults are victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and many have never disclosed their experience. As they enter, engage with, or rely more heavily on services such as aged and primary health care, it is critical that caregivers create environments where older adults feel comfortable disclosing.
Our panel explored the topic of older adults who are living with the impacts of child sexual abuse and the importance of trauma-responsive care. A recording will be available on our website soon.
Online course: Understanding and responding to disclosures of child sexual abuse from children and young people
Enrol in our new online course, 'Understanding and responding to disclosures of child sexual abuse from children and young people'.
Grounded in the latest research and informed by practice and lived experience expertise, this self-paced course will explore:
This course is also available for bulk purchase by organisations - enquire at thechangeacademy@nationalcentre.org.au.
Online course: Foundations of child sexual abuse
Upskill in child safety by completing our online, self-paced course, 'Foundations of child sexual abuse'.
This online, self-paced course has been designed for a broad range of workers across different levels as well as community members and explores:
This course is also available for bulk purchase by organisations - enquire at thechangeacademy@nationalcentre.org.au.
Out and about
Courageous Conversations
Our CEO Janine Bush attended the Courageous Conversations event in Tasmania hosted by Laurel House and Sexual Assault Support Service Tasmania .
It was a great opportunity to meet with government stakeholders and hear more about the 2021 Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government's responses to Child Sexual Abuse and Tasmania’s approach to implementing the recommendations from The Report.
We were pleased to see the engagement of those with lived and living experience, as well as young people, whose voices are vital in these critical conversations.
Community of Practice
This month, a Community of Practice was facilitated for staff from The Y. The event focused on increasing awareness and understanding surrounding disclosures of child sexual abuse.
Discussions explored child sexual abuse myths that exist in community, the importance of noticing indicators and leaning into what can be uncomfortable conversations.
We were grateful to lead discussions on the day and to hear from participants about their skills, areas of practice and shared commitment to building a safer community for all victims and survivors.
Coming up...
Victim-survivor preferred definitions – ‘the Guide’
The National Centre is in the final stages of preparing Australia’s first language guide on victim-survivor preferred child sexual abuse terminology.
The Guide, which will be published in July, is built upon the expertise and lived experience of more than 100 victim-survivors from across Australia.
You can now sign up to be notified about the release of the Guide and to receive your copy.
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