Classifying the monster: the erasure of familial child sexual abuse in the Wood Royal Commission Paedophile Inquiry

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since the 1980s there has been a transformation in understandings of institutional child sexual abuse. While these developments have been long overdue, shifts in understanding other forms of child abuse and neglect have been much more incremental. This is particularly true of abuse occurring in the family. This article examines the Wood Royal Commission, which operated from 1994 until 1997 in the Australian state of New South Wales. Unlike inquiries into institutional child sexual abuse, its scope was not limited in terms of the scenarios of abuse that it investigated. Notwithstanding this, a flawed approach saw it effectively erase familial abuse as a sufficient matter of concern. While scholarly research on royal commissions frequently points to an inquiry’s terms of reference, or the failure of governments to implement recommendations in an inquiry’s aftermath, the Wood Royal Commission reveals a failure in investigative decision making. By positioning this Royal Commission within the broader terrain of public inquiries into child sexual abuse, I demonstrate how intrafamilial abuse continues to be neglected.