Journalist Joanne McCarthy's report on Pirona's death and clergy abuse in the Maitland–Newcastle diocese was the catalyst for the "Shine the Light" campaign that would ultimately lead to the royal commission.

[20] In November 2012, Peter Fox, a senior detective in the NSW Police, revealed that he was stood down from investigating child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy while he was compiling "explosive" evidence from a key witness and that "the church covers up, silences victims, hinders police investigations, alerts offenders, destroys evidence and moves priests to protect the good name of the church".

[23] On 9 November 2012, the Premier of New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell, announced the appointment of a special commission of inquiry into allegations raised about police handling of abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church in the Hunter region.

[24] The Special Commission inquiry centred around internal church documents obtained by Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy, that revealed a group of senior clergy allegedly attempting to conceal the crimes of Father Denis McAlinden, a prolific paedophile.

[2][6][30] On 19 November 2012, federal attorney-general Nicola Roxon and the acting minister for families, Brendan O'Connor,[31] released a consultation paper seeking input into the commission's scope of the terms of reference, how the Commonwealth and the states and territories would work together, the number of commissioners and suggested areas of expertise, the proposed timetable and reporting requirements.

[32] Archbishop Denis Hart, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, stated that he welcomed and promised co-operation with a Royal Commission to broadly investigate child sexual abuse in institutions across Australia.

[34][35] During a press conference held on 13 November 2012, Cardinal Pell voiced his support for the royal commission and welcomed the opportunity to help victims and clear the air.

[37] Each state was also requested to issue letters patent, or their equivalent instruments of appointment, which allow the six commissioners to conduct an inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse under their respective laws.

Because the Royal Commission felt it did not have the resources to investigate all of the thousands of allegations of abuse it was receiving, hearings were held with a focus on case studies of particular institutions.

[134] In January 2014 the commission began investigating allegations of sexual and physical abuse of children at four boys' homes run by the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army banned the husband and wife whistleblowers from talking to other alleged victims of child abuse and dismissed them from their position as "house parents" at the Alkira home.

A male witness told the royal commission that while at the Gill Memorial Home at Goulburn, aged 12 years, he was regularly sexually abused by a Salvation Army officer.

"[149] On 23 February 2015 the commission started hearings[92] concerning the response of Knox Grammar School and the Uniting Church in Australia to complaints and criminal proceedings involving teachers who sexually abused students.

The Commission's remit includes inquiring into the 'systems, policies and procedures' involving the school's response to the complaints since 1970, and the experiences of former students sexually abused by teaching staff.

The commission heard that in fact Paterson had never reported any student's allegation of sexual abuse to police during his thirty years in charge of the school.

[158] The Royal Commission's final report, published on 15 December, found that three bishops knew and did nothing about complaints of sexual abuse, namely James O'Collins, Ronald Mulkearns and Peter Connors.

The Melbourne report found that former Ballarat Diocese Bishop Peter Connors was part of a culture that practiced "using oblique or euphemistic language in correspondence and records concerning complaints of child sexual abuse".

Here are some extracts from the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's report into Case Study 28 – Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat:[158]This case study exposed a catastrophic failure in the leadership of the Diocese and ultimately in the structure and culture of the Church over decades to effectively respond to the sexual abuse of children by its priests.

That harm could have been avoided if the Church had acted in the interests of children rather than in its own interests.Euphemistic and elliptical language was often used in correspondence and minutes to mask the true nature of the conduct discussed.

The welfare of children was not the primary concern of Bishop Mulkearns and other senior members of the Diocese when responding to complaints and allegation of child sexual abuse against their priests.

Their "case studies showed that it was a common practice of religious institutions to adopt 'in-house' responses when dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse.

[190] The hearing was told that in response to a summons issued by the commission, the Watch Tower Society had produced 5,000 documents relating to 1,006 case files of allegations of child sexual abuse reported to Jehovah's Witness elders in Australia since 1950—each file for a different alleged perpetrator of child sexual abuse, including 579 cases in which the perpetrator confessed.

The "case study regarding the Jehovah's Witnesses showed that the organisation dealt with allegations of child sexual abuse in accordance with internal, scripturally based disciplinary policies and procedures.

"[195] In its final report, the royal commission added, "As long as the Jehovah's Witness organisation continues to ... [rely on a literal interpretation of the Bible and 1st century principles to set practice, policy and procedure] ... in its response to allegations of child sexual abuse, it will remain an organisation that does not respond adequately to child sexual abuse and that fails to protect children.

(p. 20-30) One can sense from the testimony of former students that Geelong was a "strict, authoritarian and regimented place" (p. 21), where sexual abuse was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what would lead an adolescent boy to despair.

(p. 31-32) The Commission held a public hearing to inquire into the experiences of men and women who were sexually abused as children in certain divisions of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

The abuse included fondling of genitals, forced masturbation, anal penetration with an object such as a broomstick and "bastardisation" practices primarily perpetrated by senior apprentices or staff.

[202] An interim report was released on 30 June 2014 and included "the personal stories of 150 people who shared their experience of abuse by coming to a private session or providing a written account.

[204] In June 2015 the Royal Commission released a report, prepared by the Parenting Research Centre, that assessed the extent to which 288 recommendations from 67 previous, relevant inquiries have been implemented.

[207] On 22 October 2018, the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, delivered in Parliament House a National Apology Address on behalf of the Australian people:[208] ...