Update Letter

26 May 2024

To all concerned,

Since our letter of 1 July 2023, we have been taking further steps to make our fellowship a safe place for children and survivors.

To ensure we comply with the laws and good practices recommended in our respective countries, we are guided by the ten Child Safe Standards and the Recommendations of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Those recommendations apply to any faith-based bodies in Australia. Given the Royal Commission in New Zealand has been delayed, we will be guided by the Australian recommendations for New Zealand also.

Research shows that awareness, education and discussion, when bolstered by clearly defined processes, can help to protect children and prevent abuse. We would like workers, elders and parents/caregivers to be informed about child safety and extend this knowledge to all others associated with our fellowship.

We will continue to work with our advisory group and will also be working with external organisations who specialise in child safety and allegation management to review and implement robust and transparent processes and procedures.

Much of the last half of 2023 was taken up with conducting assessments for conventions – identifying child sexual abuse risk and implementing processes to mitigate this risk. We considered survivor safety in all of these risk assessments.

Along with the risk assessments, we consulted with convention owners, parents and young people across the fellowship.

As conventions were rolled out, some of the recommended processes were refined or adapted to meet individual property requirements.

After conventions, we collated feedback from

• workers,

• convention owners,

• those who wrote to the email address conv.feedback@gmail.com, and

• any who provided suggestions at suggestion boxes placed at some conventions.

This feedback has been used to inform recommendations for future conventions.

Alongside the convention safety work, we have also been working on the following:

• Updating our Code of Conduct and Child Safe Policy: We are in the process of updating our existing documents. These have been provided to ChildSafe Australia for independent review.

• Allegations Handling: We have prepared an outline of procedure for responding to allegations of child sexual abuse within our fellowship. This is being independently reviewed by ChildSafe Australia to ensure it not only meets good practice but fits in with our desire for a fellowship that is safe for children and survivors.

• Dedicated Website: We have established a website that anyone can access with the aim of providing updates, information and education exclusively about child safety and survivor support resources. The advisory group has developed and will manage this website with our full support. The website address is ausnzinfo.com

• Fellowship Safety: Following on from the changes we put in place for convention we have identified some opportunities for improvement for other gatherings, including special meetings, to make sure our children are safe. We will continue to review and improve these measures. We invite constructive feedback from all who are concerned about child and survivor safety in the fellowship. This feedback can be emailed to feedback@ausnzmail.com

• Apology: We understand that many of the measures now being put in place will seem not enough to some and too late for others. However, it is with a genuine desire to reach out and move towards a safe and healing environment, that we want to express our sorrow to all who are or were part of our fellowship and have felt betrayed. For this reason, a formal apology will be available on the website. Moving ahead, we will put a priority focus on how we can listen, engage with and support survivors in their healing.

We are fully committed to the journey ahead and to promoting the safety and wellbeing of all within our fellowship.

Warm regards and encouragement,

Malcolm Clapham, Graeme Dalton, Wayne Dean, Trevor Joll, Alan Mitchell and Stephen Thorpe