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April 2nd, 2013 
AUSTRALIA’S historic royal commission into child abuse begins in Melbourne today, supported by a formidable female legal duo.
The Federal Government has announced that NSW barrister Gail Furness SC and Victorian Melinda Richards will be counsel assisting the royal commission.
The pair has been recruited to investigate how institutions with a responsibility for children, including the Catholic Church, have reacted to and managed allegations of child sex abuse within their walls.
The royal commission will investigate where systems have failed child victims and make recommendations about how to prevent further abuse.
Ms Furness’s previous roles include being counsel assisting former Justice James Wood in the NSW special commission of inquiry into child protection services.
She also led an inquiry last year into the handling by the Star casino in Sydney of claims of sexual harassment against disgraced former boss Sid Vaikunta.
Ms Richards, who will be junior counsel assisting the royal commission, has expertise in anti-discrimination, industrial and administrative law and was junior counsel assisting the inquiry into the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009.
The Government is anticipating thousands of Australians will come forward with stories of their own child sex abuse and has set up a free nationwide telephone service for victims to seek legal advice.
Face-to-face advice services will also be offered.
The royal commission will play out in the courts, but it is across the thousands of community legal centres nationwide that victims will see its immediate effects.
There they will be given access to legal advice and both in relation to the royal commission and through conventional legal avenues.
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