National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse
About the National Centre
The 2017 final report to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse(Opens in a new tab/window) recommended the Australian Government, with states and territory governments, establish and fund a national centre to increase understanding of the impacts of child sexual abuse on victims and survivors.
In 2019, the Australian Government committed $22.5 million over 5 years to establish the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse (National Centre).
The National Centre was launched in October 2021, as a not-for-profit organisation independent of government, a joint initiative of:
- Blue Knot Foundation(Opens in a new tab/window)
- Australian Childhood Foundation(Opens in a new tab/window)
- The Healing Foundation(Opens in a new tab/window).
The National Centre aims to:
- raise community awareness
- reduce the stigma for victims and survivors
- increase workforce understanding of the impacts of child sexual abuse
- contribute to research and evaluation to guide best practice advocacy, support and therapeutic treatment.
For more information, visit the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse(Opens in a new tab/window).
The National Centre partners with victims and survivors, who provide valued perspectives and advice based on their unique personal experience in the lifelong impacts of child sexual abuse.
To support this, the National Centre has set up foundational colleges that will give a voice to the needs of:
- adult survivors of child sexual abuse – the Survivor-led Adult College comprises persons from a range of ages, life stages, backgrounds and perspectives who have lived and living experience of child sexual abuse
- survivors from First Nations communities – the First Nations College ensures the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders perspectives and experiences are heard, underpinning the work of the National Centre.
The National Centre is establishing a process to engage with children and youth to build on insights and knowledge to help think about the best ways to listen to children and keep them safe.
For more information about the Colleges and the National Centre’s engagement work with children and young people, visit Our Colleges – The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse(Opens in a new tab/window).
Design of the National Centre
A national consultation process was undertaken in early 2020 to inform the National Centre’s scope, functions, and governance.
For more information refer to the National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse - Stakeholder Consultation Report. Following consultation on the design of the National Centre, we undertook a procurement process in late 2022 to select the organisations to establish and deliver the National Centre.
Throughout 2022, we held meetings with state and territory governments to provide updates on the National Centre’s implementation and opportunities for engagement.
National Centre progress
Following consultations in October 2022, the National Centre launched its Here for Change Five Year Strategy in June 2023. Setting out the National Centres:
- strategic vision for the next 5 years and beyond
- priorities to work in collaboration with the many national, state, and local initiatives and plans.
For more information refer to Here for Change Five Year Strategy(Opens in a new tab/window).
The National Centre also announced the outcomes of its merit-based selection process for the first round of research projects, with the selection of 18 projects. These include:
- learning from victims/survivors about what helps disclosure and responses to child sexual abuse
- developing and Implementing a Framework for Abuse Prevention through Cultural Change and Organisational Development
- understanding experiences of child sexual abuse disclosure in Australia in the wake of the Royal Commission.
For more information refer to Research - The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse(Opens in a new tab/window).
More information
- Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse(Opens in a new tab/window)
- National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse - Stakeholder Consultation Report
- National Redress Scheme(Opens in a new tab/window) for people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse
For any enquires please email enquiries@dss.gov.au.
We will provide future National Centre updates on this webpage.
Support services
If you or someone you know is affected by child sexual abuse, some options for 24/7 support are listed below.