The transitional space of public inquiries: The case of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865819886634 |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The transitional space
of public inquiries: The
case of the Australian
Royal Commission into
Institutional Responses
to Child Sexual Abuse
Michael Salter
University of New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
This paper argues that the uncertain public status of victim narratives of sexual abuse has
inhibited the information sharing and dialogue necessary for policy reform and transformative
change. Through an integration of public sphere theory and relational psychoanalysis, the
paper identifies the need for a transitional space for the explication of sexual abuse narratives
in order to bridge the gap between private suffering and public understanding. The Australian
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse provides a case study
of a transitional mechanism, with a focus on its instantiation of a therapeutic politics and the
resultant synthesis of the rational–critical dimensions of public speech with the emotional
depth and substance of traumatic catharsis. The paper suggests that public inquiries are
uniquely positioned to act as transitional spaces between the personal and political dimen-
sions of traumatic experience, while recognizing the challenges posed to this space by the
contemporary bureaucratic state.
Keywords
Child abuse, justice, media, narrative, public inquiry
Date received: 3 August 2019; accepted: 14 October 2019
Corresponding author:
Michael Salter, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales,Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
Email: michael.salter@unsw.edu.au
Australian & New Zealand Journal of
Criminology
2020, Vol. 53(2) 213–230
!The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865819886634
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Over the last four decades, victims and survivors have come to play an active role in
shaping public discourse on child sexual abuse (CSA), largely due to the efforts of
second wave feminism and related social movements (Whittier, 2009). Nonetheless,
the public status of victim narratives of CSA remains fraught. The struggles of victims
to articulate traumatic experiences are obstructed by the often indifferent or hostile
responses of bystanders and communities, while their allegations face substantive
evidentiary challenges in the criminal justice system (Salter, 2018). There remains a
significant disjuncture between the lived experience of CSA and public and expert dis-
courses on the subject, while policy frameworks are failing to reduce the associated
human and economic costs (Pilgrim, 2018). Ongoing revelations of high profile sexual
abuse ‘scandals’ illustrate the ways in which cumulative victim reports can fail to cohere
in the form of collectively actionable knowledge, remaining quarantined for years or
decades in the interpersonal and private domain, only to receive an unsure reception if
and when they come to public attention.
1
This paper argues that the uncertain public status of victim narratives of sexual abuse
has inhibited the information sharing and dialogue necessary for policy reform and
transformative change. Through an integration of public sphere theory and relational
psychoanalysis, this paper identifies the need for a ‘transitional space’ (Winnicott, 2005)
for the explication of sexual abuse narratives in order to bridge the gap between private
suffering and public understanding. The Australian Royal Commission into
Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (‘the Royal Commission’) provides a
case study of a transitional mechanism that attributed public significance to survivor’s
stories via the co-construction of knowledge between survivors, Commissioners and
experts. The paper analyses the instantiation of a ‘therapeutic politics’ (Whittier,
2009) within the Royal Commission, and its resultant synthesis of the rational–critical
dimensions of public speech with the emotional depth and substance of traumatic
catharsis. The paper concludes that public inquiries are uniquely positioned to act
as transitional spaces between the personal and political dimensions of traumatic
experience, while recognizing the challenges posed to this space by the contemporary
bureaucratic state.
The fragmented public sphere
In contemporary societies, the process of collective articulation and the social construction
of problems have been located within the ‘public sphere’, generally understood to refer to
the sphere of shared public communication and deliberation (Habermas, 1989). The public
sphere includes the mass media as well as alternative media, community forums and other
platforms for dialogue such as the internet and social media. The ideal public sphere was
described by Habermas (1989) as the place where public opinion is formed. He emphasized
the importance of a free communicative flow between informal discussion and debate in
families, community settings and the media, which in turn scrutinizes the state but also
creates shared frameworks that inform democratic decision-making and legislation. Other
critical scholars of the public sphere, such as Fraser (1990), have foregrounded the inter-
nally differentiated and conflicted nature of the public sphere, constituted by dominant
‘publics’ but also ‘counter-publics’ representing subaltern constituencies with diverse
modes of expression and communication.
214 Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 53(2)
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