A Tasmanian inquiry has exposed a harrowing pattern of abuse and systematic failures within the state's care institutions. 

The inquiry, which delved into decades of catastrophic failure to protect young people, has uncovered a disturbing bureaucratic tangle that not only failed to protect victims but also, alarmingly, sheltered their abusers.

The Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings has singled out the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, pointing to its “continuous catastrophic failures” in protecting children. 

This institution, along with the Launceston General Hospital and other state care facilities, has been implicated in a series of devastating failures, including ignoring signs of abuse, failing to act decisively on complaints, and failing to uphold basic human rights.

The inquiry's findings do not stop at institutional abuse. 

The report also highlights a deeply troubling pattern of individual failures, including the case of Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds, who died while under investigation for sex offences involving children. 

These institutional and individual failures have far-reaching implications, stretching to the highest levels of the Tasmanian government. 

The inquiry has laid bare the reality that what appeared to be isolated incidents were, in fact, part of a systemic and widespread culture of abuse and cover-up.

The commission's final report, handed to the Tasmanian governor, outlines not only the failures in specific institutions but also the broader systemic issues that allowed such abuse to persist. 

It calls for urgent and comprehensive reforms, particularly targeting the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, which it recommends be shut down due to its “intractable” problems.

More details are accessible here (WARNING: highly distressing content).