Victims need support

WOLLONGBAR-based Heartfelt House director, Vicki Dobrunz, has welcomed Prime Minister Julia Gillard's announcement of a Royal Commission into sexual abuse across a range of religious and non-religious organisations.

She said Heartfelt House was one of the few places where victims of the "evil" Julia Gillard spoke about can attempt to heal the effects of childhood sexual abuse.

But what support would victims get, who came forward for the Royal Commission, she asked.

"This inquiry is going to bring forward a flood of victims - those who decide to go public and those who are triggered by media stories and decide they need help dealing with the effects of what happened to them as children," she said.

"Where is the safety net for those people?"

Both the State and Federal governments had a history of indicating they supported organisations like Heartfelt House, which assisted adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, but they did so without putting secure funding in place to allow those organisations to operate without the stress of worrying about how they will provide the resources survivors need on an ongoing basis.

The annual expenditure of Heartfelt House was $130,000, Ms Dobrunz said.