The following speech was delivered by Laurel House CEO Kathryn Fordyce at the opening the North West Arch centre in Burnie on 1 March 2026.
I would like to start by acknowledging that we are celebrating today on the stolen lands of the Palawa, and to share Laurel House’s commitment to working collaboratively with First Nations people in their struggle to achieve Aboriginal Self-determination. I also want to acknowledge victim-survivors - including those here today, those who helped shape this centre, and those who could not be here. This place exists because of your courage, persistence and refusal to accept that things could not change.
Today is an important milestone for the North West and for every child, young person and adult in this region who deserves safety, dignity and justice after sexual harm.
The opening of the Arch here in Burnie represents something profoundly hopeful. It acknowledges that victim-survivors should not have to navigate complex systems alone. That support should be coordinated, trauma-informed, and centred on their needs - not the convenience of institutions.
Arch brings services together so people that have experienced sexual violence can access specialist responses in one place. Evidence from earlier sites shows that when services collaborate in this way, victim-survivors and their families are more likely to feel believed, supported and safe.
But today must also be a moment of honesty. Because buildings alone do not deliver justice. Models alone do not transform systems. And access to services does not guarantee safety, dignity or healing.
True justice is not simply what happens in a courtroom. Justice is defined by the person who was harmed. Justice may mean accountability - but it may also mean being believed, having control restored, feeling safe, protecting others, rebuilding a life, or simply being able to sleep at night.
Many victim-survivors never seek a formal justice response at all — often because the process feels too risky, too adversarial, or too likely to cause further harm. We know from research and the relatively recent Australian Law Reform Commission report that sexual violence is significantly under-reported and that barriers to engagement with the justice system remain profound.
So the success of the Arch cannot be measured only by police reports, nor by increased prosecutions. It must be measured by whether people feel safer to disclose, more supported when they do, and more able to pursue the form of justice that is right for them.
We must also recognise that sexual violence does not affect all communities equally. Children and young people, women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, LGBTIQA+ communities, migrants, people in institutions like youth detention settings and out-of-home care, and those facing social exclusion experience disproportionately high rates of harm, and often face the greatest barriers to being heard and believed.
If this Arch centre is to fulfil its promise, it must continuously reflect on whose needs are being met, and whose are not. That means challenging bias, stereotypes and myths about sexual violence. It means addressing power imbalances that silence people, and prevent self-reflection. It means creating culturally safe, inclusive responses that recognise diverse experiences of trauma and healing. And it means listening to victim-survivors not once, but over and over again.
Recent inquiries and reviews have shown that harmful attitudes, institutional defensiveness, and failures to act can compound trauma and allow abuse to continue.
So the work ahead for us at the Arch and for all of you here today is not only about coordination - it is about culture. Culture in our communities. Culture in our institutions. Culture in our classrooms. Culture in policing. Culture in our court rooms. Culture in our Parliament. Culture in our homes.
The Australian Law Reform Commission’s recent report calls for a fundamentally different approach - one that is safe, informed and supported, with real choices for victim-survivors, independent advice, and multiple pathways to justice beyond traditional prosecution. That vision aligns closely with what victim-survivors have long been telling us: that justice must centre their rights, their wellbeing, and their autonomy.
For the Arch to be more than a building here in Burnie, it must embody those principles every day. The principles we have established over the last few years of Arch. We must remain accountable to the victim-survivors it exists to serve. And it must be properly resourced - not just to open, but to deliver sustained, high-quality, trauma-informed support.
Before I finish, I want to acknowledge Rachel. Her insights remind us why places like this matter - not as buildings, but as environments where people can feel safer, heard and supported during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
We must also remember that many people affected by sexual harm will never come through these doors. Some will not feel safe reporting. Some will not trust systems. Some will still be living with abuse.
And we must ensure that responses outside of the Arch are just as strong. People do not only experience sexual violence in Burnie, Launceston and Hobart. Every community deserves access to safe, specialist, trauma-informed support - wherever they live. I
don’t mean an Arch Centre of the scale in every location, but we do need to ensure that what we are learning and achieving here extends to all people in all parts of Lutruwita/Tasmania. Our responsibility extends to them too - through prevention, community education, early intervention, and social change.
Today, we celebrate progress - because progress matters. But we also recommit to the work still ahead.
Work to prevent sexual violence before it occurs. Work to challenge the attitudes and inequalities that enable it.
Work to transform institutional responses.
Work to centre victim-survivors’ voices and rights. Work to ensure that justice — in all its forms — is possible.
To everyone who advocated for this centre, to those who contributed to its design and the service model, for all the staff who will work here, and especially to victim-survivors whose courage has driven change - thank you.
May this place offer not only services, but dignity. Not only coordination, but compassion. Not only safety, but the possibility of healing and justice - as defined by those who seek it.
Thank you.
