Australia Offers Rare National Apology to Victims of Child Sex Abuse

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten at the National Apology to survivors of child sexual abuse in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on October 22, 2018. Mick Tsikas/AAP/Reuters

SYDNEY—Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Oct. 22, offered a rare national apology, only the second since 2008, to victims of institutional child sexual abuse and their families, bringing some survivors to tears.

The gesture followed a five-year inquiry into child sexual abuse that delved into more than 8,000 cases of sexual misconduct, most of them at religious and state-run institutions responsible for keeping children safe.