By Kathryn Magann in Sydney

WITH Sunday marking the fifth anniversary of the national apology for institutional child sexual abuse, the government is highlighting the ensuing programs to prevent further abuses while outlining the work still to do.

Former coalition prime minister Scott Morrison delivered the apology in parliament five years ago, saying: “Australia must acknowledge the long and painful journey of sexually abused children and say sorry.”

“Today as a nation we confront our failure to listen, to believe, and to provide justice … we say sorry,” Mr Morrison told parliament and the hundreds of survivors who travelled to Canberra to hear him in 2018.

“As a nation, we confront our failure to listen, to believe, and to provide justice. To the children we failed, sorry. To the spouses, partners, wives, husbands, children, who have dealt with the consequences of the abuse, cover-ups and obstruction, sorry.”

Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard set up the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse that spanned five years and heard from 17,000 survivors.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the apology was the right thing to do, marking the institutional abuse experienced by children and young people, and the government’s failure to protect them.

“We acknowledge the fifth anniversary of the apology and reaffirm the government’s commitment to establish a world in which our children and young people are safe, and victims and survivors receive the support they deserve,” he said on Sunday.

“The royal commission broke the silence surrounding institutional child sexual abuse and the national apology marked the end of one era and the beginning of a more hopeful one.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton acknowledged the bipartisan efforts to implement the recommendations from the royal commission.

“For so many victims and survivors, the passing of time will neither have dulled their torment nor diminished their trauma,” he said in a statement.

“But I imagine that every victim and survivor would want our nation to do its utmost to prevent other Australians from suffering similar horrors to those which they endured.

“And that will be the solemn duty of this parliament and those yet to come.”

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the government is still implementing recommendations that came out of the royal commission, including the work done on the national office for child safety.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the national redress scheme has led to more than $1 billion in payments made to survivors.

“We cannot take away the pain of survivors, but we are committed to supporting them and working to repair our communities. There is still much work to be done,” she said.