Australia's entertainment industry to be investigated for child sex abuse

The Royal Commission investigating institutional responses to child sex abuse will begin investigating Australia's entertainment industry, local media reported Monday.

"Institutions within the royal commission's scope may include television networks, film and television production companies, theatrical production companies, dance, drama and performing arts schools or colleges, casting agencies or any other company, agency or organization, public or private involved in the entertainment industry," the Royal Commission's chief executive Philip Reed said.

The announcement follows recent high-profile court cases that uncovered repeated child sex abuse and indecent assault in Australia's entertainment industry.

Australian actor Robert Hughes was jailed for seven years in April 2014 on 10 counts of child sex abuse dating back to the 1980s.

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris, who was jailed for pedophilia in Britain, generated controversy by reportedly writing a song which taunts his victims while in prison.

The Royal Commission has conducted 28 public hearings on child sex abuse across Australia into religious and state-run institutions and schools, sporting bodies and a yoga ashram since the Australian government announced its creation in November 2012.

The Catholic Church in Australia has recently come under fire after sex abuse victim David Ridsdale, the nephew of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, told the Royal Commission in May that Cardinal George Pell, while a bishop in Victoria, tried to bribe him to stay quiet about the abuse he suffered from his uncle. Endi