Ballarat Bishop, Abuse Survivor Welcome Inquiry into Sexual Abuse by Priests
ABC Ballarat
[with audio] Ballarat's Catholic bishop Peter Connors, sex abuse survivor Stephen Woods and Broken Rites spokesperson Wayne Chamley discuss the State Government's announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into abuse of children by catholic priests. State Attorney General Robert Clark explains how the inquiry will work and why he thinks there is no need for a Royal Commission. Following revelations of up to 40 suicides of abuse victims of abuse by two Ballarat priests in the 1960s, 70s and 80s the State Government has announced a parliamentary inquiry into the systemic failure to protect children from sexual abuse within institutions such as the Catholic Church. "We hope this enquiry will be able to investigate the systemic issues that have been raised, in other words, the processes which religious and other non-government organisation follow to respond when allegations of child sexual or other abuse by personnel in their organisations emerge, and importantly to come up with any recommendations neccessary for changes to the law or changes to practices, policies or protocols that are followed in such organisations," says State Attorney General Robert Clark. "The investigation and prosecution of individual cases remains the responsibility of the police and the courts, but it's important the broader and systemic implications of this issue are fully and thoroughly investigated so we can do whatever we can to protect children going forward." The inquiry has been welcomed by the current bishop for the Ballarat diocese, Bishop Peter Connors "I'm pleased there is going to be an inquiry; I think my people have certainly been expecting that, it will certainly help them to feel that something is being said and somthing is being done. I will certainly co-operate..." he says. "I think [parishioners] will be very pleased to know this is now coming out into the open, and that our procedures which are currently in place can be examined, and that what happened in the past can also be examined." Bishop Connors accepts the Catholic Church's failures to protect children from paedophile priests, but according to him there are no more offenders. "I think it's true enough to say in the past we did act in a way, which by modern standards was very inept. As [for other offenders] I say - those I know about are dead or in jail..." he says. The announcement has also received qualified support from abuse surivivors and those dedicated to exposing child abuse within churches, who claim a Royal Commission or other such judicial inquiry would have been much better. "I think it is a good thing we finally have a government who is willing to make an inquiry, but I don't believe the outcome will be as good as it could have been with a Royal Commission or a judicial inquiry," says Wayne Chamley, spokesperson for the organisation Broken Rites, advocates for the victims of church-based child abuse. "There's still a lot of criminality that needs to be investigated. The police are, as the Attorney General said, the party to do it, but investigations take time, and with the clock ticking for 12 months and the complexity of some of these things, particularly with men who have an intellectual disability, that sort of thing; it just doesn't happen over that time." "So things will not be uncovered - not because they weren't reported, but simply because there isn't the time and resources to enable it to be done." Stephen Woods is a survivor of abuse from one of those priests and was a pivotal whietleblower in exposing the abuse of Ballarat children the paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale. "I feel great there is an inquiry, that the Government does have the legal resources to do this; yes, a Royal Commission would have been better... the amount of culpability is incredible in society; even the schools I went to - the number of students that were abused and raped just refuse to come forward because they just don't feel they will be protected on the day, they aren't ready to come forward, I just hope they will come forward," he says. He says the full extent of the abuse within the Catholic Church is yet to be fully understood. "The one thing the church has always tried to do is to rely on the fear of victims coming forward and telling the horrors, the absolute horrors of their stories - I think when society truly hears the amount, the depth and the grossness of the abuses that have happened and are still happening to victims as they go to court, etcetera... I'm surprised churches aren't being burned down, it's just huge," he says. The claim is supported by Broken Rites' Wayne Chamley, who says the number of people affected by the two Ballarat-based priests alone is staggering and there is yet to be any investigation of the abuse within other organisations such as St John of God. "Affected? I would say thousands. In terms of suicide, I would say hundreds. The priest Ridsdale, who's now in the Ararat prison, that was jailed for 19 years - the Ballarat police estimate that one priest abused 1,000 children, minimum, over a career of 30 years of paedophilia... now there's little nests of these activiites have gone on in Mildura, Bendiugo, Ballarat, Oakleigh; there will be dozens and dozens and dozens of people affected by these people, who were around for 20 or 30 years," he says. Both Woods and Chamley point to a shortfall in the inquiry's remit to provide compensation for victims of abuse by Catholic priests. "One of the things the victims haven't got as a consequence of inquiries so far is the treatment for their health; many of these people have entrenched psychiatric illness; many of the people who went ot the Senate inquiry as far back as the year 2000 still have entrenched psychiatric illness; there's been no response to the health effects and we know many of these people have post-traumatic stress disorder," says Stephen Chumley. "If a veteran gets treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, $84,000 is spent. If a person goes to one of these Church processes, they get 6 sessions with a counsellor." For Woods, awarding compensation is about getting support for the victims as much as it is ensuring the Catholic Church takes responsibility for its failure to protect children from abuse. "In today's society we need to have the Catholic Church and the authorities - the bishops - and the authorities, the people behind the bishops, see that they need to be held accountable, and money in today's society does speak alot. "Also the money facilitates... the access to counselling service, the access to support services, a lot of people such as myself who have had problems with sustaining work over the years... to feel that you are OK; it is not your fault. "The church - even particularly the way they treat people going to court right now, it's just shocking."
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