Fraser Joins Call for Royal Inquiry into Church Abuse

By Josephine Tovey
The Age
November 12, 2012

http://www.theage.com.au/national/fraser-joins-call-for-royal-inquiry-into-church-abuse-20121111-296gb.html

Cardinal George Pell Photo by Jeffrey Chan

Malcolm Fraser Photo by Justin McManus

FORMER prime minister Malcolm Fraser has joined independent MP Tony Windsor and Senator Nick Xenophon in calling for a national royal commission on sexual abuse by religious groups and other institutions, following claims by a senior police officer last week that the Catholic Church was still covering up the crime.

New South Wales premier Barry O'Farrell announced a special commission of inquiry to examine the police investigations of paedophile priests in the Hunter region but resisted the call for a royal commission, as have federal politicians from the major parties.

Mr Fraser said the Catholic Church should have nothing to fear from a royal commission if it had nothing to hide.

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''Isn't it time we laid the issue at rest and made sure that all the institutions in Australia have procedures in place that will protect children?'' Mr Fraser asked.

''If the Catholic Church is fine and their procedures are good, that would be demonstrated.''

Cardinal George Pell hit back at the claims made by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, saying improved reforms of processes for dealing with sexual abuse had been in place since 1996.

''It is hard to name any other Australian organisation that has done more to produce a safe environment for young people,'' he wrote in his News Ltd column on Sunday.

Nicky Davis, from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the royal commission was badly needed: ''Our wounds can't and won't heal while there is still a cover-up.''