Defiant Cardinal George Pell ...
News.com.au
His remarks prompted an emotional response from NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell in the NSW Parliament this afternoon. Mr O'Farrell said he doesn't understand how Catholic priests who admit to paedophilia in confession aren't reported to police. "I heard Cardinal Pell today indicate that the bonds of the confessional remain intact," an emotional Mr O'Farrell told Question Time. "And I understand that as a Catholic, not a particularly good Catholic, that that is an important sacrament within my church. "But I struggle to understand that if a priest confesses to another priest that he has been involved in paedophile activities, that that information should not be brought to police." Cardinal Pell says the royal commission into child sexual abuse within the church is an opportunity to "clear the air". He welcomed the inquiry but said it was important for people to remember the inquiry was wide-reaching and the Catholic Church shouldn't be a scapegoat. "We think this is an opportunity to help the victims, it's an opportunity to clear the air and separate fact from fiction," he said. Cardinal Pell defended the church’s handling of complaints in a defiant press conference in Sydney, saying the church had been the subject of “general smears” in the media. "What is important for the press and the public to realise is that because there is a persistent press campaign against the Catholic Church's adequacies and inadequacies in this area, that does not necessarily represent the percentage of the problem that we offer," he said. "In other words, that because there is a press campaign focused largely on us, it does not mean that we are largely the principal culprits. Allegations that the church had failed to deal with abusers and that it was “inefficient, covering up, that we are moving people around” were false, he said. “It’s not the case,” Cardinal Pell said. “It’s demonstrably not the case.” He denied ever being involved in a case where victims were offered money so they wouldn't go through the courts. Cardinal Pell, who was Archbishop of Melbourne before his current post as Archbishop of Sydney, said the church had shown it was committed to addressing allegations of sexual abuse by clergy through its internal complaints system, dubbed the Melbourne Response, and its independent commissioner. Church protocol for dealing with contemporary allegations of child sex abuse were up to scratch, Cardinal Pell said. "These are adequate procedures. They've been out for months," he told reporters. He showed the media a booklet entitled Sexual Abuse which he said detailed the church's protocols for dealing with allegations of sexual assault. Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the commission yesterday, saying too many adults had averted their eyes to "a vile and evil thing". He said the church had worked hard to uncover child abuse. "We are not interested in denying the extent of misdoing in the Catholic Church. We object to it being exaggerated," Cardinal Pell said. "We object to being described as the only cab on the rank. "We acknowledge, with shame, the extent of the problem and I want to assure you that we have been serious in attempting to eradicate it and deal with it ... "This commission will enable those claims to be validated or found to be a significant exaggeration." Cardinal Pell also questioned whether ongoing "furore in the press" about the alleged abuse was helpful to the victims. He said the church would "co-operate fully" and he hopes the commission will bring the victims peace and that they would feel "that justice is being done". He also denied the Catholic Church knowingly transferred priests suspected of child sex abuse to other parishes. He said it was completely prohibited to shift priests who had been charged. "It is completely prohibited to shift priests who have been charged, to shift them around," he said. "If and where that has been done, that is against the protocols." Cardinal Pell said his comments on the weekend that a royal commission wasn't needed had been taken out of context. "I remain unconvinced there was a need for a royal commission exclusively for the Catholic Church," he said. "What I was saying is if people had allegations, take them to the police and get them tested. "I am pleased (the inquiry) is right across the board." Cardinal Pell also called for the release of statistics on abuse cases and of how many involved the Catholic Church. He questioned whether police had sufficient resources to deal with both historical cases and "day to day problems". He explained as a "priestly act of solidarity" his 1993 decision to accompany in court Ballarat priest Father Gerald Ridsdale, who was subsequently jailed for child sex offences. "In retrospect I didn't realise then what a wrong impression that would give to the victims," he said. Cardinal Pell said he understood why senior police officer Peter Fox had spoken out about child sex abuse, but that he didn't believe his claims of a church cover-up were true. "I don't think there is sufficient evidence for him to say because of the particular problems that he faced at this time or that time, that the church is covering up. Because we're not." Meanwhile, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says a special commission of inquiry into child abuse won't proceed in NSW if allegations by policeman Peter Fox are covered by the royal commission. Mr O'Farrell said he has spoken to Prime Minister Julia Gillard about the potential crossover between the two inquiries. The issue of child abuse was reignited after Detective Chief Inspector Fox penned an open letter last week to the Premier alleging cover-ups by the clergy and police after spending decades investigating clergy abuse around Newcastle. Mr O'Farrell subsequently announced a state inquiry but he now says it probably won't go ahead if Mr Fox's allegations were incorporated into the national royal commission. And Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says the state is already taking adequate measures to protect children. Mr Newman said he had announced in June the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry, headed by former Family Court judge Tim Carmody SC. He says the 10-month inquiry will review the adequacy of government responses to allegations of historical abuse in youth detention centres. It will also make recommendations to reform the state's child protection system and ways to reduce indigenous over-representation in the system, Mr Newman told Queensland Parliament today. But Mr Newman said he looked forward to meeting with Ms Gillard to ensure both inquiries achieved their desired outcomes. The state inquiry will hand down recommendations on April 30 next year. 'Public can be the judge on abuse' A SENIOR Labor MP says no specific organisation or religion will be targeted in the royal commission, but the public will make its own judgment on how certain institutions responded to reports of abuse. Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the commission would examine a broad range of institutions, with the specific terms of reference to be determined by year's end. ''This is an issue in which the government has ensured that it will be looking at institutions, not any particular religion, but institutions,'' he told reporters in Melbourne today. ''But I think people will make their own judgments as to how those institutions responded to what we know was abuse and what we know was reported as abuse, for action not taken. ''I think it's important that all levels of government and organisations, including religious organisations, co-operate with the royal commission.'' Mr Albanese said the commission had been a long time coming but Prime Minister Julia Gillard had demonstrated strong leadership in finally deciding to tackle the sensitive issue. ''There's no doubt it has taken a long time but these are difficult issues,'' he said. The federal government won't put a time limit on the royal commission into child sex abuse or restrict the inquiry's scope despite concerns it could drag on for a decade. The PM has dismissed calls to impose a deadline on the planned royal commission. Julia Gillard said Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has already begun talks with her state counterparts, while acting families minister Brendan O'Connor is talking to survivor groups. She says they've hit the ground running on the issue and expect to have terms of reference established by the end of the year. But the PM says it's not the right approach to say let's do it quickly and not do it thoroughly so she won't be setting a deadline. Labor chief whip Joel Fitzgibbon has warned the commission will be a "big and slow-moving beast" and could take a decade. And he's told ABC radio it will cause trauma for many individuals and organisations. Meanwhile, Opposition leader Tony Abbott says Australia's Catholic Church is determined to stamp out paedophilia in its ranks. Mr Abbott acknowledged the church he once trained in for the priesthood was at the centre of horrific accusations of child abuse. Mr Abbott said tens of thousands of people who had been badly let down by people in positions of authority would now have a chance to air their “heart felt cries for justice.’’ And, People with Disability Australia says the royal commission should have a ''specific focus'' on children and young people with a disability. ''We know that children with disability are sexually abused at a much higher rate than their non-disabled peers,'' the group's executive director Matthew Bowden said. ''These crimes, although not exclusively, are most often committed toward girls and young women with disability.'' Mr Bowden said 18 per cent of women with a disability report experiencing sexual violence as a child. ''The royal commission should have a focus on congregate settings of care such as institutions, residential and respite centres, special schools and out-of-home care,'' he said. Mr Bowden said the inquiry needed to examine the barriers in current systems to identifying, preventing, and responding to abuse and achieving justice. He said it also had to ensure that people with cognitive and communication impairments were able to give evidence. ''We cannot allow this significant group to be silenced and forgotten''. Youth Off The Streets founder and chief executive Father Chris Riley says the royal commission is a significant step in the right direction towards Child Protection in our country ''It is appalling that in a 'lucky'country like ours, 1 in 5 children are victims of sexual abuse. I have pushed for something to be done about this problem for years. I wasn’t even allowed to put child sexual assault on the agenda at the 2020 Summit, despite it being the greatest health risk in this country, because politicians do not take the issue seriously,'' Father Riley said. ''Until now, our politicians have been blind to our children's suffering. We cannot solve this problem until it is faced. If we choose to ignore it, it will only get worse.''
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