Opinion: Catholic Church Can't Dodge Dark Past
By Peter Kelso
Peter Kelso is director of the Newcastle based Kelso’s – The Law Firm which specialises in victims of crime matters. He has been a practicing solicitor for almost 30 years. WORK came to a standstill in my office last Friday. Staff left their desks and crowded into the boardroom to watch our Prime Minister on television outlining the terms of reference of the royal commission. There was a sense that something big and significant was happening. The Royal Commission into child sexual abuse will be the largest royal commission in Australia’s history. It will be focusing on the sexual abuse of children in the institutions that were supposed to care for them. It will put a spotlight on church, secular and state institutions. It will run for at least three years. Since the royal commission was announced last November, much of the focus has been on the Roman Catholic Church. It has taken the unprecedented step of forming a 10-person council to deal with its response. It is so far the only institution to do so. There’s a reason for all of this. I have practiced law for nearly 30 years and have helped more than 10,000 victims across Australia. I have found in my own practice that, aside from those who are victims of their own relatives, the second most common perpetrator by a long way is the Catholic Church. As complaints of abuse have increased over the past 20 years, the Catholic Church’s response has been slow and woefully inadequate. There are allegations that it has protected offenders and hampered investigations. And this is not just an Australian phenomenon. It has happened in many countries around the world. The credibility of the Catholic Church must be at an all-time low. So, what can the Australian public expect from this royal commission? Victims’ groups were pleased to hear that the royal commission would have powers to make recommendations about “redress”. This means compensation and assistance for victims to try to rebuild their lives. I expect that rather than coming from the government (and therefore the taxpayer), this money will come directly from the institution responsible for the damage. In other parts of the world, there have already been massive compensation payouts by the Catholic Church. In the US, typical settlements for victims have been around $500,000 plus legal costs. The Catholic Church there has been selling assets to meet these payouts. In Australia victims of child sexual abuse deserve the same sort of redress. These are people who have had their lives ruined. They are the human wreckage of our society. Among my own clients, victims of institutional abuse are the most broken people I have ever seen. Their lives are weighed down and held back by serious dysfunction. Mental health problems, physical illness, broken relationships, sexual dysfunction and even suicide are commonplace. This is a national tragedy. It seems only reasonable to compensate these people and to try to restore to them the life that they should have enjoyed. That life was snatched away from them as children by adults who were only interested in sexual gratification. My hope is that when this is all finished, victims will finally get real apologies and real compensation. Gone will be the days of the token $50,000 handout by churches and states. I would also hope that those who have already received nominal payouts in the past will be able to have these reviewed and increased. The royal commission has the power to recommend all of this. My only reservation is that the focus of the royal commission is child sexual abuse and not physical and emotional abuse and neglect. These will only be included if they were directly linked to sexual abuse. This decision has upset many victims who feel that they have been left out. They include many “Forgotten Australians” who suffered from all the other types of abuse in either church or state-run institutions. It would be unfortunate if some victims are helped by the royal commission and others miss out. The Prime Minister has described this royal commission as “history in the making.” She is right. It is the royal commission that Australia “had to have”. And it is a great tribute to all of those people who have worked for years to see this come to pass. We all have to make sure that this enquiry is a great success and that this abuse of Australian children never happens again.
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