Years of Abuse and Cover-Ups

By Neil Keene
News.com.au
May 8, 2013

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/years-of-abuse-and-cover-ups/story-e6frfkp9-1226637903456

FORMER policeman and Nationals Party MP Troy Grant has vowed to tell "any inquiry that wants to hear it" about his knowledge of decades of alleged child sex abuse cover-ups within the Catholic Church.

A nun who allegedly tipped off a paedophile priest the night before police were to interview him was among those within the church in Mr Grant's sights yesterday as he spoke outside a commission of inquiry being held in Newcastle.

The Dubbo MP said he had evidence of senior clergy cover-ups dating back to 1974, which he would share with the inquiry in its second round of hearings next month.

"Their level of culpability has never been tested in the court, they've never been questioned or put before their peers to answer for what they did," he said.

"What they did in 1974, 1975, 1981 and then 1995 meant that a lot of (church abuse) victims need not have been victims, that's where the tragedy is."

The special commission of inquiry is looking at why senior police officer Detective Inspector Peter Fox was removed from investigations into child sex abuse by church leaders and whether senior clergy covered up those crimes.

Mr Grant said he believed senior members of the church had acted illegally by hindering police investigations and covering up abuse.

"There were individuals who acted completely inappropriately, commensurate with their pastoral care," he said.

However, he denied ever encountering a "Catholic mafia" within the police force during his time in uniform, contrary to what Chief Insp Fox had earlier told the inquiry.Chief Insp Fox has suggested senior police officers aligned to the church were deliberately hindering police investigations.

But Mr Grant said outside the inquiry in Newcastle that he was "shocked and bemused" by Chief Insp Fox's claims.

"He has obviously mistaken a conversation attributed to me which just didn't happen," he said.

"There was no evidence in my investigations that there was any interference whatsoever."

The inquiry enters its fourth day today, with Chief Insp Fox and Mr Grant the only two people to so far give evidence.