Aussie Abuse Coverage Prompts Enquiries in NZ

By Michael Otto
NZ Catholic
July 2, 2013

http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz/2013/07/02/aussie-abuse-coverage-prompts-enquiries-in-nz/

WELLINGTON — Media publicity around state and federal inquiries into child abuse in Australia have prompted several adults to contact the Catholic Church’s National Office for Professional Standards in New Zealand.

Professional standards office national director Bill Kilgallon told NZ Catholic that a number of people currently living in Australia, who grew up in New Zealand, “have felt able to come forward and tell their story”.

These people are aged between 40 and 60 years and the abuse happened during their childhoods in New Zealand, he said.

Mr Kilgallon, who, in the 1990s, led independent inquiries into allegations of abuse in residential care provided by a local authority in the United Kingdom, is encouraged that these people have come forward.

“In my experience over the years, where there is media attention and when cases are reported, other people then feel that their story might be listened to,” he said.

“And that’s very important, because that’s one of the hardest things for people who have been abused, is to actually take the first step of reporting it, actually telling somebody.

“I don’t think it is possible to overstate how difficult that is for people. And something like the commissions in Australia, the enquiries going on there, does help people to come forward.”

Mr Kilgallon said the New Zealand office is working with these victims as it would normally, including encouraging them to make a report to police if there was criminal offending. His office is working in partnership with Australian authorities in these cases.

A parliamentary inquiry is underway in Victoria in Australia, and an Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has also been established. Terms of reference for the latter were released in January this year. The Australian federal government has requested an initial report from the royal commission be delivered no later than June 30, 2014.

Mr Kilgallon heard about the work the Catholic Church in Australia is doing in this field during the annual Anglophone (English-speaking) Conference on the Safeguarding of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults held at the Vatican from May 31 to June 4, attended by delegates representing 20 bishops’ conferences from around the world.

Some countries have established highly developed procedures and protocols in this area, but some others have hardly started.

A 2011 mandate from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that all dioceses in the world develop guidelines on handling allegations of abuse has not been met by all countries by the deadline last year.

“Not all countries have complied, but most have,” Mr Kilgallon said. “There are a few gaps, particularly in Africa and a couple in Eastern Europe.”

Reports from the conference say non-complying countries lack expertise or personnel to draw up thorough strategies, but that is why the networking and sharing at the conference is so important.

Mr Kilgallon said that while there are some real strengths in the New Zealand system, there is room for improvement.

“Where we have to improve is working in prevention and in promoting the Church as a safe Church, and then, secondly, in auditing the performance of orders and dioceses in applying the protocols that we have now,” he said.

Pope Francis has emphasised that the Church is to be welcoming, and a very important part of that is to make it safe for all, Mr Kilgallon said