Victims Vindicated As Church Sex Abuse Inquiry Delivers

By Barney Zwartz
The Age
November 13, 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victims-vindicated-as-church-sex-abuse-inquiry-delivers-20131113-2xg1e.html

[with video]

[Inquiry recommends sweeping change]

It began slowly, amid some well-merited cynicism, but on Wednesday the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse delivered – and brilliantly.

Many of the victims who followed the inquiry religiously throughout its dozens of public sessions were almost euphoric after the report, Betrayal of Trust, was tabled in parliament and committee members rose to excoriate the concealers and enablers, and to recommend far-reaching reforms.

It was not just the recommendations, it was the tone. The inquiry had heard the victims – and believed them. It gave the vital verdict: vindication.

The inquiry heard from the church hierarchy too, in particular the Catholic Church – and took a far more sceptical view. The language with which they described the church made that clear, along with their rejection of the church claim that the problem was purely historical, as Archbishops Denis Hart and George Pell had suggested in evidence.

The consistent church line was that there had been problems in the past, but these were largely solved by the two church abuse protocols, and no one now in authority bore any responsibility. The committee did not concur.

Chairwoman Georgie Crozier used language like "pattern of criminal behaviour", "betrayal beyond comprehension", and spoke of parents being groomed, and the covering of wrongdoing to protect reputations and money.

Committee member Andrea Coote said the church minimised and trivialised the problem, behaved in complete contrast to its purported values, and that today's leaders, such as Pell and Hart – not just former leaders such as Sir Frank Little or Ronald Mulkearns, unable to defend themselves – saw child abuse as a "short-term embarrassment" that did not require examination of the church's own culture.

The recommendations seem to cover all the areas witnesses identified as most important, in particular defences behind which churches have hidden, such as the statute of limitations or not being a legal entity, or denying vicarious liability. It tackles the contentious issue of the confessional – apparently not sacrosanct under law – and the church's own in-house systems, and challenges the church to revisit previous compensation.

Attention immediately turns to the government, which long resisted any inquiry and had to be prodded into giving it the necessary time and resources. Does it have the political will to turn the reforms into law in the face of expected strong opposition from the church and its supporters?

There is no need to wait on the royal commission for any of these suggestions, and Labor promised bipartisan support. Nevertheless, it means one last nervous wait for victims.