$22m Hit for Abuse Scandal Catholic Diocese

By Dan Box
The Australian
June 4, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/m-hit-for-abuse-scandal-catholic-diocese/story-e6frgczx-1226942058633#mm-premium

THE Catholic diocese at the centre of a state inquiry into church child sex abuse has spent more than $22 million reaching settlements with victims, with further negotiations about compensation payments continuing as recently as last week.

The bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, in the NSW Hunter Valley, said yesterday five priests were known to have abused 162 children over several decades: the ­earliest recorded case was in 1949 and the most recent in 1995.