CHURCH Victim Compo "Goes Backwards"

9 News
August 21, 2014

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/08/21/20/30/church-victim-compo-goes-backwards

The Catholic Church's payments in the Melbourne archdiocese, when introduced in 1996, were capped at $50,000.

Cardinal George Pell told the child abuse royal commission that was about $120,000 in today's dollars.

Senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness was quick to point out the cap on compensation had increased but payments today were well short of $120,000.

"The cap is now $75,000 which suggests it might have gone backwards," Ms Furness said.

"Well I would imagine that going from $50,000 to $75,000 is going forward," Cardinal Pell replied.

Cardinal Pell said the payouts were comparable to, and "no less generous", than similar redress schemes.

He said he was "uncomfortable" with the idea of capped payouts when the idea was first raised as part of the Melbourne Response, the Melbourne archdiocese's scheme to handle allegations of clergy sex abuse.

"I myself have never been a fan of caps," he said.

More than 300 victims have received payouts under the Melbourne Response compensation scheme since it began, with the average payout totalling $33,000.

Victims who sued the church outside the process averaged $293,000 payouts.

Cardinal Pell said money was never his primary concern when setting up the compensation part of the Melbourne Response.

"My primary concern was to try to help the victims, and I regard the other arms of the Melbourne Response as being more important than this particular arm because many victims then, and probably now, did not have money as their primary concern," Cardinal Pell said.

"Our records show we were ahead of the curve," he also said.