Pay for victims' legal advice, church told

By Angus Livingston
Courier-Mail
November 5, 2014

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/vic-catholic-church-abuse-compo-reviewed/story-fnihsfrf-1227113386854

The Catholic Church wants victims to detail their experiences with the church's Melbourne Response.

THE Catholic Church should pay for legal advice to pedophile priest victims seeking compensation, a victim's father says.

A REVIEW of the Melbourne Response compensation scheme is under way after victims said it re-traumatised them and their capped payouts were too low.

The scheme was set up in 1996 to handle allegations of clergy sex abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese, but was criticised for protecting the interests of the church. Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were raped by notorious abuser Father Kevin O'Donnell, said independent legal advice should have been available to all those who sought compensation. "I think that given the scheme is run and managed by the very highly skilled, high-powered legal team on behalf of the archdiocese, victims should have access to legal advice right through that process," Mr Foster told AAP on Wednesday. "That legal advice should be funded by the church." Retired Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan QC is leading the review and said he would look at whether victims should be given more encouragement to get independent legal advice before accepting compensation. Mr Ryan called for victims who went through the Melbourne Response to contact him with their experiences. "I am concerned to hear not only from victims but also from their relatives, counsellors, clinicians, legal advisers and others involved in the process," Mr Ryan said. Mr Foster said he hoped to the review would recommend abolishing the $75,000 compensation cap, expanding compensation to secondary victims, lifting confidentiality restrictions and giving victims more personal apologies. "It's important that these changes are made. We want to see changes made on each of those four points," he said. Mr Ryan ruled out reopening compensation cases as part of his review. "I shall consider whether there should be provision for appealing or reviewing past payments, how that review should be done and by whom, but I do not propose to reopen individual cases," he said. Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart announced the review in August during the child abuse royal commission hearing into the Melbourne Response. He said there had been too much sympathy in the church for pedophile priests, and victims' suffering had been minimised.