Ballarat Child Sex Abuse Victims Consider Boycott of Melbourne-based Hearings
By Danny Tran
Pressure is mounting on the Royal Commission in Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to return to Ballarat, with some victims considering a boycott if hearings are not moved from Melbourne. The news has not swayed the royal commission, which appears to be going ahead with the Melbourne hearings in November. Andrew Collins said survivors like himself were bitterly disappointed with the decision. "They're saying well, we just can't do this ... if they're not going to put the survivors forefront in this, then maybe we won't go," he said. "I think that by boycotting the event, it would send a message to the royal commission that they've lost the support of the very people they're there to help. "It's something that I wouldn't like to see happen. I think that the commission does have an important role to play but they're really alienating people in Ballarat with this." When contacted by the ABC, a spokeswoman said the commission had no comment. In May, the royal commission revealed harrowing details of paedophile Catholic clergy who had operated a sex ring in Ballarat, abusing dozens of victims. It also uncovered explosive allegations against senior Catholic clerics who were based in Ballarat during years of prolific child sex abuse. Among the allegations was that Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe a victim to stay quiet, a claim he vigorously denied. Cardinal Pell will appear at the November hearing, along with Bishop Ronald Mulkearns who oversaw the Ballarat diocese for nearly 30 years, when some of the region's worst paedophile priests, including Gerald Ridsdale, were abusing children. Royal commission in Melbourne due to 'public interest' The royal commission said its decision to move the hearings to Melbourne was due to a high level of public interest, and a series of security and logistical reasons, which have not been clarified. But Victoria Police revealed it did not advise the royal commission to hold the hearings in Melbourne. "Whilst discussions were held with the royal commission on the security considerations at both Ballarat and Melbourne, the decision to hold the second stage of public hearings in Melbourne was made by the royal commission, based on its own assessment of a range of factors including security and the likely public interest," a police spokeswoman said.
"At no time did Victoria Police advise that it would be necessary for the public hearings to be held in Melbourne." The hearings will be webcast at the Ballarat Town Hall and the proceedings will be live streamed on the royal commission website. In August the Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, weighed in on the issue, and called for the commission to return to Ballarat. "I'm confident that the royal commission will do the right thing and come and hear evidence that is directly relevant to the people of Ballarat in that great city," Mr Andrews said. "Those who've spent so much time dealing with the grief and the pain and the loss of this terrible abuse, I think they're entitled to hear evidence in their own local area." Mr Collins said the last time the royal commission was in Ballarat, it united the community. "It really got the whole community ... behind survivors, taking ownership of the abuses that happened here," he said. "All of a sudden that rug's just been pulled out from under us without a valid reason. "If we had a reason we might be able to understand this. But the fact that we don't have a valid reason, it just makes it even more frustrating."
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