AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Stuart Rintoul
From:The Australian
April 22, 2013
CHURCHES and community organisations had a culture that helped child sex abuse go undetected, Melbourne’s Anglican archbishop has told an inquiry.
Dr Peter Freier has told Victoria’s abuse inquiry it has records of 46 complaints against clergy and church workers and has paid out compensation of $268,000 in the past 10 years.
Dr Freier said historically there had been a culture that provided opportunities for people who wanted to breach the trust of children to do so and for children’s complaints to be ignored.
“As you look backwards you can see broadly as a culture we’ve not readily listened to children when they’ve made complaints,” Dr Freier told the inquiry.
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