AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net
Posted on November 12, 2013
The Victorian state Parliamentary enquiry into clerical child sexual abuse will release its report tomorrow. It had originally been due for release by 30th September. While it is expected to recommend mandatory reporting laws for clergy, with a custodial sentence for non-compliance, much interest exists in its possible recommendations for victim compensation.
In the past, religious organisations have adopted an adversarial approach to the issue. It is well known that officials of all churches have been keen to hide abuse so as to protect the “reputation” of their organisations, but it is also becoming more and more evident that these same officials have been equally concerned with protecting their institutional wealth from victim compensation claims.
What financial help has been given to victims has been little, and given begrudgingly. The religious organisations, in particular the Catholic Church, have hidden behind their privileged legal status to avoid helping victims financially. The notorious “Ellis Defence” (see previous postings) is a classic example which basically says that the church does not exist, so they cannot be sued. This must change by way of Parliamentary legislation.
Another protection for the wealth of religious, and other, organisations is the provision of a statute of limitations. This is particularly unfair, since everyone agrees that it is normally a very long time before victims are able to report abuse. If these limitations can be avoided when prosecuting the abusers, they should also be avoided when it comes to the matter of compensation for those same victims.
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