AUSTRALIA
The Australian
JUNE 23, 2014
Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney
THE Salvation Army will review every compensation payment it has made to the victims of child sex abuse by its staff, after the royal commission unveiled evidence of the “greatest failure” in the church’s history.
During a submissions hearing today, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told 19 Salvation Army staff are alleged to have abused around 115 boys living in four of the church’s childrens’ homes.
“The Salvation Army acknowledges that this is the greatest failure in its history in Australia. It acknowledges that many children entrusted to its care in the past suffered horrific abuse,” the church’s barrister, Kate Eastman, told the commission.
But she maintained it was not open to the commission to make a finding that widespread sexual abuse was perpetrated by many officers and employees – contrary to the suggestion of the counsel assisting the commission.
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