AUSTRALIA
The Australian
AUGUST 22, 2014
Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne
THE $17 million cost of administering the Melbourne archdiocese’s response to clergy child sex abuse – equal to the amount spent on compensation and counselling – has been defended by the man seen as the scheme’s new chief.
Jeffrey Gleeson QC has been described as the likely successor to Peter O’Callaghan as the sole independent commissioner of the Melbourne Response – under which sex abuse claims are investigated and counselling and capped compensation provided for victims – if it continues in the absence of a national redress scheme.
The pair have been working together to investigate complaints since 2012. The royal commission investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard that the Melbourne Response has spent $17.2 million on ex gratia payments, counselling and medical treatment since it was established in 1996 by then archbishop George Pell. But $17m has been spent on administration costs in the same period, and the average compensation payment has been $36,100.
Mr Gleeson today told the royal commission those administration expenses were fair given the nature of the scheme. “The monies spent administering a scheme to deal with complaints about child sexual abuse are about more than money,” he said. “We are administering more than the doling out of money “We are administering the emergence of truth…I think that’s money well spent.”
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