AUSTRALIA
The Australian
MAY 22, 2015
Jared Owens
Reporter
Canberra
Bill Shorten has urged the Catholic Church to treat sex-abuse victims “with respect, not just legal strategy” as it considers interrogating survivors to prevent an adverse royal commission finding against its most senior Australian cleric, George Pell, and other senior clergy.
The move would represent an abrupt reversal of its previous decision not to cross-examine victims and follows warnings from commission chairman Peter McClellan that the probe into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will likely be asked to make findings about claims that Cardinal Pell dismissed complaints by two victims of pedophile priests.
Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied these allegations, issuing a statement from the Vatican yesterday attacking “false and misleading headlines” and pledging complete co-operation with the royal commission.
The Opposition Leader today cautioned the church is being judged by how it deals with abuse survivors.
“The whole Church isn’t judged by the standards of some, the errant clergy who have done this are terrible and wicked people. But it’s how we deal with the harm once we know it’s happened, that’s what judges an institution, that’s what judges all of us,” Mr Shorten said in Melbourne.
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