AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Anne Barker
She is the calm but persistent voice who, for two-and-a-half years, has publicly grilled confessed paedophiles, alleged child abusers, countless victims and many others about the magnitude of child sexual abuse in Australia.
Gail Furness SC was appointed as senior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse when it began in September 2013. Yet until this week she was hardly a household name; instead overshadowed by whichever witness was giving evidence.
Now she is likely to be best remembered for her relentless questioning of Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, who for months has resisted pressure to appear before the inquiry to answer questions about what he knew about alleged child abuse within Australia’s Catholic Church.
Several days of evidence have not exhausted her questions or tempered her responses to Cardinal Pell’s evidence. On day three she rejected his claims that he had been deceived by church leaders about abuse in Ballarat and Melbourne.
FURNESS: Cardinal, I have to suggest to you that your evidence in relation to not being briefed properly or adequately by the Catholic Education Office and the reasons for that are completely implausible.
PELL: Counsel, I can only tell you the truth. The whole story of Searson is quite implausible and the cover-up is equally implausible. I can only tell you the way it was as far as I’m concerned.
FURNESS: I suggest, Cardinal, that the evidence you have given has been designed to deflect blame from you on doing nothing in relation to Father Searson that had any real effect after the delegation came to you.
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