AUSTRALIA
The Australian
October 17, 2016
PETER HOYSTED
ColumnistCanberra
@JacktheInsider
JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw
The extent of Victoria Police complicity in covering-up child abuse by clergy in the scandal-plagued diocese of Ballarat has been detailed by former senior members of the force who shunned the influence of the so-called Catholic Mafia.
An investigation by The Australian has confirmed extensive evidence of the force actively shielding wrongdoing and perverting the course of justice by forcing the transfer of a notorious clergyman rather than prosecuting him.
The details of how the late Monsignor John Day abused hundreds of children in the 1960s and 70s but was protected by the force — and the church — are outlined in a new podcast examining the rarely-discussed fact that police worked with the church hierarchy to protect offenders like him.
The podcast’s author, Peter Hoysted, co-wrote the book Unholy Trinity with former Mildura detective Denis Ryan. The book isthe definitive account of police complicity with the church in the northwestern Victorian city of Mildura in the 1960s and early ’70s.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.