(AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC [Sydney, Australia]
July 11, 2024
By Nicolas Perpitch
In short:
The Christian Brothers have bailed on a scheduled appearance before a committee into child sex abuse.
Child sex abuse survivors have slammed their decision, as well as WA’s Premier who implored them to answer questions about historical child abuse in the state.
What’s next?
One survivor has called for the Catholic Archbishop of Perth to intervene
The Christian Brothers have been accused of hiding from public scrutiny and giving “bogus” reasons for a last-minute decision to not appear before a parliamentary committee inquiry into child sex abuse.
The religious order baulked at proposed questions about one of their now-deceased brothers allegedly abusing schoolboys in Western Australia, claiming it could compromise current civil child sex abuse proceedings.
The Christian Brothers Oceania provincial leader Brother Gerard Brady was slated to face questions in Perth on Thursday morning, but late yesterday afternoon confirmed he would not attend.
It’s a move that has attracted criticism from sexual abuse survivors.
“Clearly, they’re not prepared to be open and transparent with the Australian community, and particularly survivors,” Terry Martino, from the group Survivors of Child Abuse said.
Mr Martino called on Catholic Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe to act.
“I ask him to insist to the Christian Brothers they appear before this inquiry, because if he doesn’t do that, then clearly he’s condoning their conduct,” he said.
Premier calls for answers
Labor MP and current committee member Dave Kelly said the Christian Brothers’ lack of attendance gave the impression the religious order “had something to hide”.
“If that wasn’t the case, they’d be here willing to be accountable for their conduct,” he said.
WA Premier Roger Cook said he agreed they should have attended the committee, which is exploring the options open for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse in the state.
“They should be there voluntarily,” he said.
“They should be there to own up and to be held accountable.”
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had found the Christian Brothers were among the worst perpetrators nationally, with as many as 22 per cent of the order’s members identified as alleged child sexual abusers between 1910 and 1950.
“To refuse to attend at such short notice, as I say we’re extremely disappointed,” committee chair David Honey said.
“The Christian Brothers have figured disproportionately in claims of child sex abuse, and we thought that they could provide a very valuable contribution to our hearing.”
Contempt of court concerns
The committee received a letter from the Christian Brothers at 4pm on Wednesday saying they would not attend the hearing at 10am today.
In the letter, Brother Brady said the religious order was concerned the committee could not provide assurances it would not ask any questions relating to abuse allegedly committed by the late Daniel Virgil McMahon, which is the subject of an ongoing legal proceeding.
“In the circumstances, we are not comfortable proceeding with a public hearing on Thursday given the obvious and serious risk of sub judice contempt being committed,” Brother Brady said.
“Whilst we are disappointed we are unable to attend, and decline with considerable reluctance, the risks to the interests of justice are simply too important to proceed in the absence of the confirmation we have sought.”
But Dr Honey said that was not correct, and the committee had made clear they would not ask questions on matters before the courts.
“So, I think that is a bogus excuse,” he said.
Mr Kelly said sub judice was not a blanket protection and did not prevent the committee asking questions about former legal matters or issues such as which schools Brother McMahon worked at or the Christian Brothers’ financial position.
“If the Christian Brothers really cared about the people that were abused in their institutions, they would be here today answering questions, and they would be settling claims made by victims in a much more humane way, rather than putting their own financial situation as their top priority,” he said.
Survivors push for answers
One of those survivors is Ray Lane, who says he was abused by Brother McMahon as an 11-year-old boy.
“I think it’s a further example of the Christian Brothers using delaying tactics,” he said.
He wants them held to account for “condoning and failing to act on suspicions, failing to act on knowledge of what was happening”.
Archbishop Costelloe has been contacted for comment.
In previous hearings, Archbishop Costelloe acknowledged he had the power for the Christian Brothers to leave the diocese if their conduct was unacceptable.