Church Fires Back at Police on Abuse

By John Ferguson
The Australian
June 19, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/church-fires-back-at-police-on-abuse/story-e6frgczx-1226665970298

A VICTORIAN police deputy commissioner and the force have been accused of false and misleading evidence to the state's child sex abuse inquiry in a withering takedown of their allegations.

An eminent lawyer has accused police and Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton of "blatant untruths", a "travesty" of justice, "utterly false" claims and of "malicious nonsense" in evidence obtained by The Australian.

Peter O'Callaghan, QC, independent commissioner in charge of the Catholic Church's Melbourne-based complaints system, has exposed weaknesses in the police submission and provided evidence that contradicts the most damaging claim by Mr Ashton and the force that the church failed to report a single case of abuse to police.

His comments mark the first significant backlash by a figure involved in the Catholic Church's response to the abuse scandal, based on what it sees as inaccurate accusations against its attempts to remedy the situation. It also sets the scene for the church - and commissioners - to more vigorously defend itself before the national royal commission into the issue. Mr O'Callaghan's submission exposes a split at the highest levels of the force about the way the Catholic Church has responded to its sex abuse epidemic.