This Government Inquiry Can Expose Church Cover-Ups

The Broken Rites
November 11, 2013

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/219

Australia's first parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations will table its findings in mid-November 2013. This inquiry, established by the Victorian State Parliament, paved the way for a national Royal Commission which was later established by the Australian Federal Government.

Observers expect that the Victorian inquiry's report will criticise the Catholic Church's covering up of child-sex abuse. That is, the church authorities have been failing to make sure that criminal offences are reported to the Victoria Police.

The Victorian inquiry held more than 160 hearings over nine months in late 2012 and early 2013.

The inquiry heard evidence from victims, their families, experts, and other professionals. Almost half of its hearings were held in secret.

The inquiry considered more than 400 written submissions, including two written submissions from Broken Rites.

The inquiry was conducted by the Victorian Parliament's Family and Community Development Committee. The hearings were held by six backbench members of parliament, as an addition to their normal duties. That is, as well as conducting this inquiry, these six parliamentarians have had to continue administering their local office in their electorate and they have had to attend the normal sittings of the State Parliament.

The official title of this Victorian investigation is "an Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations". Therefore, the word "handling" gave  Broken Rites an opportunity to highlight the church authorities' cover-up.

Broken Rites, in its two written submissions, demonstrated how the church culture has intimidated the child-victims into remaining silent, and typically this silence has continued for many years until the victim reaches adulthood (or perhaps until after the victim's parents have died). And if a victim finally complains to the church authorities, the church's response is often evasive and defensive.

The committee’s priority was to find out what happened AFTER the abuse, not just the details of what the perpetrator did. The inquiry has looked at how the police, the churches and non-government organisations could handle complaints better next time. The emphasis is on the future, rather than compensating victims or convicting abusers.

Broken Rites recommends that, if you want your perpetrator to be brought to justice, you need to have a confidential chat with detectives in the Sex-crimes and Child-Abuse unit of the state police force. The Victoria Police revently established a special unit of detectives, called the "Sano Taskforce", to help victims of church-related abuse.