George Pell must front child abuse inquiry again, says Bill Shorten, by Tessa Akerman, Australian (February 08, 2017)

Bill Shorten has called for George Pell to again appear before the child sex abuse royal commission during a blistering attack in which he paid tribute to the abuse survivors but condemned institutions that failed the children.

Mr Shorten blasted Cardinal Pell and the Catholic Church over the child sex abuse scandal, calling for the cardinal to again appear before the royal commission, but this time on home soil.

The Labor leader said the scale of the abuse and systemic cover-up was sickening and a betrayal of the faith the perpetrators claimed to serve. “It is well past time for Cardinal Pell to return to Australia and account to this commission in person,” he said.

“I salute the survivors who have testified, remarkable Australians summoning the courage to tell their stories. Some of them for the first time, others carrying the memory of being deliberately ignored, or flat-out accused of making up their stories.”

Cardinal Pell has appeared three times before the royal commission, once in person for the case study into Towards Healing and John Ellis’s experience and twice via video link for the Melbourne Response, Ballarat diocese and Melbourne Archdiocese case studies.

John Ellis was abused as an altar boy in the 1970s and unsuccessfully sued Cardinal Pell and the trustees of the Catholic Church for the Sydney Archdiocese in 2004. The court found that as Cardinal Pell was not the archbishop at the time of the abuse he could not be held responsible and trustees also couldn’t be held liable for the priest’s conduct.

Victoria Police recently referred a brief of evidence concerning Cardinal Pell for alleged criminal misconduct to the Department of Public Prosecutions for the second time. Police first provided a brief last year but it was returned without recommendations, effectively making it a decision for the police whether or not to lay charges against Australia’s highest ranking Catholic.

Allegations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Pell have been made over his time as assistant priest in Ballarat during the 1970s. He vehemently denies any wrongdoing. The child sex abuse royal commission has heard submissions that he was aware of allegations of offending by pedophiles Peter Searson, who died in 2009 without being charged, and Christian Brother Ted Dowlan.

Abuse survivor Andrew Collins told The Australian the presentation of a fresh brief of evidence was a step in the right direction.

“Like anything it’s just a process,” he said. “We’ve got to go through it step by step. I’ve spoken to some of the (alleged) victims and they’re excited things are moving on but they understand it’s a process and the Office of Public Prosecutions may decide there’s not sufficient evidence to prosecute or it’s not in the public interest.”

He said the alleged victims of Cardinal Pell understood that a decision not to prosecute was not an indicator of guilt or innocence.

However, Mr Collins said they were pleased the investigation hadn’t died and the police had followed through after detectives went to Rome to interview Cardinal Pell.

He said he was disappointed the cardinal hadn’t been stood down by the Pope while the investigation took place.

“I’m not saying he’s guilty or innocent, it’s just the right thing to do,” he said.