Maitland-Newcastle Royal Commission report withheld until "a later time"

By Ian Kirkwood
Newcastle Herald
December 12, 2017

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/5116553/royal-commission-hands-down-report-into-hunter-catholics-but-witholds-contents/

Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle Bill Wright leaving the royal commission hearing in August 2016.

THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has handed its report into the Catholic Church’s Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle to the federal government.

But it has recommended the contents not be made public at this point.

The commission said on Tuesday that it had delivered Case Study 43 - The response of Catholic Church authorities in the Maitland-Newcastle region to allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy and religious.

It also handed up Case Study 44, which involved “allegations of child sexual abuse against a priest” in the the Catholic dioceses of Armidale and Parramatta.

The commission said its terms of reference require it not to prejudice current or future criminal or civil court proceedings.

It expected the two reports would be made public “at a later time”

A number of the incidents in the Maitland-Newcastle case study are the subject of ongoing or upcoming legal action. Sections of the Newcastle Anglican study, number 42, were blacked out or “redacted” for legal reasons.