AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP
September 16, 2012

HUNDREDS of people have gathered in Newcastle to call for a royal commission into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

Almost 400 people attended the public forum at the Newcastle Panthers club on Sunday, in which people shared their experiences of abuse within the Catholic Church and other organisations.

“We filled the auditorium. We couldn’t have fitted any more,” NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge told AAP.

He said there was a unanimous call for a royal commission to investigate cases of abuse and look at offences which were covered up.

Mr Shoebridge said a royal commission was necessary as it would tackle the “systemic failures” within the church, and other organisations, in a way criminal or civil proceedings could not.