AUSTRALIA
7 News
ABC
Updated November 16, 2012
Anglican Church Primate Phillip Aspinall said the royal commission into child sex abuse would be an historic opportunity to protect children.
Archbishop Aspinall, visiting Adelaide for a meeting of the General Synod standing committee, said he approached then-prime minister John Howard a decade ago about abuse within institutions such as the church, but nothing was done.
“I thought it was worth doing 10 years ago and I approached the prime minister. At the time he declined. I approached the state premier in Queensland, he declined so the church did what we could in Brisbane. I welcome the fact that we’re taking a more comprehensive approach,” he said.
He urged the commission’s terms of reference be full and fearless and that it be properly resourced.
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