AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM
[with audio]
If there was a catalyst for the royal commission into child sexual abuse it was the sheer weight of horror stories emerging from Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. Bishop Bill Wright, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Maitland and Newcastle, says he doesn’t know why his district harboured so much abuse.
David Mark
Transcript
MARK COLVIN: If there was a catalyst for the royal commission into child sexual abuse it was the sheer weight of horror stories emerging from Newcastle and the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.
There were already criminal cases against priests in Newcastle and the Hunter and on top of that were more allegations from victims, and then last week from a senior policeman.
Bishop Bill Wright, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Maitland and Newcastle, says he doesn’t know why his district harboured so much abuse. He uses the words “deviousness” and “serial offenders” and says he can’t promise that child sexual abuse is not still happening in his diocese.
But Bishop Bill Wright told David Mark he welcomed the royal commission.
BILL WRIGHT: Well I’m very pleased by it because anything that the church produces by way of reports or evidence or anything else has limited credibility in the community. I’ve thought to get all the facts on the table from an independent authority with sufficient weight and all the rest of it has got to be a good thing.
It’s good for the church. I think it will be a good thing for many of the victims who want to have the whole situation clear and get the chance to have the whole story told and so on so I think it’s very welcome.
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