AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (CPA)
Bob Briton
The enormity of the task before the child sex abuse royal commission is becoming clearer by the day. Decades of criminal acts and cover-up are not going to be exposed and considered quickly or easily. Commissioners on the royal commission announced by Prime Minister Gillard will have to confront thorny questions of the meddling power and influence of large religious organisations like the Catholic Church in modern-day Australia. Lawyers and insurers are moving to protect their clients as thousands of victims prepare to recount their harrowing experiences in the care of once-trusted institutions.
A week set aside for public comment on the proposed terms of reference has concluded. Attorney-General Nicola Roxon received 33 formal and 270 email responses. Many complained that the time allowed for submissions was too short and that the original terms of reference were too restrictive. Ms Roxon would rather the inquiry didn’t emphasise the exposing of past abuse. “Our real focus is to make sure that we can identify what is in our institutions, or our systems, our laws, or our public service … that has made it difficult for people to make complaints,” she said recently. “What might have made it easy for perpetrators to actually commit these offences?”
A continuing stream of media reports suggests that the answers to those questions will be relatively easy to find in the culture of cover-up in the hierarchies of churches and the various state and federal police forces. The real question before the royal commission is not so much “what is it?” but “who was it?”.
For example, who authorised or recommended the transfer of former St John of God (SJOG) brother Bernard McGrath from church-run institutions in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese to be a teacher and dormitory master at the SJOG boarding school at Marylands near Christchurch in New Zealand? He also worked at the Hebron Trust, which is a learning centre for street kids.
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