AUSTRALIA
The Australian
PIA AKERMAN
From:The Australian
April 03, 2013
THE royal commission into child sexual abuse has leapt into action by serving notices on the Catholic Church to produce documents, while warning the timelines laid out for the massive inquiry are “unlikely” to be met.
Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan said he expected evidence would not be taken until at least the last quarter of this year.
He said expects the commission will hear serious and shocking allegations and that he had been advised the commissioners themselves and their staff could be harmed by constantly hearing the allegations.
Justice McClellan said for that reason it would not be possible for the commission to continuously listen to victims’ stories.
The commission’s opening hearing in Melbourne today heard the 2016 deadline for its final report was unrealistic because of the number of people expected to give personal accounts and the number of institutions affected by allegations.
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