AUSTRALIA
The Australian
JARED OWENS THE AUSTRALIAN NOVEMBER 23, 2013
THE former administrator of a NSW Anglican diocese under investigation over systemic child abuse has admitted lying about its capacity to pay compensation to a victim who “derailed” church-led negotiations by seeking independent legal advice.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse has heard a “pedophile ring” of priests at Lismore’s North Coast Children’s Home raped, beat and sexually abused dozens of children between the 1940s and 80s.
The inquiry in Sydney was yesterday shown a 2006 letter written by then Grafton Diocese registrar Pat Comben in which he told an abuse survivor, Richard Campion, that it was “difficult” to find even $500 to cover his travel costs to attend counselling.
Mr Comben yesterday admitted he understood the diocese had assets of $2 million.
“No, it was not an honest thing to say to Mr Campion,” the former Queensland Labor minister told the inquiry.
“We were all scared and I was conscious that I would not have been viewed well as an employee had I just gone in there and said ‘The diocese has $2m’.”
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