AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
November 14, 2013
Barney Zwartz
Religion editor, The Age.
The Salvation Army says it is ashamed and deeply sorry for the brutal abuse suffered by many children in its care, following the release of an eagerly awaited report on clergy child sex abuse.
The report, launched in the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday, also recommends sweeping changes to laws behind which the Catholic Church has sheltered, and accuses its leaders of trivialising the problem as a ”short-term embarrassment”.
Inquiry chairwoman Georgie Crozier spoke of ”a betrayal beyond comprehension” and children suffering ”unimaginable harm”. She said the inquiry had referred 135 previously unreported claims of child sex abuse to the police.
The report, Betrayal of Trust, wants to establish a new crime when people in authority knowingly put a child a risk. It wants to make it a crime to leave a child at risk or not report abuse, including for clergy, but does not recommend ending the exemption for the confessional. Grooming a child or parents should be a crime, child abuse should be excluded from the statute of limitations, and the present church systems of dealing with victims in-house should be replaced by an independent authority funded by the churches, the report says.
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