AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net
The chief commissioner of the Australian royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, Peter McClellan, and his counsel assisting, Gail “Snow White” Furness, have been very kind to the Catholic Church. They have given it another chance to distort the story about its “Towards Healing” protocol for dealing with its victims.
In a special hearing today, which will continue tomorrow, the person who has been described as the “media relations man” for the Catholic Church’s PR unit, Truth Justice and Healing Council, established to deal with the fall-out from the royal commission (see previous posting), has been given the floor to reject claims made during the main, official, hearings last year.
The YMCA has already been given this opportunity yesterday, with the difference that their submission is not being released for public scrutiny.
Michael Salmon is the New South Wales and ACT Director of the Professional Standards Office within the Catholic Church. He was given free reign, without cross-examination by victims’ lawyers, to claim that one victim gave false evidence. The victim, known as DK, (see previous posting) had claimed that he had not been informed of Mr. Salmon’s position within the church during “pastoral” consultations with the Catholic Church.
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