AUSTRALIA
SBS
By Alex McKinnon
Source: The Feed 15 AUG 2016
“It’s a sad story, and not of much interest to me.”
Back in March, that’s how Cardinal George Pell recalled the crimes of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale. That throwaway comment, given during testimony to the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, resonated so profoundly for more than its apparent callousness. For abuse survivors and their loved ones, it perfectly encapsulated the culture of silence, blame-shifting and sheer apathy among church and secular authorities that allowed men like Ridsdale to commit their crimes in the first place, and operate unchecked for decades.
Watching Peter Dutton’s 7.30 interview with Leigh Sales last week, after the Guardian Australia’s release of the Nauru Files revealed in horrifying detail the extent of abuse, assault, and mental anguish inflicted on asylum seekers in Australian offshore detention, those words came to mind again.
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