AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times
Jenny Noyes
Ever since Cardinal George Pell went to Rome in 2014, Australians have been waiting to see him return to front the child sex abuse Royal Commission. But while he’s finally been back in the hot seat again this week (albeit via video link), the anticipation of justice hasn’t made his testimony any easier to listen to.
Not with lines like: “It was a sad story; it wasn’t of much interest to me,” in reference to his awareness of abuse perpetrated by notorious paedophile priest Gerard Ridsdale.
But one thing that has given succour to the audience of this depressing spectacle – whether of abuse victims and their families in the room with her, or those of us watching, listening and reading about it from home – was the job done by Gail Furness SC, the counsel assisting the commission and the hero-woman who won’t take evasion and shrugs for an answer.
Furness has grilled Pell fiercely over the past four days, though always calm; labelling his answers as “implausible” and “designed to deflect blame”.
Her approach has earned her a lot of fans and, this week, made her a household name. News Corp even described her as having “rock star status” – although there are no attention-seeking rock star stylings to be seen here.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.